The Musical Life and Times of Harry Brabec, Legendary Chicago Symphony Percussionist & Humorist
Welcome to THE DRUMMER DRIVES Website!
"After reading this book and website, I've found that Barbara's memoir about Harry has unexpectedly grown into something bigger: the chronicle of an entire musical age." - Barbara Doyen, Doyen Literary Agency
LIKE BARBARA BRABEC'S MEMOIR AT LEFT, this site's focus is on the musical life and times of legendary Chicago percussionist Harry Brabec. It's also about many of the percussionists, musicians, entertainers, bands, orchestras, and conductors with whom he worked over a period of fifty years.
The wealth of articles, letters, and other editorial content that could not be included in the book will gradually be added to this website. It has been designed to be both a growing archive of historical music-related information and a place where today's percussionists and other musicians may wax nostalgically about their own careers by making COMMENTS to posts, or by sharing a short article for publication in one of the Topic Categories at right. When fully developed, The Drummer Drives website will be a treasure trove of historic "music biz" information, articles by other musicians, and rare photographs, programs, and other nostalgic music memorabilia from the Brabec scrapbooks. Audio and video downloads will also be offered in time.
Did You Know Harry?
Harry knew a world of people I never knew, so I know that many of his old friends and fellow musicians are still out there. In particular, I'm hoping to connect with some percussionists who may have performed with Harry or studied with him, either privately or in one of his percussion classes in the sixties or early seventies.
If you knew Harry as a friend, student, or fellow musician, I am eager to hear from you by email or telephone. Thanks for linking all your drummer friends to this website in case any of them (or their parents) knew Harry.
For reasons explained in the book, there was much about Harry's professional life before I met him that he never told me about -- particularly for the years between 1956 and 1961. Thus, when I began to write the story of his life without him to query, it was like trying to put a huge "Harry Brabec Puzzle" together. One might think that after nearly 44 years together they would know everything about their spouse, but I was absolutely astounded by some of the things I learned about Harry in talking with friends of his I had never met before, and I've talked about this in my post, "Knowing Someone Like a Book."
Again, thanks for linking others to this website and contributing content to it through comments to articles (which must be approved by the author before publication). News of current music activities may be noted in comments when it relates to the topic at hand. Then-and-now comments that illustrate how the music business has changed over the past fifty years would be of particular interest to the author and site visitors.If you have a music-related website, see the CONTACT page to request some free content you can offer to your visitors.
