On today's date in 1974, the San Francisco Chamber Music Society presented its annual holiday concert at Lone Mountain College. In addition to seasonal works by Corrette and Rheinberger, their program featured the premiere performance of a new piece by the American composer Lou Harrison titled "Suite for Violin and American Gamelan."

For years Harrison had been fascinated by the Javanese gamelan—an orchestra comprised of tuned bronze gongs. In 1967, Harrison met William Colvig, an electrician and amateur musician with an interest in acoustics. Together, they constructed their own gamelan from bits and pieces of aluminum and steel retrieved from discarded gas tanks and furniture tubing found in scrap metal heaps.

Now, traditionally, Javanese gamelans are given poetic names, like "Venerable Golden Rain," or "River of Flowing Honey," but the title Harrison and Colvig came up with for their "American gamelan" was more homey than poetic. They dubbed their junkyard creation "Old Granddad." The 1974 premiere of "Suite for Violin and American Gamelan" was one of "Old Granddad's" early public outings.

Mixing of Eastern and Western traditions and instruments has been a hallmark of Harrison's music. "It seemed perfectly natural to me," said Harrison. "I don't think of it either as a problem or as a distinction. It's all part of making music as far as I'm concerned. There's no THEY and ME."