Morris Lang

Morris "Arnie" Lang, born Morris Arnold Lang on February 2, 1932 in New York City, NY, is best known for his forty years as a percussionist with the New York Philharmonic.

Lang attended the Juilliard School of Music. In 1955, shortly after graduation, he was appointed Associate Principal Timpanist and percussionist with the New York Philharmonic. He has performed with music directors from Leonard Bernstein, Pierre Boulez, Zubin Mehta to Kurt Mazur on hundreds of recordings and on television including the famous Leonard Bernstein’s “Young People’s Concerts” and “Live from Lincoln Center.” Tours with the Philharmonic included all of Western Europe, Japan, Thailand, Singapore, Korea, India, South America, the former Soviet Union, Poland, Romania and Hungary.

Among his solo recordings is Stravinsky’s l’Histoire du Soldat and he is the first person to have recorded all Eight Pieces for Timpani by Elliot Carter. His publications include The Beginning Snare Drummer, The New Conception (drum set), and Dictionary of Percussion Terms. Mr. Lang is Professor of Percussion at the Conservatory at Brooklyn College and in charge of the Doctoral Percussion Program at CUNY. At the Percussive Arts Society International Convention (PASIC) 2000 he was inducted into the prestigious Hall of Fame.

In 2014, Hudson Music released Mr. Lang's instructional DVD, The Gladstone Technique — an important historical document of Billy Gladstone and his important contribution to modern drum technique.

In this historical interview, Arnie Lang discusses working with various conductors during his 40 years with the New York Philharmonic, playing alongside Saul Goodman and Buster Bailey, and building the Goodman timpani and Gladstone snare drums.