Timpani

The timpani (; ) or kettledrums (also informally called timps) which in turn derives from the verb (), meaning . Alternative spellings with y in place of either or both is—tympani, tympany, or timpany—are occasionally encountered in older English texts. Although the word timpani has been widely adopted in the English language, some English speakers choose to use the word kettledrums. The German word for timpani is ; the French and Spanish term is , not to be confused with the Latin percussion instrument, which would superseded timpani in certain traditional Cuban ensembles.

The tympanum is mentioned, along with a faux name origin, in the of St. Isidore of Seville:

<poem lang="la" style="float:left; margin-left:1em; max-width:45em;">Tympanum est pellis vel corium ligno ex una parte extentum. Est enim pars media symphoniae in similitudinem cribri. Tympanum autem dictum quod medium est, unde et margaritum medium tympanum dicitur; et ipsud ut symphonia ad virgulam percutitur.</poem>

<poem style="margin-left:1em; float:left; max-width:45em;">The tympanum is a skin or hide stretched over one end of a wooden frame. It is half of a symphonia (i.e. another type of drum) and it looks like a sieve. The tympanum is so named because it is a half, whence also the half-pearl is called a tympanum. Like the symphonia, it is struck with a drumstick.</poem>

The reference comparing the tympanum to half a pearl is borrowed from Pliny the Elder.

Construction

Basic timpani

The basic timpano consists of a drum head stretched across the opening of a bowl typically made of copper which in turn is held onto the bowl by a counter hoop. The counter hoop is usually held in place with a number of tuning screws called tension rods placed regularly around the circumference. The head's tension can be adjusted by loosening or tightening the rods. Most timpani have six to eight tension rods. Modern timpani are generally made with copper due to its efficient regulation of internal and external temperatures relative to aluminium and fiberglass.

thumb|350px|[[Walter Light pedal and chain timpani set up in three different combinations.]]

Timpani come in a variety of sizes from about in diameter down to piccoli timpani of or less. Adams Musical Instruments developed a pedal-operated version of this tuning mechanism in the early 21st century.

Heads

Like most drumheads, timpani heads can be made from two materials: animal skin (typically calfskin or goatskin)

Sticks and mallets

thumb|Timpanists use a variety of timpani sticks since each produces a different [[timbre.]]

Timpani are typically struck with a special type of drum stick called a timpani stick or timpani mallet. Timpani sticks are used in pairs. They have two components: a shaft and a head. The shaft is typically made from hardwood or bamboo but may also be made from aluminium or carbon fiber. The head can be constructed from a number of different materials, though felt wrapped around a wooden core is the most common. Other core materials include compressed felt, cork, and leather. Unwrapped sticks with heads of wood, felt, flannel, and leather are also common.—specifically requested by composers as early as the Romantic era—and in authentic performances of Baroque music. Wooden timpani sticks are also occasionally used to play the suspended cymbal.

Although not usually stated in the score (excepting the occasional request to use wooden sticks), timpanists will change sticks to suit the nature of the music. However, the choice during a performance is subjective and depends on the timpanist's preference and occasionally the wishes of the conductor. Thus, most timpanists own a great number of sticks.

In the early 20th century and before, sticks were often made with whalebone shafts, wooden cores, and sponge wraps. Composers of that era often specified sponge-headed sticks. Modern timpanists execute such passages with felt sticks.

Popular grips

The two most common grips in playing the timpani are the German and French grips. In the German grip, the palm of the hand is approximately parallel with the drum head and the thumb should be on the side of the stick. In the French grip, the palm of the hand is approximately perpendicular with drum head and the thumb is on top of the stick. In both of these styles, the fulcrum is the contact between the thumb and middle finger. The index finger is used as a guide and to help lift the stick off of the drum. The American grip is a hybrid of these two grips. Another known grip is known as the Amsterdam Grip, made famous by the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, which is similar to the Hinger grip, except the stick is cradled on the lower knuckle of the index finger.

In the modern ensemble

thumb|left|A standard set of timpani consists of four drums.

Standard set

A standard set of timpani (sometimes called a console) consists of four drums: roughly , , , and in diameter. The range of this set is roughly D2 to A3. A great majority of the orchestral repertoire can be played using these four drums. However, contemporary composers have written for extended ranges. Igor Stravinsky specifically writes for a piccolo timpano in The Rite of Spring, tuned to B3. A piccolo drum is typically in diameter and can reach pitches up to C4.

Beyond this extended set of five instruments, any added drums are nonstandard. (Luigi Nono's Al gran sole carico d'amore requires as many as eleven drums, with actual melodies played on them in octaves by two players.) Many professional orchestras and timpanists own more than just one set of timpani, allowing them to execute music that cannot be more accurately performed using a standard set of four or five drums. Many schools and youth orchestra ensembles unable to afford purchase of this equipment regularly rely on a set of two or three timpani, sometimes referred to as "the orchestral three". Fred Hinger (1920-2001), Tom Freer, and Cloyd Duff (1915-2001).

Concertos

A few solo concertos have been written for timpani, and are for timpani and orchestral accompaniment. The 18th-century composer Johann Fischer wrote a symphony for eight timpani and orchestra, which requires the solo timpanist to play eight drums simultaneously. Rough contemporaries Georg Druschetzky and Johann Melchior Molter also wrote pieces for timpani and orchestra. Throughout the 19th century and much of the 20th, there were few new timpani concertos. In 1983, William Kraft, principal timpanist of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, composed his Concerto for Timpani and Orchestra, which won second prize in the Kennedy Center Friedheim Awards. There have been other timpani concertos, notably, Philip Glass, considered one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century, wrote a double concerto at the behest of soloist Jonathan Haas titled Concerto Fantasy for Two Timpanists and Orchestra, which features its soloists playing nine drums a piece.

Performance techniques

Striking

For general playing, a timpanist will beat the head approximately in from the edge. Anton Bruckner's Symphony No. 7 requires a continuous roll on a drum for over two and a half minutes. In general, timpanists do not use multiple bounce rolls like those played on the snare drum, as the soft nature of timpani sticks causes the rebound of the stick to be reduced, causing multiple bounce rolls to sound muffled.

The tone quality can be altered without switching sticks or adjusting the tuning. For example, by playing closer to the edge, the sound becomes thinner.

History

thumb|In the 15th century, timpani were used with [[trumpets as ceremonial instruments in the cavalry.]]

Pre-orchestral history

The first recorded use of early Tympanum was in "ancient times when it is known that they were used in religious ceremonies by Hebrews."

Arabian nakers, the direct ancestors of most timpani, were brought to 13th-century Continental Europe by Crusaders and Saracens. These drums, which were small (with a diameter of about ) and mounted to the player's belt, were used primarily for military ceremonies. This form of timpani remained in use until the 16th century. In 1457, a Hungarian legation sent by King Ladislaus V carried larger timpani mounted on horseback to the court of King Charles VII in France. This variety of timpani had been used in the Middle East since the 12th century. These drums evolved together with trumpets to be the primary instruments of the cavalry. This practice continues to this day in sections of the British Army, and timpani continued to be paired with trumpets when they entered the classical orchestra.

The medieval European timpani were typically put together by hand in the southern region of France. Some drums were tightened together by horses tugging from each side of the drum by the bolts. Over the next two centuries, a number of technical improvements were made to the timpani. Originally, the head was nailed directly to the shell of the drum. In the 15th century, heads began to be attached and tensioned by a counterhoop tied directly to the shell. In the early 16th century, the bindings were replaced by screws. This allowed timpani to become tunable instruments of definite pitch.

Role in orchestra

"No written kettledrum music survives from the 16th century, because the technique and repertory were learned by oral tradition and were kept secret. An early example of trumpet and kettledrum music occurs at the beginning of Claudio Monteverdi's opera L'Orfeo (1607)." Later in the Baroque era, Johann Sebastian Bach wrote a secular cantata titled Tönet, ihr Pauken! Erschallet, Trompeten!, which translates roughly to "Sound off, ye timpani! Sound, trumpets!" Naturally, the timpani are placed at the forefront: the piece starts with an unusual timpani solo and the chorus and timpani trade the melody back and forth. Bach reworked this movement in Part I of the Christmas Oratorio.

thumb|Although by the early 19th century, timpani were most commonly found in orchestras, ceremonial trumpet and timpani ensembles still existed. Image from late 18th century, Valencia.

Mozart and Haydn wrote many works for the timpani and even started putting it in their symphonies and other orchestral works.

Ludwig van Beethoven revolutionized timpani music in the early 19th century. He not only wrote for drums tuned to intervals other than a fourth or fifth, but he gave a prominence to the instrument as an independent voice beyond programmatic use. For example, his Violin Concerto (1806) opens with four solo timpani strokes, and the scherzo of his Ninth Symphony (1824) sets the timpani (tuned an octave apart) against the orchestra in a sort of call and response.

The next major innovator was Hector Berlioz. He was the first composer to indicate the exact sticks that should be used—"felt-covered", "wooden", etc. In several of his works, including Symphonie fantastique (1830), and his Requiem (1837), he demanded the use of several timpanists at once. The first pedal timpani originated in Dresden in the 1870s and are called Dresden timpani for this reason.

thumb|The Timpanist plays these successive glissandos at the end of the timpani introduction in Persian Mysticism Around G composed by Alexander Rahbari and premiered in Vienna, 1977. |577x577px

thumb|The opening section of Persian Mysticism Around G featured by solo timpani using the glissando effect (recorded 1980 by Colosseum Musikstudios, performed by the Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra conducted by Alexander Rahbari).

In the 2010s, even though they are written at concert pitch, timpani parts continue to be most often but not always written with no key signature, no matter what key the work is in: accidentals are written in the staff, both in the timpanist's part and the conductor's score. By 1977 in Vienna, Alexander Rahbari, an outstanding Iranian-Austrian composer and conductor, commenced the concert with one of his own compositions, entitled Persian Mysticism Around G, which starts with a short introduction written for timpani (five timpani tuned in B–C–D–E–G). After a few bars fomenting the primary stormy passage, he uses an effective glissando effect produced by the back and forth switching of the timpani pedals, moving from B up to C and then rolling down back to G (You can see the glissando notation and also listen to the whole timpani introduction on the right). Rahbari also makes use of a series of acciaccatura during this opening section.

Outside the orchestra

thumb|This 1976 photograph shows marching timpani grounded with legs extended.

thumb|upright|[[John Bonham of Led Zeppelin with a timpano.]]

Later, timpani were adopted into other classical music ensembles such as concert bands. In the 1970s, marching bands and drum and bugle corps, which evolved both from traditional marching bands and concert bands, began to include marching timpani. Unlike concert timpani, marching versions had fiberglass shells to make them light enough to carry. Each player carried a single drum, which was tuned by a hand crank. Often, during intricate passages, the timpani players would put their drums on the ground by means of extendable legs, and perform more like conventional timpani, yet with a single player per drum. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, marching arts-based organizations' allowance for timpani and other percussion instruments to be permanently grounded became mainstream. This was the beginning of the end for marching timpani: eventually, standard concert timpani found their way onto the football field as part of the front ensemble, and marching timpani fell out of common usage. Timpani are still used by the Mounted Bands of the Household Division of the British Army and of the Mounted Band of the Garde Républicaine in the French Army.

As rock and roll bands started seeking to diversify their sound, timpani found their way into the studio. In 1959 Leiber and Stoller made the innovative use of timpani in their production of the Drifters' recording, "There Goes My Baby." Starting in the 1960s, drummers for high-profile rock acts like The Beatles, Cream, Led Zeppelin, The Beach Boys, and Queen incorporated timpani into their music. This led to the use of timpani in progressive rock. Emerson, Lake & Palmer recorded a number of rock covers of classical pieces that utilize timpani. Rush drummer Neil Peart added a tympani to his expanding arsenal of percussion for the Hemispheres (1978) and Permanent Waves (1980) albums and tours, and would later sample tympani in his drum solo, "The Rhythm Method" in 1988. More recently, the rock band Muse has incorporated timpani into some of their classically based songs, most notably in Exogenesis: Symphony, Part I (Overture). Jazz musicians also experimented with timpani. Sun Ra used it occasionally in his Arkestra (played, for example, by percussionist Jim Herndon on the songs "Reflection in Blue" and "El Viktor," both recorded in 1957). In 1964, Elvin Jones incorporated timpani into his drum kit on John Coltrane's four-part composition A Love Supreme. Butch Trucks, drummer with the Allman Brothers Band, made use of the timpani.

In his choral piece A Stopwatch and an Ordnance Map, Samuel Barber employs three pedal timpani upon which are played glissandos.

Jonathan Haas is one of the few timpanists who markets himself as a soloist. Haas, who began his career as a solo timpanist in 1980, is notable for performing music from many genres including jazz, rock, and classical. He released an album with a rather unconventional jazz band called Johnny H. and the Prisoners of Swing. Philip Glass with his Concerto Fantasy, commissioned by Haas, put two soloists in front of the orchestra, an atypical placement for the instruments. Haas also commissioned Susman's Floating Falling for timpani and cello.

References

External links

The Well-Tempered Timpani—Timpani harmonics information
Website of Guido Rückel, solo-timpanist of Munich Philharmonic; many timpani pictures