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Timpani Techniques and Sound Choices

The document discusses different timpani playing styles and how they affect sound. The German style uses a palm down grip to create a darker sound, while the French style tends to produce brighter tones. It also notes that timpanists may use variations or combine elements of both styles. The selection of style depends on whether the timpanist wants to blend more with the orchestra or produce a darker sound. The document then discusses how different timpani head materials like calfskin, goatskin, and composite heads can affect the warmth and resonance of the produced sound.

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30 views1 page

Timpani Techniques and Sound Choices

The document discusses different timpani playing styles and how they affect sound. The German style uses a palm down grip to create a darker sound, while the French style tends to produce brighter tones. It also notes that timpanists may use variations or combine elements of both styles. The selection of style depends on whether the timpanist wants to blend more with the orchestra or produce a darker sound. The document then discusses how different timpani head materials like calfskin, goatskin, and composite heads can affect the warmth and resonance of the produced sound.

Uploaded by

FJRA
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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while playing.

Practitioners of this approach argue that the French style


produces better tone than the German style. In the German style, the shaft
of the mallet is gripped between the rst joint of the thumb and some-
where along the index nger. The remaining ngers are wrapped lightly
around the stick. Strokes are made palms down, which tends to drive the
mallet head into the timpano head creating a darker, more articulate
sound. That said, some European timpanists choose to play forte or piano
passages with differing grips.2 Historically, timpanists playing the German
style sit while playing. Of course, there are variations to these two styles.
Some timpanists, like Paul Yancich of the Cleveland Orchestra, use the
French grip, rotating their thumbs inward one-eighth of a turn when play-
ing. And others timpanists use the German grip but they take extra effort
to bring the mallet off the head as quickly as possible. This produces a
darker, but tonal sound.
In many ways, the selection of style is dependent on the general
sound the timpanist wants to project. Timpanists who wish to blend more
with the orchestra would want to play on brighter drums, with compara-
tively lighter sticks, and with a French style. Timpanists who wish a darker
sound want to play on darker drums, with comparatively heavier sticks,
and with their palms down. In other words, a timpanists style (combined
with the sticks) should help bring out the natural color of the drum. This
is not to say that a timpanist playing in the French manner should exclu-
sively play that way. Since turning the thumb over as little as one-eighth of
a turn darkens the sound somewhat and playing palms down darkens the
sound even more so, there may be times when playing palms down helps
timpanists elicit the tone color they need.

Timpani Heads

Timpani heads are important in determining the character of the sound.3


Calfskin heads have served and continue to serve timpanists well. On the
whole, calfskin heads tend to produce a warmer tone than do Mylar or
plastic heads. For those wishing a warmer sound, calfskin is clearly prefer-
able to plastic heads. But the skins must not be too thick or too thin. In ei-
ther direction, they produce a less resonant tone. Of course, calfskin heads
are more expensive and more susceptible to uctuations in humidity and
temperature. This practically limits their use to climate-controlled concert
halls. Goatskin heads are similar to calfskin; however, they produce a
darker sound and are a bit less resonant. At fortissimo, Gerald Fromme of
the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra argues that the goatskin maintains
a better tone than plastic heads (Kruse 2003, 17). However, composite
heads, now being produced by Remo (Renaissance) and Evans (Strata),
approach the warmness of calfskin heads without the trouble. The com-
posite head addressed some problems with the simple Mylar head: thin
and brittle sound, poor harmonic overtone denition, and limited reso-
nance (Taylor 1964, 38). What follows represents the experience of the au-

16 Timpani Tone and the Interpretation of Baroque and Classical Music

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