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Music: Practice & Theory

Questions tagged [timpani]

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Pitched percussion instruments, usually arranged in a set of four, played by one musician. Also known as kettledrums, common in symphony orchestras.

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6 votes
3 answers
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As far as I know, timpani are traditionally tuned only to the tonic, perfect fourth, and perfect fifth of the main scale of the piece. I also know that over time, various devices like pedals and ...
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4 answers
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I have 2 days until my concert and I still can’t figure out how to do a timpani roll, and no one will help me. Can anyone help me with how I do the roll? (because I am struggling a lot) I’m struggling ...
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1 answer
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I'm working on a piece that needs to use the same instrumentation as a classical-period piece. In the piece, the timpani uses exclusively this G and C. For my work, I desperately want to use a low E-...
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Assuming a professional performer with adequate equipment, can a single percussionist play a single stroke on both a timpani and a set of tubular bells at the same time (one with each hand)? The ...
nuggethead's user avatar
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2 votes
1 answer
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Here is a picture of a kettledrum (from here). What is the name and function of the thing behind the pedal that is indicated in red?
Karlo's user avatar
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3 votes
2 answers
286 views

I’m playing a timpani part in 4/4 at 132 BPM. 4 measures into the excerpt, there is a “dotted quarter note equals quarter note” marking. In this new section (still in 4/4), there are still eighth ...
Jonah's user avatar
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4 votes
2 answers
656 views

I’m looking for a cheaper alternative to the timpani, that may be used in a middle school band. Any Ideas? Thanks in advance.
Gildardo Pérez Hernández's user avatar
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1 vote
1 answer
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So I have come across another thing that some people have said about my Pathetique Sonata orchestration. That is that my tympani pitch changes are too quick and that there will be glissando on the ...
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1 answer
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So far, I have been mainly using the tympani in my orchestration of the Pathétique Sonata for the purpose of adding an accent. It might change later on to having a more important role but right now, ...
Caters's user avatar
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5 votes
1 answer
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I’m transposing some music (Gusty Garden Galaxy from Super Mario Galaxy) in Medly. Looking at the sheet music I came across this in the timpani part: Does anyone know what this means? because I have ...
CongressGamingINC's user avatar
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1 answer
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For Bruckner's 7th Symphony, the Timpani notes appear as: 1st movement (E major): 2nd movement (C# minor): 3rd movement (A minor): 4th movement (E major): The thing is, Bruckner uses only the tonic ...
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1 vote
3 answers
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Is it possible for a timpani player to play multiple notes at the same time such as a guitar or piano player would do?
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The timpani tonic-dominant tunings appear like below for instances: The image above shows examples of the tonic-dominant timpani tunings of certain orchestral pieces in all 12 major / minor common ...
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4 votes
2 answers
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For a timpani, when hitting it in the center, how do you produce these three modes of vibration? Second mode has a higher frequency than the first, does that imply do you hit the timpani harder? ...
Kevin Nguyen's user avatar
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4 votes
2 answers
2k views

I'm writing a timpani part for a concert band score. I've seen timpanist "choke" the note with their hand (on the head) after striking it to stop it from sustaining. How can I notate this?
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