Timpani, also known as kettledrums, are large, bowl-shaped orchestral drums. Because the instrument’s bowl, which serves as the resonator, is made of copper, even those who are unfamiliar with orchestral instruments may recognize these.
Timpani are membranophones, or instruments that make sound by vibrating a membrane, which is often made of skin and stretched over an opening. They are often covered with vellum, but plastic skins are also used. They were the first percussion instrument to become standard in a symphony orchestra. The timpanist adjusts the pitch of the timpani by tightening or loosening the vellum with the tuning pedal.
Although only two timpani were commonly found in orchestras during the Classical period, four, or even five, are now considered standard. The most common sizes are 32-inch (81-cm. ), 28-inch (71-cm. ), 25-inch (63.5-cm. ), and 23-inch (58.5-cm. ), with a 21-inch (51-cm.) “piccolo” timpano as a fifth option. If a piccolo timpano is required but not available, a roto-tom is usually substituted. These drums have overlapping ranges, and are typically labeled D2 to A2, F2 to C3, Bb2 to F3, D3 to A3, and F3 to B3 from lowest to highest. Drum placement is divided into two schools, with some timpanists placing the largest drum to their right and others to their left.
Timpani are typically played with mallets, which come in hard, medium, and soft varieties. However, these drums can also be played with drumsticks, felt mallets, cork or flannel headed mallets, mallet handles, or even the fingers, which is known as con la mano. Timpani can play strokes, rolls, and glissandos and glissando rolls, among other things.
Since Beethoven, they’ve been used for solos as well as ensemble playing. The opening of Richard Strauss’s Also Sprach Zarathustra, which was featured in Stanley Kubrick’s film 2001: A Space Odyssey, is one of the most famous timpani solos. In Music for the Royal Fireworks, George Frideric Handel calls for six of these drums, Ludwig van Beethoven uses them in his final three symphonies, and Elliot Carter’s Recitative and improvisation for four kettledrums is for solo timpani. Louis Charbonneau, Vic Firth, Timothy K. Adams, Jr., Fred Hinger, Richard Miller, and Wolfgang Schuster are among the most famous timpanists.