Baguettes d’éponge

As Printed on a Score

Printed above a timpani, cymbal or bass-drum part where sponge-headed sticks are to be used, normally at the start of the passage or before the first note; it holds until another stick is named.

Also spelled: baguettes d'éponge, baguette d’éponges

How Composers Use It

Sponge-headed sticks give a very soft, rounded attack with almost no click — a distant rumble on timpani, a shimmer on a suspended cymbal. Berlioz asked for them for the distant thunder in the Symphonie fantastique; today players often substitute soft felt mallets. Name the instrument they are for and give time to change sticks.

Example

Boulanger, D’un matin de printemps, cymbal, m. 1: “baguette d’éponges” — the stick is named before the cymbal’s first note.

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