Baguettes de bois

As Printed on a Score

Printed above a timpani or percussion part at the start of the passage where wooden sticks are to be used; it lasts until another stick is named (baguettes de timbales, baguettes d’éponge).

How Composers Use It

Wooden sticks give timpani and drums a hard, dry, sharply defined attack with little resonance — rhythmic and percussive rather than tonal. They suit brittle ostinatos and fierce climaxes. Allow the player time to change sticks, mark the return to normal sticks, and say which instrument the change applies to when one player covers several.

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