Timpani

As Printed on a Score

Labels the kettledrum staff (Timpani, older Tympani; Timp. later), in bass clef. The tuning is printed at the head of the part (in D. A.), and changes during a movement appear as muta in, or in German nach. Some 18th-century scores write C and G and name the real pitches only in the heading, like a transposing instrument; tr. or tremolo slashes mark a roll.

Abbreviations: Timp., Tmp., Timp, Tmp

Also spelled: Timpano, Tympani

How Composers Use It

Each drum is tuned to one pitch; a modern set of four covers roughly D2 to A3, and pedals allow retuning, but give the player time and name each change in the part. Classical composers used two drums on tonic and dominant to reinforce brass and cadences; Beethoven and Berlioz widened their dramatic role. Choose sticks deliberately — hard for articulation, soft for a velvet roll — and remember that a pianissimo roll can be the softest sound in the orchestra.

Example

Dvořák, Symphony No. 9 (“From the New World”), fourth movement, timpani, m. 66: “Tympani in D. G.”, and at m. 221 “in E. H.” — retuning orders in German note names, where H is B natural.

Related Terms