Timpani: An Introspective Look BY DOMENICO E. ZARRO impani have a very old, rich and to receiving written parts. “The true in- a pivoted lever or rocker arm that con- majestic history. The timpanist is troduction of timpani took place around trolled the armature to which the tuning Toften referred to as the backbone of 1670 by way of an orchestral score into rods were attached. More significant was the orchestra. Even though the timpanist the court of orchestral and operatic en- the fact that this simple device multi- is a percussionist and the instrument is sembles, as well as in large liturgical plied the force transmitted to the base one of the building blocks of percussion pieces” (Bowles, 1995, p. 202). plate by the crank, making for a far more repertoire, it is usually distinguished as Timpani construction remained un- efficient and powerful mechanism. The being separate from the percussion sec- changed for several centuries, except for Pfundt/Hoffman model was subsequently tion. the gradual increase of the instrument’s acquired by orchestras in many of the diameter. Early construction used rope major European cities (Bowles, 1995, EARLY HISTORY tensioning on the drumheads. Due to the p. 208). “Nakers, the English name by which requirements of maintaining constant The final major addition to contempo- small kettledrums of the medieval period tension on larger heads, increasing de- rary machine drums emerged during the were known, were of Arabic or Saracenic mands of rhythmic function and precise later part of the nineteenth century. Carl origin” (Blades, 1992, p. 223). The instru- tuning, the need for screw tensioning Pittrich developed and patented the ments came to Europe in the fifteenth emerged. Screws were distributed around Dresden model timpani. Pittrich devel- century as cavalry instruments played on the rim of the drum and attached to a oped a tuning device originally manufac- horseback by Muslims, Ottoman Turks hoop by boring down on the skin and con- tured to be attached to existing drums. and Mongols. “It was mainly via courts in trolling the tension of the head. The ten- Years later, Paul Focke in Dresden began German speaking lands that these large, sion was at first adjusted by a dozen to produce this mechanism as a complete mounted kettledrums spread throughout bolts threaded into receptacles along the drum assembly. Pittrich invented a foot Europe” (Bowles, 1995, p. 201). In En- sides of the drum. In 1790, the T-handle pedal ratchet to accommodate rapid tun- gland as well as other countries through- was introduced to aid the timpanist with ing changes. This mechanism was aided out Europe, the ownership of kettle- faster tuning changes. by using newly available steel that was drums was exclusive only to royalty and During the first half of the nineteenth lighter than iron and greater in tensile nobility. century a number of composers wrote for strength. The pedal was attached to a le- “The Imperial Guild of Trumpeters and three and four drums. These composi- ver with a heavy club acting as a counter- Kettledrummers included regular mem- tions required rapid tuning changes for weight. Utilizing a bolt attached to the bers who held the rank of officers and the timpanist, which hand-tuned drums center of a lever, the pedal was moved up were privileged to wear the ostrich were not capable of handling. Due to or down, raising or lowering the drum’s feather of nobility in their hats” (Blades, these rapid tuning changes, a new phase pitch. A tuning gauge controlled by the 1992, p. 228). “Along with trumpeters, in the construction of timpani took place. foot pedal was added to indicate correct the kettledrummers belonged to this ex- Timpani began to take on a new name: pitch using a pointer and adjustable clusive guild, a step achieved only after machine drums. “This period was an era markers. Also, a fine-tuning device ac- up to seven years of apprenticeship” of vitality, innovation and change in the companied the drum in case of changes in (Bowles, 1995, p. 202). They were fur- design and manufacture of musical in- temperature, humidity and/or the pres- nished horses and grooms and were struments, generally corresponding sure of heavy playing. forbidden to associate with other instru- somewhat belatedly to the Industrial Pittrich’s invention was a historical mentalists considered household employ- Revolution” (Bowles, 1995, p. 202). In- leap that ended the limitations upon the ees of lesser rank. The performance of ventors were working closely with metal- timpanist. “While other methods of me- kettledrums was safeguarded and could workers trying to develop numerous ways chanical tuning continued to be used, it only be taught by rote from one genera- to rapidly change the pitch of a kettle- is the Pittrich model that, with minor tion to another. Because of this ritual, it drum. The most successful machine changes and improvements, has re- is believed that little written music ex- drums were either tuned with a master mained in widespread use to this day” isted for the instrument. screw, rotating the kettle itself, or by use (Bowles, 1995, p. 212). of a foot mechanism. CONSTRUCTION The Pfundt/Hoffman design and its re- TIMPANI HEADS During the seventeenth century tim- finements represented important innova- In early days, timpani heads were pro- pani were moved indoors and utilized in tions in a traditional design that solved duced by a parchment maker, and the an orchestral setting joining trumpets, the dual problems of inertia and lack of materials of choice were goatskin or horns and oboes. Timpanists were no speed found in the earlier screw and calfskin. The chosen skin used for heads longer looked upon for their improvisa- gear-type mechanisms. The contribution was thicker and less uniform during tional or elaborate playing abilities due was a single threaded crank acting upon those early days. Additionally, the best PERCUSSIVE NOTES 57 JUNE 1998 skins were half-tanned, and the sound far better tone than their predecessors” (timpani heads) that are still the basis of produced was dull and thick with a tre- (Bowles, 1995, p. 220). today’s research. “He defined the theo- mendous amount of overtones drowning In the 1950s, polyethylene terephtha- retical membrane as a perfectly flexible out the fundamental pitch. late was used to produce plastic timpani and infinitely thin lamina of solid matter Over a century ago, the refinement of heads. Plastic heads of today have a dif- of uniform material and thickness, which the timpani head began. Opaque, white ferent tone quality, with less resonance is stretched in all directions by a tension skins began to emerge. These heads were and elasticity. Their sonority is dryer and so great as to remain sensibly unaltered produced by treating hides in a lime solu- thinner, more brittle, and the tone itself during the vibrations and displacements tion, smoothing them with chalk and shorter in duration. The chief physical contemplated” (Power, 1983, p. 62). scraping them with a pumice stone. They differences are that notes produced on A membrane may be thought of as a were then shaved and dried in the sun, plastic heads have a faster decay and two-dimensional string, in that the re- making them hard and stiff. The final produce more sound, or noise, at low fre- storing force necessary for it to vibrate is step of the process included rubbing the quencies, thus providing uneven dynam- supplied by tension applied from the heads in brandy and garlic. By 1850, a ics. They are favored particularly because edge. A membrane, like a string, can be much thinner and more translucent tim- of their imperviousness to atmospheric tuned by changing its tension. One major pani head was produced using alum and changes, making them ideal for outdoor difference between vibrations in the a mechanical process. The hides were performances or environments with con- membrane and in the string, however, is now bathed in slaked lime to loosen the stantly changing humidity (Bowles, 1995, that the mode frequencies in the ideal hairs, and coated with a vegetable tan- p. 221). string are harmonics of the fundamental, ning material before stretching over a Lord Rayleigh, a nineteenth-century but in the membrane they are not. An- frame. “It was generally agreed that English scientist, developed a number of other difference is that in the membrane, these thin, translucent skins produced a theories on the function of membranes nodal lines replace the nodes that occur along the string (Anderson, Mills and Rossing, 1982, p. 18). Various experiments have been con- ducted to define the numerous nodal lines of a vibrating membrane. These lines can be seen by sprinkling sand on a drumhead while it vibrates at various frequencies using a loudspeaker. Unfor- tunately, the frequency tables developed only hold true for the theoretically per- fect membrane. Variations of these fre- quencies can be drastically altered by a slight change in the resistance of air be- tween the membrane and the bowl of the drum. Studies have concluded that a hard blow to the drumhead causes it to start at a higher frequency and decrease rapidly as the amplitude decreases. These studies have identified more than one hundred resonant frequencies be- tween 40HZ and 500HZ by a separate mode. TIMPANI BOWLS Timpani bowls are produced from cop- per sheeting formed into a cylindrical shape and seamed with a soft brass sol- der. The bottom of the bowl is added and produced in the same manner as the above. After the bowl takes shape, it is then tempered by hammering. Some tim- pani manufacturers and performers be- lieve hammering the timpani bowl as hard as possible produces the best tone quality.