Scribd
Upload
58 views

Timpani Tone and The Interpretation of Baroque and Classical Music

1) By the Baroque period, timpanists understood that different playing spots on the drumhead produced different tones. They also recognized that the type of stroke used could vibrate the head differently. 2) Over time, from the Baroque to Classical periods, timpanists' grips and playing styles evolved. Specifically, they began holding the sticks differently and playing in a more reserved manner closer to the drums rather than flinging the sticks high above their heads. 3) By the Classical period, timpanists experimented with different playing styles to produce varied tones. For example, Haydn recommended an oblique stroke rather than a vertical one to allow for better vibration and superior tone.

Uploaded by

FJRA
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
58 views

Timpani Tone and The Interpretation of Baroque and Classical Music

1) By the Baroque period, timpanists understood that different playing spots on the drumhead produced different tones. They also recognized that the type of stroke used could vibrate the head differently. 2) Over time, from the Baroque to Classical periods, timpanists' grips and playing styles evolved. Specifically, they began holding the sticks differently and playing in a more reserved manner closer to the drums rather than flinging the sticks high above their heads. 3) By the Classical period, timpanists experimented with different playing styles to produce varied tones. For example, Haydn recommended an oblique stroke rather than a vertical one to allow for better vibration and superior tone.

Uploaded by

FJRA
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 1

center of the drum.

In the process of discovering this echo, they would


have noticed the differing tonal characteristics of drumhead (Eisel 1738,
68; Speer 1974, 220). Since timpanists played on different parts of the
head, they would have understood that different playing spots produced
different tones. While the playing spot was important, so was the kind of
stroke that vibrated the head.
Bowles’s book demonstrates that the timpanist’s grip and style of
playing changed by the high Baroque. First, the only grip used throughout
the Baroque and Classical periods was the German or palms down grip.
Unending images detail timpanists holding the sticks in what appears to
be a near death-grip on the sticks. However, there is evidence that the grip
changed in high Baroque or early classical period. A1770 drawing shows a
German timpanist holding his left stick with this thumb and forefinger, the
remaining fingers having no contact with the stick at all. This appears to
be the case with the right hand too (Bowles 2002, 252). In three years
(1730, 1757, and 1773), angel sculptures positioned on organ cases are
holding their sticks in a similar manner. Therefore, by the Classical period,
timpanists were exploring different ways of holding the stick to play more
tonally, more softly or loudly, or more or less articulately. Second, the play-
ing style of timpanist evolves in the Baroque. In the Baroque and Classical
periods, there are six images of timpanists playing in orchestral settings.
Prior to 1740, four drawings picture timpanists flinging their sticks high
above their head and landing, however delicately or indelicately, on the
timpani head (Bowles 2002, 121, 152, 171, 177). In two orchestral draw-
ings after 1740, the timpanists are depicted playing in a more reserved
fashion and closer to the drum. This development suggests that timpanists
became increasingly concerned with stick control, the reserved execution
of their parts, and timpani tone.
By the Classical period, continental timpanists were experimenting
with different tone producing playing styles. Evidence of this can be found
in Sir George Smart’s writings. In 1794, the Haydn-Salomon orchestra was
rehearsing for a concert. Smart, not a timpanist by training, played the
drums that day. Smart reports that Haydn, a one-time timpanist, ap-
proached him about his playing style. Haydn pointed out that Smart was
bringing the drumstick straight down. Instead, Haydn recommended a
glancing stroke because German timpanists discovered that a vertical
stroke stopped the vibration of the head. The oblique stroke allowed the
head to vibrate, giving a superior tone (Smart 1907, 3).
In sum, there is little question that timpani tone production became
important to musicians during the High Baroque and Classical periods.
Larger drums, more tonal bowls, better heads, cartwheel mallets, covered
mallet heads, alternative grips, reserved playing styles, new strokes, and
expanding knowledge of how to produce different tones gave timpanists a
larger color pallet from which they could draw in painting their parts. Sev-
enteenth- and eighteenth-century writers discussed above provide evi-
dence that timpanists were aware of timpani tone and knew how to shape
the tone to achieve certain effects and execute specific passages. Because

68 Timpani Tone and the Interpretation of Baroque and Classical Music

You might also like