Visit to Adams - timpanic clinic by Werner Otten

After lunch, Werner Otten, principal timpanist of the Dutch Philharmonic Orchestra, took over with a timpani clinic.



Among the 40+ participants, two advanced music students were selected to play with Mr. Otten for about two hours, while the rest of us listened and learned - a lot!



Two technical learning points for me:

• When you play 3 ascending notes (on 3 timpani), try RRL. The other way round, when you play 3 descending notes, try LLR. This makes for a nice flow, and gives a sense of continuity.
• When you want to deepen and round the sound in a piano part, try hitting the skin at an angle (figure of eight), rather than hitting the skin in a straight vertical line.

Technique was one aspect of the clinic, but what I found most helpful was the great number of examples of different moods and characters that you can get out of timpani. Mr. Otten showed a lot of real-life examples from symphonic works, and what struck me is that he talked a lot about purpose, intention, phrasing, breathing and other concepts that I know from singing. Also, he showed a lot of 'just some strokes' vs. 'now this is making music' examples. Especially when he played piano parts, he produced sounds that were so un-timpani like, withdrawn, almost transparent.

At the end of the day, I left with a lot of new reference points and ideas for playing, plus a bag full of ridiculously cheap mallets.

Druschetzky: Concerto for Oboe, Eight Timpani and Orchestra

Funny isn't it, the things you remember, and the things you forget. Somewhere back in secondary school music class, I took a test with the question: "Which percussion instrument zou eventueel gebruikt kunnen worden to play a melody?" The italic part roughly translates as might in some cases be usable. Puzzled by the phrasing, I answered "timpani". Surely, a tunable drum could in some cases be used for melodic purposes? As long as you had enough of them!

It got marked incorrect. The teacher, appropriately called Mr. Sedee, the Dutch pronunciation for CD, insisted that timpani weren't remotely usable for playing melodies; the only correct answer was a mallet instrument, and preferrably xylophone.

I can still remember how indignant I felt at the gross injustice of this. No matter how I tried to explain that a mallet instrument is always used for melodies, not eventueel, and that timpani had definite pitch, he wouldn't budge.

This memory resurfaced when I found this early 18th century timpani concerto by Georg Druschetzky.

Mr. Sedee, eat your heart out :-)

Yearly 'Leerlingenconcert' - to hell with sheet music

Last night at the yearly pupil concert, I played Announcement, a piece for snare, tom, cymbal and timpani. The timpani part is such fun to play; it's the only part that sounds remotely melodic, and it really gives a great drive to the rest of the piece.

But somewhere in the middle, there's a muffle, a pitch change and a roll, within the space of one beat. Rather a bit of a challenge for a beginner like me. I've practised this point so much, that my sheet music was covered in red notes on how to fit everything in the right place. I guess that having to cram so many comments into one beat left me with the idea that I had no time at all: the more I wrote down, the less I managed to actually play the part :-)

But then, last night, something really great happened: a second before we started playing, realisation hit me that I didn't need any of this. The piece was already there somewhere; I just needed to step out of the way and let it get out. And that gave me all the time in the world, time to look around, time to listen, and best: time to really enjoy myself!

First concert!

Played my first timpani part ever, at the Premierefestival, and thoroughly enjoyed it. No major mistakes, and no nerves. Great added bonus: instead of our own, rather battered Ludwigs, I got a chance to play on a set of four Adams Professionals that looked brand new. Cool!