More timpani

Just returned from a concert at the Royal Concertgebouw where the RCO played Ouverture Euryanthe by von Weber, Schumann's Symphony No. 1, and Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition. What a night. My seat was on the stage, right next to the timpani, so basically I attended my second timpani clinic in one week. And who better to learn from than Nick Woud...I just hope I didn't stare too much :-)

With the timpani clinic in Ittervoort still fresh in my mind, I found that I knew much better what to look for tonight. Rather than just watching Mr. Woud play and sitting there in awe, I tried to focus on different aspects of his playing, like how a stroke was started and finished, the amplitude of the strokes, sticking, etc. One thing that struck me in particular (not literally of course) was the sense of purpose: every movement seemed to be there for a reason. From the very onset to the stroke to the end of it, it all just fit, nothing was superfluous.

Besides observing the timpani, I also had a great night just listening to the music of course. Pictures at an exhibition brings back so many childhood memories (no wonder: it's Smurf music! Gnomus and Tuileries were used in the Smurfs cartoon series). The only thing that disappointed me a bit, were the tempi, especially in Bydlo. I've got a wonderful recording by the RCO where you can really sense the cart approaching in the distance, very grave and quite oppressive. Tonight, I guess springtime got the better of the orchestra; I'd have liked it a bit slower.

Can't wait to try out some new things tomorrow!

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.

The European Timpani - MA Project by Scott Weatherson

Scott Weatherson, a former student of the Amsterdam Conservatory of Music, has researched why European timpanists use the instruments they do, which factors influenced their choice of instrument, mallets and skins etc. To that end, he compiled a questionnaire and sent it to 13 European timpanists.



The result is a comprehensive description of the timpani, timpani mechanics, its history; the quotes by the actual players give a nice insight not only in their musical expertise, but also in their personalities; as Michael Vladar shows when he comments on playing pieces that were written with pedal timpani in mind on machine timpani:

I play the Concerto for Orchestra of Bartók on them : I must pay then a percussionist an eighth of wine, so that he turns the handle for me during glissandi. Otherwise one can play everything on them.

Kraft - Timpani concerto

Randy Max


Oscar Salazar


Daniel Kirkpatrick

Matthew Bassett

Personal website of Matthew Bassett with a nice practice guide and a promise to include articles and essays.

Timpani solos by Marc Zoutendijk

Available from his website. Which doesn't show too well in Internet Explorer.

Jonathan Haas

Website of Jonathan Haas, with some info about himself, and some excerpts.

Nick Woud

Website of Nick Woud, principal timpanist of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, with a wealth of information about the Amsterdam school of timpani, timpani history, mallets, and loads of pictures of rare timpani.

John Tafoya

Website of John Tafoya, former principal timpanist of the National Symphony Orchestra, with loads of information, online lessons, audio and video excerpts.