Timpani

**Timpani** (sometimes called **kettle drums**) are drums that are made out of large bowls that are usually made of copper shaped by craftsmen, which after being tuned, have a skin-like material stretched over the top. This material used to be a type of vellum or treated skin, but modern drums use a synthetic material. This top section is known as the "drumhead". 
*Timpani* is an Italian word. It is also a plural of the word *timpano*. However *timpano* is rarely used in informal English. More often, a timpano is referred to as a *drum*, a *timpani*, or simply a *timp*. Someone who plays a timpani is called a "timpanist".
## Difference from other drums
Timpani are different from other drums because they are tuned to certain musical notes. A timpanist will often describe the drum as being "in voice" (or out of voice, as the case may be) when it is correctly tuned. To play it, it is hit with a special drumstick or "timpani mallet". Other drums that are used in orchestras and bands make a sound rather than a note, and are not tuned. A player normally sits with a group of two, three or four timpani around him, which is why the name timpani is in the plural. 
## Brief history
Timpani were originally used in official bands. They can still be seen in the bands of the modern official as in the Household Cavalry of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, in which the "kettle drums" (as they are called) are carried by large  drumhorses.(See picture below) In the 1700s timpani became popular in orchestral music, and can be heard in the music of Handel, Beethoven and other 19th century composers wrote music that needed the timpani. Nowadays all large orchestras have timpani, and some bands that play popular music use them as well.

## Different ways timpani can be made 
### The drumhead 
A timpani drumhead, also called a timpani head, can be made out of two different things. Some are made out of animal skin, like calfskin or goatskin. Other ones can be made out of thick plastic. Because plastic heads are hard to break and do not cost as much as animal skin heads, they are used more often than animal skin heads. However, a lot of professional players prefer skin heads because they think that skin heads make a better sound when they are hit. The drumhead is stretched over the bowl of the timpani and held on by screws for tuning the timpani. 

### Tuning the timpani 
The screws that hold and tune the drumhead are called "tension rods". To tune the timpani, the "tension rods" can all be tightened or loosened. The timpani makes a higher sound if the tension rods are made tighter, and a lower sound if they are loosened. There are usually around seven tension rods on the timpani. 

## Machine timpani 
Tuning a timpani by turning every tension rod by itself can be very hard, so some timpani makers invented different ways to change the drum's pitch more quickly. 

### Chain timpani 
In a chain timpani, the tension rods are all attached to a chain. This chain is hooked up to a lever, and when a player moves the lever back and forth, it tightens and loosens all the screws at the same time to change the pitch of the drum.

In the beginning of the 20th century, some mallets had shafts made out of whale bones and heads made out of sponges.

## Techniques 
With a pedal timpani, a player can produce different sound effects using the pedals. Performing glissando on timpani demands switching the pedals. Glissando is generated by pressing the pedal during the vertebra. Furthermore it is possible to play glissando at any volume level up or down. For example, Alexander Rahbari, an outstanding Iranian-Austrian composer used glissando effect produced by switching timpani pedals in the opening of his piece, Persian Mysticism Around G, where the player moves from Bb up to C and then rolling down to G(see the timpani part on right below).   

## Related pages
* Drum
* Pedal (music)

## References 
## Other websites 
* Timpani FAQ  by Dwight Thomas, Lead Timpanist, Omaha Symphony
* Video  of Stuart Marrs, chairman of the University of Maine music department, performing the March from *Eight Pieces for Four Timpani*