timpani

i am the piano player and sometimes timpani player on the band . BUT i dont know How to play the timpani , any one can help MEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

i need to learn how to play because , there ar esome score needme to play the timpani

dark-ask

Dark, its very simple: Bang on the drums and call it good!

Lol I am totally kidding. I honestly have no idea.

Piano and timpani? That's odd, but hey, welcome to the world.

What exactly do you want to know? I play and I can tell you... It's easy to play timpani...not easy to be good at it.

What exactly do you want to know? I play and I can tell you... It's easy to play timpani...not easy to be good at it.

how to play the roll

:D: Disclaimer: The word "stroke" is the proper word to use in percussion technique. Also, head, shaft, and varying speeds.To anyone not in percussion mode, this will sound bad...be mature people.::End Disclaimer

The proper way to play the roll on timpani is to single stroke with each mallet, repeatedly, of course. That is, strike once with your left hand, and then with your right hand, and repeat. The timpani rings so much, if you do it fast enough and even enough it will be fine even if it's not perfect. You can practice just patting your legs in your free time. get used to doing one hand right after the other at a fast pace. It doesn't have to be a super fast pace. Strive for absolute evenness.

The first minute or so of this video is nothing but rolls. Watch closely.

Firstly, timpani mallets mustn't be held tightly. The most pressure on the mallet should be between your thumb and 1st fingers. The other fingers only offer support and guidance. Your thumb and forefinger should be about 3/4 of the way to the bottom of the mallet. Some say 2/3 of the way, I say whatever, don't hold near the head of the mallet, and don't hold at halfway, hold it lower. Be comfortable.

Volume is determined by stick height, with minimal force to guide the stick downward. The majority of your work is put into raising the mallet, and guiding it to strike the proper place on the timpani. This being said, you should excerpt the same amount of force to play the timpani with your mallets an inch away, as you would with your mallet a foot away. Again, do not grip the mallet tightly. Hold it enough so that you have full control over it, and no more. It should sit loosely in your hand, but completely in your control.

Now, in the video.....

Notice his mallet height, almost up to his chin with each stroke. This will give you a very forte dynamic and, I'm guessing, isn't what you want. But if so, play on.

His mallets go very a very high height near his chin and slowly drop down to where he's barely lifting them a few inches between each stroke.

You'll notice that at the height of his mallets governs 2 things: A) the volume of the roll, and B) the space allowed between each mallet stroke. It's a simple concept, the higher the height of the mallets=the louder each strike=the longer the timpani rings= the slower your strokes can be to maintain a constant sound in a roll. In that order. On the contrary; the lower your mallet height=the lesser volume on the timpani=the less it rings=the more often you have to strike to maintain an even, constant sound. Get it?

You want the spacing to be even between each hand. That is to say, for instance, if you were to repeatedly play the drum with 1 hand, bouncing, each mallet stroke may have exactly 1 second between them(that is extremely slow, you cannot roll at such a pace, but it's an easy number to visualize). So every 1 second, exactly, your (right hand, lets say) strikes the timpani. So, if that was the case, you would want your left hand to also take exactly 1 second between each stroke. However, these hands, of course, need to be staggered. SO... if you were counting the seconds while playing, you'd want your right hand to strike on 0.0......left at 0.5.........right 1.......Left 1.5........Right 2.0, etc. This would be so much easier to demonstrate, rather than type. Sorry if I'm speaking very plainly to you, I'm just in teacher mode, trying to speak plainly, and I'm not sure of your playing level...

Some exercises you can do. Get a metronome and set it to 60, or a clock that ticks, and tap the beat of the tick with each a single mallet, one hand at a time. Focus on just your right hand for maybe a minute, then your left for maybe a minute. Use this to practice your grip. Remember, loose, but in full control. If your hand is cramping, you are gripping to mallet too tightly. This will help with your timpani playing overall, but this is especially important on rolls because the timpani will ring longer when struck correctly. Then, after a minute each, play both hands at the same time, with each hand playing together on each tick for a minute. Then, the next minute, alternate hands. Right, Left, Right, Left, etc...each second (or beat, on the quarter). Get used to the feel of the alternating. Let the mallets fall naturally, instead of you forcing them. Let gravity do all the work. The next minute, each hand gets the 8th note. Then try playing 16th notes. Once you get to 16th notes, it's easier to set the metronome to 120 so you have a beat every time your right hand strikes. Eventually, try 32nd notes. Once you get to 64 notes, you're rolling.....PUN DEFINITELY INTENDED....

Hope this helps. Let me know how it goes...

Piano and timpani? That's odd, but hey, welcome to the world.

Actually, Heckel, it's not that odd. You find a lot of bands/orchestras, especially at schools, will have piano players in the percussion section. This is how I got into percussion, actually. Piano/organ/whatever players know keyboards better than anyone else (besides percussion keyboard specialists) so the percussion lure is natural. Once you're back there, you learn all the other toys and timpani is one of them.

A lot of times, groups will have piano players, but not necessarily have piano parts in every song, but in school, they'd be required to enroll in the class and stay there the entire class time. So, instead of playing half the songs, and sitting bored the other half of the time, they find something to do that's an easy transition. Movie scores are the big one. Usually you need several percussionists because so many different instruments will be needed, so much so that each person will double or more on many instruments in the percussion section. I know when I was in the concert band, every John William's piece had me in full responsibility over all the keyboard like instruments. Sometimes, I'd have Marimba, Xylo, Glockenspiel, Vibes, and Chimes all in one piece, while someone else had timpani, 2 cymbals, and a tambourine, and someone else had toms, shakers and snare.

It's standard, and I eventually got good at running around, but boy sight reading was always fun.

wow

thank u a lot