the part played.

Rather, the timpanist marries the music (the object) and

the timpanists understanding of the music (the subject) and this marriage
constitutes ones subjection to the music. In this subjection, the performer
uses all facets of his or her art to achieve a personal, idiomatic, dynamic
interpretation of the music. Finally, the timpanist must use the tone pro-
duction techniques to produce the sound required by the music and inter-
preted by the conductor. Learning to play gaily, tragically, angrily, happily,
or joyfully requires the timpanist to develop the techniques and approaches
to playing the drums that will permit the musician to support the meaning
of the music. It is at this point that playing the head, exploring various
forms of articulation and musical punctuation, and choosing the appro-
priate sticks and drums become important.

The Theory of Contrast

The theory of contrast is an approach to playing the timpani that addresses

a signicant challenge every timpanist faces: the timpani are not instru-
ments that lend themselves to evoking a wide range of emotions and artic-
ulations. A violin can play very sadly or joyously. A great violinist can make
a violin weep. The trumpet is capable of producing shorter notes than a
timpano. A series of sixteenth notesplayed with good tone qualitycan
be executed much more effectively by a trumpeter than by a timpanist. This
is not to say that timpanists cannot play short notes: they can, but they can-
not achieve the degree of articulation a trumpeter can. Thus, the timpanist
has greater challenges in playing a series of short notes than the trumpeter.
The theory of contrast is an approach helping timpanists nd ways to coax
the appropriate sound from the drum. The theory is based on the principle
that any one technique to elicit a specic sound may be, in itself, insuf-
cient in producing that sound. Therefore, it will be necessary to combine
various techniques, the physical properties of mallets, and the tonal capa-
bilities of the timpani head to the end of producing a particular sound. As
timpanist Mark Yancich of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra says, tim-
panists must pile nuance on nuance to get the proper sound.
The theory of contrast has several applications. The rst two concern
articulation and tone. Timpanists can achieve different degrees of articu-
lation by piling on the nuances. In themselves, smaller, lighter, harder
sticks are often not enough to get the articulation the timpanist needs. In-
stead, timpanists must add other techniques to achieve the degree of artic-
ulation they desire. They can slightly pinch the sticks, play in an individu-
ated manner, snap the sticks off the head, and play slightly more toward
the center of the drum. In short, the sound created by employing one ar-
ticulation technique differs from the sound produced by massing several
techniques. Second, the tonal range of the timpani is relatively limited.
Staccato and legato sticks do not sound very different to many people. For
example, if a heavy dark roll is needed, the timpanist would select a heav-
ier stick with a soft, large head, allow the mallet head to penetrate the tim-

32 Timpani Tone and the Interpretation of Baroque and Classical Music