notes played in the drums middle and lower register.

The dynamic level of

legato notes played on smaller drums decays quicker than those played on
larger drums. Once again, this limits the ability to produce a legato sound
on these drums. For these reasons, some timpanists argue that the only
truly legato note is the trilled or rolled note: a note that sustains both the
tonal character and dynamics of that note. The theory of contrast helps the
timpanist bring out a legato note. A legato note will sound more legato if
it is preceded and/or succeeded by staccato notes. For example, in the sec-
ond movement of Beethovens Symphony No. 7, the principal phrase can
be articulated in this manner (see example 2.3). This allows the timpanist
to make subtle distinctions between the preceding staccato notes and the
legato note.
2.3. Varying articulation

? 42 - . . - - - . . - - - . . - - - . .
-

Playing in a staccato fashion punctuates specic notes in a phrase.
Technically, the performer attempts to clearly articulate one note from the
next. The duration of any note is less than half that of the written note.
Since the seventeenth century, a staccato note has been notated by a dot or
wedge above or below the note (Turk 1982, 342). But, there is considerable
controversy over the meaning of the wedge and dot. Hermann Keller sur-
mises that after 1600 dots were employed to simply shorten the note, while
wedges were used to shorten and add weight to the note. However, pub-
lishers were notorious for using whatever symbol they desireda problem
for musicians playing the music today. In the eighteenth century, both the
wedge and dot shortened the value of the note by one-half in duple and
one-third in triple meter. During the nineteenth century, the wedge was
often used to indicate a sharp, short staccato note, but its use died out by
the end of the 1800s (Keller 1965, 4851). In addition to using these two
markings, a staccato note can be notated by placing a rest after or before
that note, thus shortening the value of that note. In the Classical and Ro-
mantic periods, composers often chose to write shortened notes by using
the rest (Keller 1965, 48).
As described above, timpanists have gone to great lengths to play
staccato notes. As Cloyd Duff reminds us, a timpano is a legato instrument:
its nature is to ring full and resonant. Thus, the timpanist takes special
pains to shorten the notemany times with less than complete success.
For example, timpanists have played with one mallet, placing the other
mallet somewhere on the timpano head to shorten the note. Timpanists
have resorted to any number and variety of sticks to give different note val-
ues, they have placed mutes made from leather or felt on the heads to
shorten the note, they have draped cloth over the heads, they have played
on a tighter head, and they have adopted a number of different grips and
playing styles to shorten the notes. (See gure 12 for an example of a

40 Timpani Tone and the Interpretation of Baroque and Classical Music