("Symphony No.5 in C minor,
Op.67 III.Allegro" by Beethoven) - The instruments that I'm
playing are called timpani, or kettle drums. They are used basically as in the position of sort of driving the bus, or driving the rhythm with the orchestra. That's generally my main
job within the ensemble, is to lead from the back, if you will. I am placed at the back, in the center, and on risers, and
that's so that I can sort of have a unique vantage point,
like that of the conductor. (orchestral music) All timpani do not look alike, depends on the age,
and the type of copper. For example, the timpani that
I have are not lacquered. It gives it sort of a special quality that's somehow, for me it's very, present, but somehow can be intangible sometimes. But it definitely depends
on the bowl shape, the actual type of bowl, the
drum head that you put on it, and obviously the type of sticks you use. (timpani booming) I brought with me three
different types of sticks to show you some of the many
types of sticks that I do own. Sticks can be any number of
shapes, sizes, thickness, the type of core you use can be different, the length and everything. So, here we have a hickory
stick, that has a tapered shaft, that has a felt core
with billard felt on it. So, it's articulate type of sound. Next we have a sort of a general mallet. This is actually a graphite stick, that has a wood core and has
a felt liner on it as well, more of general sound. This one here is a bamboo
stick, that, same thing, has a German felt lined around it, but this core is a felt core. And so between the different weights, the different lengths, as you can see, and the different head sizes, you can see you can get
a variety of sounds. And this is one of very
many types of sticks that I own and do use. There's generally one
place where you wanna strike the drum, and that's
generally four to six inches off the lip of the bowl, or maybe six or seven
inches from the very rim. That creates the most resonant, most desirable sound to the ear. New music sometimes dictates, and asks us to play all over. ("Blast!" By David Stock) Some composers do specify what
they want as far as sticks. Hector Berlioz was the first composer who actually was a timpanist himself, who specified whether
he wanted wood sticks, or the way he called it, which
was sponge covered sticks, which in our vernacular
is felt covered sticks. And so he was the first
composer to sort of specify, Mahler specifies, and some
other composers specify, but generally, it's my
call as to what sticks are being used, or I choose what stick that I feel is appropriate
for the repertoire, or in some cases, appropriate
for the particular note that I'm playing in the repertoire. I have a myriad of sticks, and I change throughout the
pieces to find the best sound. ("Symphony No.4 in F minor,
Op.36 IV.Finale" by Tchaikovsky) Timpani are tuned in two ways. One is by my feet, and the other is by my hands when I'm not playing. I can use my feet to push on a pedal that's located near the floor. (timpani booming) And that changes the pitch. basically it stretches
the head across the rim, which stretches the rim
across the actual kettle. And for some tinier, smaller increments, I can use what we call a fine tuner, where you can take it
and you can tweak it, and make different sort of
adjustments that way as well. So sometimes you will see
me put my head really close to the drum and tap, tap, tap. Basically what I am doing is
I am checking to make sure that the pitch that I'm
about to play is in tune with the instruments
that are playing already. Because I use a natural
skin, or cat skin, head, the weather, the type of day, the strength of the lights on stage, a lot of things can affect
the actual fluctuation of the pitch. And that happens in seconds, at times. So you have to be sure, and you have to have a sort of a process
that you go through to check to make sure that when you
actually play, you're in tune. ("Symphony No.9 in E minor,
Op.95 I.Adagio" by Dvorak) There's a lot of great
repertoire that we're doing, but one of the parts that
really sticks out for me, there's actually two, one of them is in Mahler's second symphony. There's a part that comes right back, it's the recapitulation,
where it comes back at the very beginning, and you hear it again maybe
15 or so minutes later. There's two timpanists in that piece, and we're both playing away,
and there's this huge climax, it's the entire orchestra's putting their heart and soul into it, and that's one of those
moments where I get goosebumps, and I feel very, very fortunate
to be doing what I'm doing. ("Symphony No.9 in E minor,
Op.95 I.Adagio" by Dvorak) And one of the other moments
is actually one of the, the end of the Firebird by Stravinsky. It's such a gorgeous and lyric melody that comes up before that, and then there's this sort
of explosion of sound, that I sort of punctuate the
end of this fantastic piece. And those are the moments that really, I live for. (orchestral music) I actually started my
musical career on piano. I went to university on
a full piano scholarship, and long story short, ended
up switching to percussion, and once I decided that I
wanted to become a timpanist, I pretty much put all
of my energy into that. Started my masters at a conservatory
specifically for timpani, and then I was offered a
job shortly thereafter. I was actually a pretty good piano player. The change that happened
for me was actually when I met my teacher, when I
was in school in Indianapolis. He basically lit the fire from me, and once I realized the
possibilities of timpani, it did, it made more of
a comfortable fit for me to sort of enjoy the
music, play less notes, and be able to watch and sit around, versus with piano where you
play lots and lots of notes. It's sort of a different, genre, and a different way of
expressing yourself. And when you put all the pieces together, it really does create
some spectacular moments. ("Academic Festival
Overture Op.80" by Brahms)