The timpani for kids: how they work and what to hear

The timpani are large drums shaped like bowls. They are also called kettledrums. Most drums make a thud with no clear note. Timpani are different. Each one is tuned to a note, so the player can play along with the harmony of the orchestra. A set has four drums, played by one person with two soft mallets.

One drum is a timpano. Two or more are timpani.

Quick facts

• Family: percussion
• Size: bowls from about 20 to 32 inches across
• Made of: a copper bowl with a skin or plastic head across the top
• Sound is made by: striking the head with felt mallets
• In an orchestra: one player with a set of four or five drums

How they make sound

The player strikes the head a few inches in from the edge. The head shakes, and the bowl underneath shapes the sound into a clear, deep note.

A big drum gives a low note and a small drum gives a high one. A tighter head gives a higher note.

How they are tuned

Each drum has a foot pedal. Pressing the pedal tightens the head, and the note goes up. Letting it back loosens the head, and the note goes down.

A piece may ask for different notes as it goes along. The timpanist retunes while the orchestra is playing, by leaning close and tapping the head with a light touch to check the note. Listen for it at a concert. It takes a sharp ear.

Rolls and strokes

A single stroke gives one clear boom.

A roll is a stream of fast strokes, left and right in turn. It makes one long, unbroken sound that can swell from a murmur to thunder.

Mallets come with soft, medium, and hard heads. Soft ones give a round tone. Hard ones give a sharp attack.

Where they came from

Kettledrums came to Europe from the Middle East. In the armies of the time, pairs of them were carried on horseback, and they were played with trumpets at royal events. That is why, in older music, the timpani and the trumpets so often play together.

Their job in the orchestra

The timpani sit at the back, in the center or to one side. They mark important moments, drive the rhythm, and build tension with rolls. The timpanist is a specialist who plays only the timpani. Other players cover the rest of the percussion.

Pieces to hear

The opening of the Christmas Oratorio, by Bach. Five strokes on the timpani, alone, start the piece.

Symphony No. 103, “Drumroll,” by Haydn. It opens with a long roll on a single drum.

Symphony No. 9, second movement, by Beethoven. The timpani burst in alone with a loud, jumping figure.

Fanfare for the Common Man, by Copland. The timpani and a bass drum pound before the trumpets enter. See Fanfare for the Common Man for kids.

The hunters in Peter and the Wolf, by Prokofiev. The timpani and the bass drum are the gunshots. See the guide.

Symphony No. 94, “Surprise,” second movement, by Haydn. The timpani give the loud chord its bang. See the guide.

Starting to play

Children do not begin on timpani. They begin with percussion lessons, on a practice pad and a snare drum, and learn to read rhythms and control the sticks. Timpani come later, often in a school band or a youth orchestra, because a child must be tall enough to reach and must have an ear trained to tune.

Many teachers start percussion students at about seven or eight. See percussion instruments for kids.

Things to do together

Pot drums. Turn over two pots of different sizes. Tap each with a wooden spoon wrapped in a cloth. Ask which is lower.

Roll. Tap two fingers on a table, left and right, as fast as you can. Start soft, grow loud, and fade.

Thunder. Play a piece with a timpani roll and draw the storm.

Count the drums. In a concert video, find the timpani at the back and count the bowls.

Print and play

Tick the percussion on the instrument families listening chart. To see where the timpani sit, print the orchestra seating chart. For all four families, see instruments of the orchestra for kids.