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Dampening and mallets

Notes about the dampening of the timpani skins and about the mallets.

The dampening

The dampening occurs when you stick your fingertips on the timpani skin.

The fingers that you'll use are the thumb, the middle finger, the ring finger and the little finger, while the forefinger keeps the mallet in its fold. At the beginning you can use the middle finger, the ring finger and the little finger, becouse it may be difficult to use four fingers to soft the sound and, besides, you are not able to keep the mallet with the four finger, yet.

In order to damp a stroke, fingers will have always to lay in a gentle and light way, to avoid that the impact should turn into another stroke: it will be the sensibility acquired by the fingers, to create the dampening - when your fingers become sensitive they will perceive the vibrations of the skin and will stop them.

An important question about the dampening is the following one:

When and how must a note be damped?

bearing in mind that:

1 - notes are produced by striking the skins of the timpani ( the resultant effect is the stroke and its resonance);

2 - there is a difference of resonance between different timpani ( a strong stroke hit on a low note of the timpani 32" produces a longer resonance than one produced by the same stroke hit on an acute note of the timpani 23" or 21");

3 - the phenomenon of sympathetic vibrations exists (a stroke hit on a timpano creates a resonance in the nearby timpani);

4 - timpani are at determined sound (in order to read timpani we use the bass clef) so the notes produced by the strokes must be distinguishable and identifiable;

the factors that may give an answer can be the following ones:

- the most important characteristic of the timpani is its stroke and resonance which make possible to identify both the instrument, and the produced note. For this reason the dampening mustn't occur too much close to stroke in the short strokes. If you don't make the note sufficiently resound, the result could be an indefinite sound stroke without resonance (similar to a stroke hit on a low tom-tom)

- the identification of the note is very important. You have tendentially to damp much less (your hand should touch the skin partially damping it), or you shouldn't damp at all.

If you damp less you can obtain a desired "sonorous enrichment" that is better than a "sonorous impoverishment" got with a mathematical and powerful dampening.

- the dampening through the fingers has to be delicate and essential without waste of movements, almost trying not to press ( an excessive and useless pressure provokes an eveding effect and an exaggerated pressure of the fingers provokes another stroke or an extraneous noise). (sometime it occurs the dampening by putting the felt of the mallets on the skin)

- the not audible vibrations generally must only be damped at the end of a phrase;

- the timbric differences obtainable by striking with different mallets ( for example with felt or with wood) may determine the need of different dampening.

In short, it is both the phrasing and the knowledge of the mentioned above elements, as well as your own sensibility and your musical background, that indicate when and now much a stroke must resound.

The mallets

The quality of the sound of the timpani essentially depends on the mallets used.

The hardness of the stroke, the power of the sound and the timbric, are possible only using appropriate the suitable mallets.

- a standard set of mallets consist of 5 pairs:

very soft - soft - medium - hard - vary hard

but usually a timpanist has a wider equipment, with various special mallets, also arranged in set of four to perform chords or other.

The most suitable and refined material for the mallets handles is bamboo with a diameter that varies from 11 to 14 mm. This material, which is easy to be found, is naturally sonorous and makes it possible to realize a mallet with a final weight ( a complete mallet) that can vary from 28 grams to about 38-40 grams, depending on the demands (heavier mallets may be little handy).

Wooden handles, almost always of hard wood, even resistant and durable, prove to be heavy (45 grams and more) and little handy. A proper wood that gives good result is pine.

Another suitable material is the aluminum.

Mallets are generally covered with soft felt, or with other material (skin, cloth, wool), and the internal head of cork, or wood, (or hard felt).

The experienced tympanist generally makes his mallets by himself, or used mallets built by famous and specialized brands of the sector.

Let's analize all the details:

- a wooden head with a diameter of 2 cm covered with a thin layer of soft felt, produces a

staccato sound.

- a head in wood, or in cork, whit a diameter of 2 cm without covering, or with a thin doeskin

covering produces a very staccato sound.

- middle and soft sounds are obtainable with a wooden or cork with a diameter of 2,5 cm, covered

with a varying layer of soft felt.

- if in the staccato sounds, very staccato, middle and soft, described in the three preceding point,

you increase the dimension of the head, you can get the same sound, even though more powerful,

dynamic being equal.

- a wooden, cork or hard felt head with a double covering in soft felt, produces very soft sounds.

- a staccato sound and a soft one (tied up) are obtainable by the use of just a pair of middle type mallets, possibly with a wooden head. You can obtain a staccato sound if you press your fingers (thumb, index and middle) when you hit, while pressure you can get a soft sound with no.

- you can get different timbres if you use mallets which have no covering, with the head made up of different types of wood (beech, birch, pine), different types of cork (natural-agglomerate) or different types of hard felt with different size and forms ( in the shape of a disk, a wheel, a ball and so on). B.F.