Timpani

The drums are the most ancient instruments in history. By stretching skins of animals on a wooden frame, different peoples created various drums. In African tribes, you can still notice the importance they keep to this very day, in festivities, dancing, rituals and even communication, delivering messages over a big distance. Similarly, in every other civilization on the face of the earth, the drum is always a member in folk music.

In the orchestra, the drums play the role of underlining the rhythm and backing the orchestra in sections of music charged in energy and atmosphere.

- The timpani, the big kettledrums (shaped as large kettles - the source of their name), allow tuning in accordance to the piece performed, and they were introduced to the orchestra by Lully. Handel used no less than 16 of them, along with 12 side drums, in his "Water Music", performed outdoors. Berlioz expanded the possibilities of combining them in orchestration and their notation system, and in fact made them equal partners.

Richard Strauss uses the timpanies as a declaration in the opening to his symphonic poem "Also Sprach Zarathustra". Prokofiev emphasizes the hunters' gunshots in "Peter and the Wolf" with their help.

Snare Drum

- The Grand drum is the bass drum, producing an unpitched sound, and it intensifies atmosphere in the orchestra: a strong, echoing sound, produced by a strong hammering, and mysterious gloom in the light beat.

- The side drum is the parade drum, and the scattering sound of its drumsticks is its characteristic sound. In Ravel's "Bolero", it plays the rhythm throughout the entire piece. Rossini opens his overture to "The Thieving Magpie" ("La Gazza Ladra") with this instrument.

- The Tambourine is smaller than orchestral drums. At the sides of the rim, on which the leather is stretched, are metal jingles, providing its unique ringing sound.

Drums in different cultures

Drummers in Japan

Drummers in Africa