(...continued from page 1) Calfskin can be very difficult to work with since it responds rapidly (and sometimes disastrously!) to changes in temperature and humidity. For instance, if the room temperature drops and the humidity rises (as can happen if someone opens a door or window on a cool cloudy day), the pitch of the drum will drop rapidly. In addition, the tension of the head rarely changes uniformly which means that the pitch becomes less clear.

Despite this difficulty, calf is absolutely necessary for a proper baroque sound; it has a much warmer character and much less harsh contact sound than plastic heads.

The third major difference is the sticks. Modern timpani sticks are usually around 15-17 inches long and have a felt-wrapped ball at one end. This sort of stick is designed to get the sort of dark, round sound one might associate with the music of Brahms or Mahler.

Baroque mallets are much shorter, about 12 inches, and have small wooden (or sometimes ivory) heads. The sound produced with these stick is much more articulate and “drummy”.

Some secondary differences between modern and Baroque timpani are that until the mid 18th century, timpani had no counterhoops (a counterhoop is the metal ring found on modern drums of all types that presses down on the outer edges of the drumhead creating the tension necessary to get a tone out of the drum; it’s often called the “rim” of the drum). The head is lapped directly onto the hoop that bears the tension.

Another rather odd difference is the presence of a metal funnel inside some Baroque drums called “schalltrichter”.(continued on page 3...)