Andy’s Great Timpani Info Page

Dear Andy, I want timpani  for my school but I don’t have any money - where do I start?

I will make an assumption that since it is a school and budgets being what they are, money is tight. That being said, fiberglass bowls are always cheaper than copper and they sound pretty good. They are also far more durable if travel or a harsh environment is a concern.

After the bowl choice comes the frame choice. There are timpani like the Ludwig and Pearl universal models, and the Majestic harmonic series. These types of drum have the guts and tension system inside the bowl and generally have some sort of fold up or retractable legs. They have the advantage of extreme portability and lightness and low price. The down side is some loss of projection and sustain due to a non-suspended bowl and copper models in this style of frame are rather vulnerable to transit bowl abuse otherwise known as TBU.

Moving up from there is the more familiar cage style frames where the bowl is bolted (ok sound) into an external frame or hung (better sound) inside said external frame. These are very common styles of drum and they work very well. The frame protects the bowl, improves the sound and provides for safer (though heavier) transit.

The final frame style is the European heavies-big, cast frames designed a century ago-great sound, usually very very heavy but sturdy and virtually no mechanical problems. They tend to be for the pro orchestra as they are very expensive.

That being said, the only other decision, well almost, becomes the type of pitch adjustment system.

Hand crank drums are timpani with no pedal or frame but a hand operated device to change the pitch. Great as period instruments and very portable but rare and not suited for student use or repertoire with a lot of fast and numerous pitch changes as you can't tune by hand and play a roll at the same time.

Pedal tuned timps fall into three categories: Balanced action, clutch and post and German- either Dresden or Berlin style.

Balanced action timpani are easy to spot and use. Common to most all Ludwig models except the Ludwig ringer and Dresden  models, they are also found on all Yamaha, the Adams professional series and the Majestic harmonic and symphonic series.

Balanced action pedals do not lock into position, there is a spring that pulls against the head so it is always balanced, or maybe they are called balanced because the pedal pivots over a centre point just like a kids see-saw.

This style is the least expensive and very very easy to use. They rarely break down BUT they do need relatively fresh heads to function well. If the head is worn it won't pull as well on the spring and then the pedal won't stay down or up and you get a reduced range and pitch slipping. Changing the heads helps a lot in this case. The Ludwig’s version of balanced action is the least effective with everyone else's version being pretty equal and better than the Ludwig design.

The next style of pedal, the clutch and post can be found on the Adams Universal and Symphonic series, the Majestic symphonic grand series as well as all of the Premier timpani.

This is basically a pedal that slides up or down on a post and locks onto it when the toe plate is released. The pitch won't slip, heads will last a lot longer and you can feel the note, in that the pedal is harder to push as the pitch goes up. They are usually a little more in price, they are  only a little more challenging to operate but rarely need adjustment. They have excellent range and head longevity and they will stay at the pitch you set them at. They tend to be pretty maintenance free.

The last style of pedals, the Germans are pretty complicated. They are essentially a locking pedal that uses a lateral foot release to disengage a toothed (sometimes) gear and a fine tuner and a lot of bells and whistles and well, truthfully if you have to ask you can't afford them-they are in the range of $6000. each and up......

So back to cost. The best value we have in new drums is the Majestic series. You can find out more about them at majestic-percussion.com.

Another great maker is Adams, also from Holland. They are distributed by Pearl USA. They cost more but the shipping is less so they are pretty comparable.