Page "Timpani" Paragraph 51

It is typical for only one timpani to be struck at a time, but occasionally composers will ask for two notes to be struck at once.

This is called a double stop, a term borrowed from the string instrument vocabulary.

Ludwig von Beethoven uses this effect in the slow movement of his Ninth Symphony.

These demands tend to be made by more modern composers who sometimes require more than two notes at once.

In this case, a timpanist can hold two sticks in one hand much like a marimba performer would, or more than one timpanist can be employed.

In his Overture to Benvenuto Cellini, for example, Hector Berlioz realizes fully voiced chords from the timpani section by requiring three timpanists and assigning one drum to each.

He goes as far as ten timpanists playing three-and four-part chords on sixteen drums in his Requiem, although with the introduction of pedal tuning, this number can be reduced.