Those Orange Things In The Back

Welcome! If you already play a percussion instrument, this website will give you an introduction to the TIMPANI, aka the kettle drums. There's all sorts of information here-you can learn about the history of the timpani. There's plenty of information on the different ways to hold timpani mallets. You can learn how to tune, maintain, and care for them, and there's a wealth of exercises to help you build your technique.

Please note that this site is mostly written for students with some percussion experience on other instruments, and assumes that you have a basic fluency with reading rhythms. If you have questions about any of the notation or symbols you see here, please ask your band director or feel free to contact the author.