Those Orange Things In The Back

For the most part maintenance of timpani, such as changing heads, adjusting the tuning gauges, or calibrating the foot pedal, should be handled by your band director or a qualified repair technician. However, there are definitely some things that you as a young musician can do to keep the timpani in good working order and sounding good for you and all of the people in your section that you share the instruments with.

• Keep food and drink away from the timpani. Much like the rest of the band room, don't eat around the timpani. Food, soda, Gatorade, etc. can all get onto and into the timpani and have all sorts of bad effects. The mechanism can get dirty, the heads can be stained, leftover food can rot inside the drum...best simply to avoid the problem in the first place. As your band director has probably told you, keep food and drink other than plain water OUT of the band room and away from your drums.
• Keep the heads clear. The tops of the timpani are not shelves, workbenches, or storage areas. Keep your backbacks, books, lunches, underclassmen, etc. off of the drums. This reduces the likelihood that a head will "accidentally" get punctured or otherwise damaged, or some other worse problem.

• Put the covers on. If your school has covers for the timpani, make sure they go back on at the end of every rehearsal. This will reduce the amount of dust and dirt that collects. Your school may also have cardboard cutouts that go on top of the heads before the covers go on; if they are present make sure you use them too.

• Use the correct sticks. Timpani mallets are specially made for playing timpani. Do not use drum sticks, triangle beaters, marching bass drum sticks, or anything other than timpani mallets to play the timpani. This will avoid accidentally puncturing or otherwise damaging the heads.

• Clean the timpani. Every few days use a small amount of Windex on the heads (if your school's timpani has plastic heads) and wipe it away with a soft cloth.

Follow these pointers and you will almost always have timpani that are ready to play at any time.