tively.

This technique is particularly effective if the roll is written as a di-

minuendo. In the fourth movement of the New World Symphony (seven
measures after 12), Dvork writes a fortissimo roll that diminuendos to
nothing eight measures later. Beginning at the fth measure of that roll
after two measures of diminuendothe timpanist can begin to brighten
the color of sound until the end of the phrase is reached. This feathering
out of the tone is particularly effective in this passage because Dvork is
making a diminuendo and is lightening the forces of the orchestra. Dvork
progressively eliminates the brass and then thins out the woodwinds: the
result is a brightening of the sound. Thus, timpanists can support the rest
of the orchestra by brightening their sound, too.
Dampening or mufing notes are an important part of phrasing.
There are three fundamental reasons to dampen a note for the purpose of
phrasing. First, the nature of the timpani is to ring full and resonant. How-
ever, there are times when the ring must be stopped. Timpani are damp-
ened at the end of a phrase where it is clear a ring would interfere with the
subsequent musical line. Second, timpanists mufe timpani for harmonic
reasons. It is not uncommon in Romantic music for the keys to change
abruptly. To let a note well written for one key to bleed over into the new
key often creates a dissonance that is so objectionable that the note must
be mufed. Finally, there are times when in playing two consecutive notes,
the rst note should be mufed so the second can be heard. This mufing
might be for dynamic or aesthetic reasons. Often composers in the Classi-
cal and Romantic periods wrote a subito dynamic marking: an immediate
change in dynamicsfrom forte to piano, for example. Without mufing
the forte note, the piano note is rarely heard. In these cases, timpanists
must develop the dexterity to quickly mufe the louder note so that the
softer note can be heard. Beethoven uses subito dynamic changes often. In
the third movement of Symphony No. 7, he writes a difcult phrase that
requires the timpanist to mufe very quickly and effectively (see example
2.15). In this and other examples, the luftpause is my notation for muf-
ing. Mufing is done immediately after the note on the downbeat. This
sticking gives the timpanist enough time to get into position to mufe the
penultimate note. Finally, there may be aesthetic reasons to mufe a note
prior to playing the nal note in a gure; for example, the timpanist may
want the nal note to ring without any interference from the previous
note. Often one notethe dominant or subdominant beneath the tonic
is written prior to the tonic. Acoustically, the lower notes have a tendency
to detract from the power of the tonic. Where the presence of the tonic is
very critical to the musical line, it may be important to mufe the lower
note so the tonic is allowed to establish its place in the music.

2.15. Mufing to execute soft passages

,R R R R R R
? 43
L R L R L R L

f p

50 Timpani Tone and the Interpretation of Baroque and Classical Music