The word "timpani" is correct in written English
It is used to refer to a type of large, orchestral drum that is played with mallets, often found in classical music.
Example: "The symphony's finale was enhanced by the powerful sound of the timpani."
Alternatives: "kettledrums" or "tuned drums."
For a while he embraced the Catholic mysticism of St John of the Cross, which led to stupendous explosions of timpani.
As the sun climbs over Dharavi, a rising timpani of metal on metal, a whirring of small machinery, indicate that the working-day has begun.Ramesh Kadam is at his desk in the Peela Bangla (Yellow Bungalow) tannery company.
These two dramatic opening minutes close with an uneasy drumroll, and at that moment it seems as if the music has reached an unexpected and premature end.But out of a tiny timpani figure, the work springs into life again, and this kind of musical rejuvenation repeats itself, with "little, unseen things", as Mr Norgard puts it, providing the basis for a subsequent section.
Confining musical discussion to those portions of the requiem that are mostly from Mozart's own mind, the orchestra most often focuses on the strings, with woodwinds featured when greater poignancy is needed and brass and timpani largely relied on for forceful moments.
In the 19th century the timpani were used in more varied and expressive ways, a development stimulated in large part by the innovations of Ludwig van Beethoven.
(To hear audio clips of a variety of drums, see bass drum, changgo, snare drum, tambourine, tenor drum, and timpani.) Tubular drums assume many shapes (goblet, hourglass, barrel, etc.) and are considered shallow if the height is less than the diameter.
The tone poem begins with brass and timpani setting a tense and ominous mood.
The former include the xylophone, marimba, vibraphone, glockenspiel, timpani, and chimes.
The expressive resources of the timpani include reiteration of persistent rhythms, dramatic crescendos, sudden stresses, and atmospheric rolls.
In Mannheim, Germany, the Bohemian Johann Wenzel Stamitz developed a remarkably well-trained orchestra that by 1756 comprised (in addition to 30 strings) four horns, pairs of flutes, oboes, clarinets, bassoons, trumpets, and timpani.
The permanent orchestral use of timpani dates from the mid-17th century, early examples being in Matthew Locke's Psyche (1673) and Jean-Baptiste Lully's opera Thésée (1675).
