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decrease the dynamics when the melody descends.

At the end of the third


movement of Max Bruchs Violin Concerto No. 1, the violin line ascends
and descends. Timpanists may shape this part by growing louder as the vi-
olin line ascends and becoming softer as the line descends. This has the ef-
fect of not only reinforcing the violin line, but it also gives the music a
sense of surge and decline. Phrases or motives may be played progres-
sively louder until the nal downbeat is reached. This has the effect of
pushing the music forward rhythmically, gradually intensifying the feeling
of the music, and giving the downbeat or tonic note the strongest accent.
There are times in which a phrase is written at one dynamic level but the
orchestration suggests a crescendo. In that case, the phrase can be played
at the marked dynamic level for several counts or measures, then de-
crescendo every so slightly (almost inaudibly), and in the nal measures
crescendo to the end. This method establishes the dynamic level at the be-
ginning of the phrase and then permits a crescendo into the nal measure
to bring out the meaning of the music. A good example can be found at the
end of the rst movement of Dvorks Symphony No. 9 (see example 2.2).
The timpanist plays the rst measure at fortissimo, inaudibly decrescen-
dos to forte in the next bar, and then crescendos to fortissimo in the last
four measures of the roll. See the companion Web site for a marked tim-
pani part.
2.2. Inaudible decrescendos
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
?4
8
f
A succession of legato notes may need to be phrased, too. A legato
note is a broad, connecting note that allows other notes of a phrase to ow
easily one into another. Phrased legato notes are notated in one of two
ways. First, a series of notes may be slurred. Second, a composer may
write a tenuto mark above (or below) the notesignifying that the note
should be played its written value. However, the musical context often de-
termines whether or not notes should be played in a legato fashion. Where
it is clear that the composer meant notes to be tied more closely together,
the notes may be treated as legato notes.
Legato notes present particular problems to the timpanist. On the
timpani, the sound of a single legato note decays fairly rapidly. At slow
tempos, a legato note becomes something less than a legato note: the rel-
atively rapid decay of the note prevents a real legato note from sustaining
its tone. Perhaps this is why George Frideric Handel wrote rolled notes in
the rst movement of the Royal Fireworks. At this very slow and deliberate
tempo, single legato notes may not sustain the sound in the way a roll
would. The decay of the note is particularly problematic if the timpanist is
playing in the upper register of the drums or on smaller drums. In the
drums upper register, the tightness of timpano head prevents the note
from resonantly ringing for a longer period of time. This is less true with

Musical Interpretation and the Timpanist 39

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