The Percussion Section

There are so many different kinds of percussion instruments!
With a name that means, "the hitting of one body against another," instruments in the percussion family are played by being struck, shaken, or scraped.
(dsokids.com)

Today we're going to focus on the timpani.

Timpani, are sometimes called kettledrums because they are shaped like big copper kettles. In fact they are often made of copper. They have a piece of calfskin or thin plastic stretched over their opening. This is called a drum head. Timpani are very important in the orchestra because they "underline" important chords. They are usually played in pairs - sometimes in threes or fours - because each drum is tuned to a different pitch
(playmusic.com)

Let's look carefully at a timpani!

Now, how would you play a timpani?
Let's look at how a Wii game mimicks the timpani!




Let's hear the timpani!
Watch the timpanist play a solo.