In this video I’ll show you a short and seemingly easy exercise meant to develop consistent sound between your two hands. It’s very important that both your right and left hand sound the same when you’re playing timpani, or you will sound like you’re playing on two different instruments.
Timpani Exercise to Develop a Consistent Sound between Both Hands
I don’t mention this in the video, and this might sound like “Advice for Dummies”, but make sure that whenever you play that your sticks are the same weight and have the same degree of softness or hardness.
Practice Exercise for Getting a Consistent Tone Out of Timpani
- Set your metronome to 60 beats per quarter note. This exercise is to work on sound so take your time and don’t rush through it
- Play a series of quarter notes with your right hand and listen to make sure that each stroke sounds the same.
- Play a series of quarter notes with your left hand and listen again to make sure all of your left hand strokes match.
- Play 4 quarter notes with your right hand and then without stopping play another 4 quarter notes and alternate right then left for 8 beats. Pay very close attention to each hand to make sure that everything sounds as if you were playing only with one hand
- Repeat the above exercise but start on the left hand
