foreign [Music] methods today we're changing some timpani heads you're going to need a new head one or two timpani tuning Keys these need to match the drums that you have Yamaha and Ludwig uses an oversized Square design it's larger than a standard drum key Adam's timpani use a large hexagonal tuning key so you might need to buy a few that match the model of your drums some blocks of wood this keeps the pedal from snapping as you relieve the tension on the head some regular old masking tape some white lithium grease a few Rags some general timpani mallets a permanent marker depending on whether or not the bearing edge of your bowl has any kind of coating on it you might need some Teflon tape you can find this at the hardware store look in the plumbing aisle optionally you can also use a drum dial which helps with the initial clearing of the head since Tiffany has so many overtones and it can be tricky to hear the pitch of the different tension rods you should change out any timpani head that needs frequent clearing isn't holding pitch isn't articulate doesn't project has excessive wear or has been damaged or defaced in any way these heads are in okay shape but I am having to clear them more often and they're just not quite projecting as much as I'd like so it's time to switch them out there are two timpani specific things you need to do to the drum to prepare for the head change the first is to block the pedal so it doesn't snap as you take the tension off of the old head I'm using the stack of two by fours that I cut and assembled to raise up non-high adjustable marimbas this actually works really really well L for blocking the pedal we're probably working with balanced action timpani so there's no kind of clutch or any kind of locking mechanism on the pedal there's just a really strong spring underneath that counteracts the tension on the head so you can get the range of pitches that that drum needs as we remove tension from the old head if we don't block the pedal it'll snap in the toe down position it's really bad for the drum but you also don't want to relieve all the spring tension because currently it's balanced to give you the range that you need on the instrument so we're going to put some wood underneath the toe part of the pedal I'm going to take two of these two by fours stacked on top of each other and slip them underneath the pedal and then push down on the toe until everything is locked into place the second thing we need to do to prepare the drum is Mark with a little piece of masking tape on the rim or the playing zone is so I'll leave a little piece right here this is above the pedal and right by the playing Zone we marked the rim because after we put on the new head we want it to be in the same position radially as it was with the old head now that the rim is marked with masking tape and the toe of The Petal is all the way forward against the wood blocks I'm going to take inventory of what the pitch is so I have a reference for what I put on the new head [Music] so checking that against a pitch pipe it's about a C sharp so that's my target when I put on the new head with the pedal still blocked now we can start to let off the tension on the old head I like to take two keys on opposite sides of the drum and give it a full turn to the left and then move clockwise to the next pair full turn to the left and again we'll turn to the left I'll repeat that process until I can remove the old head and rim if it's been a while since you've changed your timpani heads you might find that the old head is stuck to the rim give it some pressure and it should pop loose it's not a bad idea to keep your old timpani heads as long as they're in okay shape just in case your new ones get damaged check the underside of the rim and remove any dirt debris or dust bunnies that might be hanging out down there now that that's clean set the rim aside someplace where it won't get dirty take a clean dry rag and dust out the interior of the bowl your timpani may or may not have a smooth coating on the bearing Edge that is the top edge of the bowl where it contacts the head these already have a coating applied if yours don't you can add a strip of Teflon tape this will help prevent the head from squeaking and makes the travel smooth over the bearing Edge as you change the tension take your new head and set it on the bowl you'll find the timpani heads have much more play side to side than do standard drum heads try and keep it as centered as possible I like to put the stamp opposite the playing Zone take your rim with the tension rod still on it and carefully place it around the new head making sure to not touch it with the tension rods where it might get dirty make sure that the rim has your masking tape marking toward the performer before I start threading the tension rods I'm going to put a little bit of white lithium grease on them to make sure that they move smoothly just a little bit here on the bottom of the threads and then you can start threading them into the casings your fingers are probably going to get a little bit greasy during this process it's nice to have a rag on hand so you can wipe them off there's grease on all of my tension rods and I've started threading them into the casings I'm going to finger tighten them and along the way check that all the tension rods are vertically aligned and not off to the side I'm also going to check that the head is as centered as possible on top of the bowl I've got all the tension rods finger tight they're all straight up and down and the head looks centered it's time to start adding some tension take your tuning keys go to opposite tension rods and give them both a full 180 degree turn then go to the next pair full 180 degree turn this 23 inch drum only has six tension rods of the final pair one full turn take a mallet and check the pitch the note I'm looking for is C Sharp then I'll know I can remove the blocks and start clearing oh definitely too low I'm going to repeat the tensioning process until I get to the note I need [Applause] okay I've reached C sharp I should be able to put my foot on the pedal and using heel down the pedal should stay and I can remove the blocks now if you try to go heel down on the pedal and it snaps back to toe down you need to add a little bit more tension to the Head with the drum at its lowest note with a clean hand I'm going to give a little bit of gentle pressure in the center of the head to try and keep everything clear and aligned you don't need to use a whole lot of pressure just as much as you would use to open a door now's a good time to check that the head is in the correct range you should be able to get the proper lowest note and highest note for this 23 inch drum I can go down to a c and up to an a [Music] this head is still a little bit flat so I'm going to bring the tension up one more time [Applause] [Music] okay I'm pretty close to that top a that I need so now I'm going to start clearing the head clearing just means adjusting the tension rods that they're all at the same pitch so that the head is in tune with itself this will make the pitch more defined it'll be more resonant it'll have better articulation when I'm clearing the drum I like to set it in the mid to high range I'm going to put this drum on a g according to the gauge here then I'm going to tap with a clean not greasy finger like a rim shot around all the tension rods searching for ones that are too low compared to the others foreign [Music] any particular tension rod that's too low but I did find one that was higher than the others so I'm going to raise all the ones except for that one just a quarter turn all right I've done an initial round of clearing so I'm going to take the drum back down to its lowest note and do some timpani CPR with some gentle pressure in the center of the head keep that clearing process of doing a rim shot with my finger by all the tension rods searching for any that are too low and bringing them up in small increments using the tool like a drum dial can be really really useful because timpani are full of overtones and it can be hard to hear the pitch of all the individual tension rods although this isn't a substitute for tuning by ear it does help you get a good Baseline clearing for when you put on a new head whenever you use a drum dial make sure it's always the same distance from the rim it has this little Rim gauge on here and I'm going to put that right above the bearing Edge which I can see through the head I want to take a few measurements of what these tension rods are reading at so first one says 83. next one says 85 a difference but not a huge difference this next one says 84. so just looking at these first three tension rods it seems like 84 is going to be a good number to shoot for I'll place the drum dial and make small adjustments up or down in the tension rods as necessary then I'm going to bring the drum back down to its lowest note do a little timpani CPR then take another reading with the drum dial I'm going to repeat that process until they're all reading 84. foreign after doing a few rounds with the drum dial to get all the tension rods reading the same number I'm going to do another round of tuning by ear using the rimshot method [Music] the last step of the head changing process is to take a permanent marker and right above the stamp indicate the month and year you change the head foreign this will help gauge how long ahead has been on a drum and whether or not it really needs to be changed let's take a listen to what this new head is sounding like [Music] it has a really nice projection really nice articulation and the pitch is already pretty clear for it being a new head you might find that it takes a few days for them to open up and become more sensitive and the head will stretch slightly and clear with itself so it's best to take this drum and store it with the cover on with it at medium tension normally we want to store them at low tension because it helps not wear out the head and wear out the spring mechanism but keeping it for a few days at medium will help get that head in tune with itself come back with your keys and do another round of clearing and your drum should be good to go head selection with timpani is a little bit tricky mostly in finding the right sizes for most modern drums you actually need to purchase a head that's two inches greater in diameter than the diameter of the drum so this is a 23 inch tympano tympano singular timpani plural this is a 23 inch timpanel we needed to purchase a 25 inch diameter head now if you have some older drums or some really really nice timpani you might need slightly different head sizes with different type of Rim shapes so talk to your percussion vendor of choice give them the model number of your drums and they should be able to point you in the right direction for Tiffany heads I like the Remo Renaissance clear they have great articulation great projection they feel good to play on they're easy to clear and they hold pitch really really nicely [Music] thank you