MIDI Timpani

My Oklahoma! Setup

2010-02-28T18:06:00.000-08:00

Here is a picture of the drum setup I used for Oklahoma! Notice the volume control pedal.
I plugged the output of the MIDI keyboard into the pedal's INPUT1 jack, and the amplifier to the pedal's OUTPUT1 jack. (If you click on the image, you'll notice that the pedal is not connected to anything. It drains the 9V battery when connected. Good thing I had extra batteries and a screwdriver in my bag :-) BTW, I had to replace the little 15 watt amp with a 65 watt tube amp for the performances because the former was being overpowered by the rest of the orchestra. I must say, this setup worked like a charm.

Alesis DPC

2009-11-17T19:30:00.000-08:00

It just occurred to me that I neglected to describe the most important part of my MIDI timpani setup: My Alesis drum pad controller. It's really easy to program. The only problem with it is that during a live performance, say at a place in a song that calls for a quiet timpani roll, you can hear the sticks hitting the drum pad. (I have a DVD of one of the Oliver! performances, and when I wear headphones, I can hear these noises. Of course, only an electronic percussion geek would care.) One way around this is to turn up the volume on the amp. Timpani mallets may work too, but that defeats the purpose of having the Alesis, since I want to use sticks for everything. Sorta like Neal Peart and his MIDI marimba setup, but in his case, the volume is cranked up!

Oklahoma!

2009-11-17T19:04:00.000-08:00

Well, the musical for the 2009-2010 academic year is Oklahoma! A fine choice, if I may say so, because it means I get to play timpani again. After almost two years of thinking about the problem, I finally figured out how to add dynamics to my MIDI timpani setup: Add a volume control pedal! I don't play the electric guitar (or the electric organ), so I never knew this sort of thing existed until I decided to peruse a guitar catalog one day. My kid has a Fender amp and a guitar effects box with a volume pedal (who knew?), so we plugged the output of the MIDI keyboard into the effects box (which in turn is attached to the amp) and then I played a drum roll on the Alesis drum pad controller (it drives the keyboard) while he adjusted the pedal at the same time, and voila! dynamic control like a real timpani! His effects box makes too much noise in the amp for my taste, but that's not a problem, I guess, if you play your guitar at high volume, but in my case, I would need a quieter setup. Perhaps a simple pedal like this Behringer may do the trick. Stay tuned.

General MIDI

2008-03-13T18:29:00.000-07:00

Although I'm not a keyboard player, even I know that keyboards exist that allow one to play a variety of musical sounds, including fixed pitch percussion instruments like the xylophone and timpani, via a standard known as General MIDI. It turns out even the cheapest portable General MIDI keyboard has a decent collection of sample sounds. But I'm not a keyboardist, I'm a percussionist. I'd rather play timpani with mallets rather than with my uncoordinated fingers. Not only do I find it difficult to simulate a timpani roll with two fingers, but what a pain it would be to have to drop my sticks to tickle the ivories. I have enough trouble finding middle C on the keyboard!

Oliver!

2008-03-04T19:42:00.000-08:00

I recently served in the pit orchestra for a local production of Oliver! "Pit" is a misnomer, for although we were positioned in front of the stage, the audience members could see the tops of our heads. As the percussionist, I had a corner all to myself, but it was a very small corner! If you know anything about the score for Oliver! you will realize there are quite a few timpani parts. I really wanted to use real live timpani, but space (and money!) constraints forced me to think of alternatives. MIDI, anyone?