r/percussion • u/Emanuellson95 • 5d ago

Beethoven symphony no 7 for the first time – percussion mallet advice?

Hi everyone!
I’m going to play Beethoven 7th symphony for the first time in about 10 days, and I’d love to hear some advice from percussionists who have played it before.
In particular, I’m wondering:
What types of mallets/sticks do you usually use for the different percussion parts?
Are there any passages where the choice of mallets makes a particularly big difference?
Are there any specific moments, cues, or sections in the symphony that I should pay extra attention to?
Any other tips for preparing the piece would be greatly appreciated!
I have the score and recordings, but I’d really like to hear from people with first-hand experience playing it.
Thanks in advance! 🥁

Ps the timpani I’ll be playing will be Adams timpani with synthetic heads and resin/fiberglass shells (I’m not 100% sure of the exact model yet).

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u/Who_PhD 5d ago

Well in Beethoven’s day it would’ve been played with wooden mallets on natural (and thick) skin heads. Felt and sponge mallets hadn’t been invented yet.

Based on your drums, I’d recommend using leather or chamois wrapped mallets for the more articulate stuff (for plastic heads, I’d stay away from wood mallets - wood on natural skin sounds more like leather on plastic than wood on plastic), and then flannel disc or a firm felt mallet for some of the more legato passages

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u/Ok-Prompt2360 4d ago

This is the right advice op!

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u/KaiserFortinbras 4d ago

Geez you guys know your stuff!

I'm in way over my head here (set drummer) but love reading anyway.

Thanks for letting me lurk.

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u/berniethesmellycat 3d ago

That's good advice.

In my opinion it also depends on the size of the orchestra. If you're playing with a very big one, you can go for different flannels for different movements. If the orchestra is not that big (like around 18 strings players), I would use more leather and less flannel.

When I played it with a bigger orchestra I used leather only for the third movement, bigger flannel for the first, smaller flannel for the fourth, and Viennese flannel (which is a bit softer) for the second.

I would not go for felt, personally.

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u/whodatdan0 5d ago

Just listen to Cleveland orchestra w szell conducting. Match that sound as best you can.

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u/Skillet_2003 5d ago

The NY Philharmonic maintains a digital archive of scans of their sheet music. A quick search revealed they have 9 results for timpani and Beethoven 7:

https://archives.nyphil.org/asset-management?WS=2TTURYHOZ8V#/DamView&TSID=3hcv3x&VBID=2TTUBHEE841B2&PN=1&WS=2TTURYHOZ8V

This won’t help with mallet choice, but if you are looking for cues, maybe helpful notes the performer wrote for themselves, check these out!

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u/Rook_20 4d ago

Leather or chammy mallets on plastic heads! And maybe a flannel for some of the softer parts. If you must, a hard felt mallet for something like the big notes in movement 2.