OT: Yet another timpanist who has switched from plastic to natural heads
alanwa...@aol.com
Pain in the arse for keeping in tune but there we are.......
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/entertainment/14170592.
Kind regards,
Alan M. Watkins
alanwa...@aol.com
Or probably better:
SHANE KEYSER/The Kansas City Star
Kansas City Symphony timpanist Tim Jepson talks to his boys, Matt and
Christian, before heading to work.
Hear audio and see video of Kansas City Symphony timpanist Tim Jepson
He's the Kansas City Symphony's timpani whiz, a specialist whose
primary job is to play the kettledrums (timpani). This is the second in
a series.
Timothy Jepson
Profession: Kansas City Symphony timpanist since 1983.
Age: 45.
Living: Clayton Meadows section of the Northland.
Born and raised: On a 1,100-acre farm near Onawa, Iowa, between Omaha
and Sioux City.
Parents: Both descended from Danish Lutheran immigrants. Dad was an
accomplished tenor; mom, the church pianist and organist.
Early musical training: Fifth grade: Began the snare drum. Started
timpani in junior high. "During the 1960s and '70s, Iowa had one of
the best music education programs in the country. Our high school only
had 325 kids, but 150 of them were involved in music, either band or
choral. ... I was the default timpanist because I had a good ear."
Challenges of the timpanist: 1. "It's an extremely exposed role."
2. Humidity affects the calfskin timpani covers. 3. "I don't
consider myself a flashy player, but I am an extremely intense, focused
player. It's exhausting."
Hardest part of musician's life: "For my family, it's the
inconsistency of my schedule. Children need as much structure and
routine as possible."
Recent change: Switched to calfskin timpani heads from the more durable
but less responsive Mylar heads. "It's a warmer sound. It's
opened up new possibilities."
Higher education: Morningside College in Sioux City, majored in music
education.
Siblings: "They're all in the (music) business." Younger sister
Kristine is a Metropolitan Opera mezzo-soprano; oldest brother Marlon
is a piano and organ technician; second-oldest, Paul, is a middle
school band director.
First job: Timpanist for the Sioux City Symphony from age 18.
Second job: At 23 he became timpanist for the Kansas City Symphony in
its second season, 1983-1984, a post he has held since. "I have the
job I have today unscathed by a surplus of education."
Married to: Deann Jepson (née Rogers), international business major.
What Deann liked about Tim: "He was funny and smart. I felt
comfortable with him. When he said he was going to call you, he did."
Children: Christian, 7, Matt, 4.
On being a dad: "It's more work than I anticipated. It made me
realize I had taken on too much. I had to pull back from (symphony)
committee work."
Worst recent crisis: Son Matt, born with severe acid reflux, required
17 hospitalizations (10 in St. Louis) and eventually a fundoplication
surgery to wrap the upper curve of the stomach around the esophagus.
On work ethic: "I don't do anything halfway, and Dee is the one who
paces me. I can keep a lot of balls in the air at the same time, but
eventually ..."
Canines: Sissy, 4, and Spike, 10 months.
Pastime: Working on the house. "I'm the default interior decorator.
... When we're finished, the place will be a combination of antiques
and SpongeBob SquarePants."
Hobby: Distance cycling. Recently completed 26-mile Lake Okoboji ride
in Iowa.
Currently in his CD player: "Nothing. I don't listen to music a
lot....If I'm in the car I listen to talk radio."
Early musical tastes: Emerson, Lake and Palmer; Yes; Bachman-Turner
Overdrive.
Music to chill by: Renaissance choral music (Palestrina, Lassus).
Most surprising musical tastes: System of a Down; headbanger music;
drum and bugle corps.
Friend said of his timpani playing: "You're like a fish. A fish
doesn't know that it swims."
Musical likes: "When you're young, it's the Mahlers and
Bruck-ners that you look forward to. As you get older, it's the
Mozart."
On the proposed Performing Arts Center: "I hope the PAC can build a
greater degree of cooperation among the various arts groups and
presenters in the city."
On Michael Stern: "He hears everything."
Future of the Kansas City Symphony: "We still haven't reached what
we're capable of."
On the Lyric's acoustics: "People have never actually heard what we
sound like."
Misconception about symphony players: "That we're so narrowly into
our little area. We have a honed, highly refined talent for a certain
thing, but we're just your neighbors."
REG
that my influence in the musical world is expanding???????
Anyway, I think I first became aware of the difference when I fell in love
with Furt and heard Berlin Phil and Vienna performances, most prominently
the commercially recorded 3, 5 and 7 of Beethoven that at some point were on
Seraphim black disc. The sheer difference in the depth of the sound, and the
clarity of the overtones - even with all the limitations of the recording
process -were so different that that's what put me on the track, at least
insofar as my own taste was concerned.
Best
<alanwa...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:1144792805.8...@t31g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
Thornhill
REG wrote:
> I've been saying this even before you joined us on the group. Would you say
> that my influence in the musical world is expanding???????
>
> Anyway, I think I first became aware of the difference when I fell in love
> with Furt and heard Berlin Phil and Vienna performances, most prominently
> the commercially recorded 3, 5 and 7 of Beethoven that at some point were on
> Seraphim black disc. The sheer difference in the depth of the sound, and the
> clarity of the overtones - even with all the limitations of the recording
> process -were so different that that's what put me on the track, at least
> insofar as my own taste was concerned.
The storm in the 6th symphony best illustrates its superior sound.
Dan Tritter
the two tympanists i was aware of who left their brass tubs behind were:
henry denecke, who was mitropoulos' tympanist with minneapolis symphony
when i was a kid attending my first concerts during wwII, later a
conductor in (cedar rapids?) iowa and a couple of minor stops. and
harold farberman, who had been tympanist at boston symphony, turned to
composition and conducting. i think harold (whose wife, corinne curry,
had a rather minor mezzo soprano career) was later conductor for the
bournemouth sinfonietta in england, as well as leading a number of
orchestras and author of a leading text on conducting.
alcindoro
Alan M. Watkins<
Are you a skin-head?
A, who saw R. Wilson's PEER GYNT at BAM last night and really enjoyed
it (but nodded off once but only once) ... in retrospect ... (No, it
was NOT the Grieg opera ... )
Aage Johansen
Pity they didn't do P.G. in English.
--
Aage J.
alanwa...@aol.com
I was taught on natural heads and have never gone for the synthetic
equivalents because there is absolutely no comparison in the sound
quality. I have tried them out from time to time but I cannot get *my*
sound on synthetic heads.
They are easier to keep in tune, of course, and hold the note better
without constant adjustment. It's just that they can't sound the notes
better without putting their "plastic" imprint upon them:):)
At the two points in timpani where you want wonderful sound (pp and ff
onwards) they are at their worst.
In mf-f they are passable but as the gentleman in the Kansas orchestra
has discovered with natural heads you inhabit an entirely different
sound world, despite the problems of same. Different take entirely, in
my view.
alanwa...@aol.com
The difference is particularly noticeable in the Furtwangler
recordings, as you comment, because he wanted his timpani "forward" and
had two of the greatest players of the last century at his disposable.
A few weeks ago I listened to a very interesting recording by Mr Zander
on an Arte Nova CD of the 9th symphony - unfortunately the Molto Vivace
was completely ruined (for my listening) by synthetic heads hit with
such force that it just sounded unmusical and, frankly, crude and that
is something the instrument most definitely is not. Another nightmare
for "synthetic" heads is the end of Tchaikovsky R&J Overture: I have
yet to hear synthetic heads get away with this piece. They just break
up and become a noise.
To "cleanse" myself after that Molto Vivace I put on the 1942 9th with
Mr F! It is a fact that over the last few years, according to
discussions on the Percussive Arts forums, more and more players are
going back to natural heads.
Of course there are young players today who had have not experienced
them! The worst contradiction I have ever heard was on an HIP
recording of two Schumann symphonies in which plastic heads were used.
Not very authentic, I think.
I don't know whether it is your influence but you and the Kansas player
are as one - you both realise how much better the sound is! He is only
45 and he started very young so it may be his College did not have a
set of drums with natural heads at all - many went over completely when
this "wonder head" came into being. Natural heads are troublesome to
keep in tune and, from an economic point of view, they don't last
nearly so long being, in most cases, considerably thinner than their
synthetic replacement.
But as you, and others, realise there is no sound comparison to be
made.
Michael Schaffer
Are plastic heads also more durable? I have only ever seen a natural
head break once, namely in Berlin during the final pages of Beethoven 7
with Karajan. But the timpani player, Oswald Vogler, actually had 4
timpani there (instead of just 2?) and quickly switched over to another
one. I think most people didn't even notice it.
Still, I am wondering of natural skins are more likely to break of ir
that plays no role. Apart from the little difficulties you mentioned, I
was never able to understand why people would play on plastic heads
either. The natural timpani sound so much better. Of course, I grew up
listening to the BP so I was indoctrinated from an early age on. Apart
from the sound, I have heard few players who played the timpani as well
as their timpani players, especially in ff rolls which usually were
really a very loud, but perfectly continuos roar rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
instead of the inconsistent rumble you often hear. They were also cool
to watch because they played in a very relaxed way which looked as if
there was nothing to it.
alanwa...@aol.com
Synthetic heads are far more durable. You will not get more than about
three seasons out of a natural head - perhaps five or six out of the
synthetic alternative.
Natural heads are much thinner - hence the "bloom" of the tone. The
perfect continuo you mention in rolls is easily achieved with natural
heads because there is more "give" in them and the individual beats
naturally merge into one sound.
And yes you are quite right about the great players of the Berlin
Philharmonic and those of many other orchestras as well including
Vienna and many places elsewhere but my bet is that most would have put
the responsibility of that sound down to their choice of natural heads.
The reason people embraced synthetic timpani heads is that they are far
easier to keep in tune. They will generally not deviate from their
note during a concert whereas natural heads may well do so and have to
be constantly checked during a performance. A work requiring heavy
"rolls" (say Tchaikovsky 1/4/6) on natural heads will require the
player to check the tuning during rests as the drum may have gone off
the note.
Lookingglass
<alanwa...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:1144876566.4...@i40g2000cwc.googlegroups.com...
Thank you again... your insight is invaluable.
(...Grieg...opera... I would have liked that.)