However, in English the term timpano is only widely in use by practitioners: several are more typically referred to collectively as kettledrums, timpani, temple drums, or timps.

[10] The basic timpano consists of a drum head stretched across the opening of a bowl typically made of copper[11] or, in less expensive models, fiberglass or aluminum.

[14] Modern timpani are generally made with copper due to its efficient regulation of internal and external temperatures relative to aluminum and fiberglass.

In Darius Milhaud's 1923 ballet score La création du monde, the timpanist must play F♯4 (at the bottom of the treble clef).

A Berlin-style pedal is attached by means of a long arm to the opposite side of the timpani, and the timpanist must use their entire leg to adjust the pitch.

In the early 20th century, Hans Schnellar, the timpanist of the Vienna Philharmonic, developed a tuning mechanism in which the bowl is moved via a handle that connects to the base and the head remains stationary.

(Luigi Nono's Al gran sole carico d'amore requires as many as eleven drums, with actual melodies played on them in octaves by two players.)

Many schools and youth orchestra ensembles unable to afford purchase of this equipment regularly rely on a set of two or three timpani, sometimes referred to as "the orchestral three".

Among the professionals who have been highly regarded for their virtuosity and impact on the development of the timpani in the 20th century are Saul Goodman, Hans Schnellar, Fred Hinger, Tom Freer, and Cloyd Duff.

The 18th-century composer Johann Fischer wrote a symphony for eight timpani and orchestra, which requires the solo timpanist to play eight drums simultaneously.

In 1983, William Kraft, principal timpanist of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, composed his Concerto for Timpani and Orchestra, which won second prize in the Kennedy Center Friedheim Awards.

Timpanists are required to have a well-developed sense of relative pitch and must develop techniques to tune in an undetectable manner and accurately in the middle of a performance.

However, when the instrument is disturbed in some fashion (transported, for example), the overall pitch can change, thus the markers on the gauges may not remain reliable unless they have been adjusted immediately preceding the performance.

In his Overture to Benvenuto Cellini, for example, Hector Berlioz realizes fully voiced chords from the timpani by requiring three timpanists and assigning one drum to each.

He goes as far as ten timpanists playing three- and four-part chords on sixteen drums in his Requiem, although with the introduction of pedal tuning, this number can be reduced.

Edward Elgar attempts to use the timpani to imitate the engine of an ocean liner in his Enigma Variations by requesting the timpanist play a soft roll with snare drum sticks.

However, snare drum sticks tend to produce too loud a sound, and since this work's premiere, the passage has been performed by striking with coins.

Timpanists tend to be reluctant to strike the bowls at loud levels or with hard sticks since copper can be dented easily due to its soft nature.

On some occasions a composer may ask for a metal object, commonly an upside-down cymbal, to be placed upon the head and then struck or rolled while executing a glissando on the drum.

[22] Until the late 19th century, timpani were hand-tuned; that is, there was a sequence of screws with T-shaped handles, called taps, which altered the tension in the head when turned by players.

In the 17th and 18th centuries, timpani were almost always tuned with the dominant note of the piece on the low drum and the tonic on the high drum—a perfect fourth apart.

Until the early 19th century the dominant (the note of the large drum) was written as G and the tonic (the note of the small drum) was written as C no matter what the actual key of the work was, and whether it was major or minor, with the actual pitches indicated at the top of the score (for example, Timpani in D–A for a work in D major or D minor).

[11] This notation style however was not universal: Bach, Mozart, and Schubert (in his early works) used it, but their respective contemporaries Handel, Haydn, and Beethoven wrote for the timpani at concert pitch.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, marching arts-based organizations' allowance for timpani and other percussion instruments to be permanently grounded became mainstream.

Starting in the 1960s, drummers for high-profile rock acts like The Beatles, Cream, Led Zeppelin, The Beach Boys, and Queen incorporated timpani into their music.

More recently, the rock band Muse has incorporated timpani into some of their classically based songs, most notably in Exogenesis: Symphony, Part I (Overture).

Sun Ra used it occasionally in his Arkestra (played, for example, by percussionist Jim Herndon on the songs "Reflection in Blue" and "El Viktor," both recorded in 1957).

In his choral piece A Stopwatch and an Ordnance Map,[48] Samuel Barber employs three pedal timpani upon which are played glissandos.

Haas, who began his career as a solo timpanist in 1980, is notable for performing music from many genres including jazz, rock, and classical.

Philip Glass[49] with his Concerto Fantasy, commissioned by Haas, put two soloists in front of the orchestra, an atypical placement for the instruments.