Archive for March 26th, 2008

How do I notate a roll for Timpani?

Wednesday, March 26th, 2008

This is a question I’ve found that a lot of composers and arrangers ask me - because its something that has changed quite a lot over the years.
Timpani rolls used to be notated with a trill marking above, like this:
ex1:
Although more recently composers have begun using slashes over the note like this:
 ex2
Either notation is acceptable [...]