Dictionary of Music - Birding America

432 Tinctoris, Johannesand the sound is that of a dull thump. The mostcommon way of playing is to alternate right and leftdrumstrokes, but numerous special effects are possible.Among the most dramatic is the ROLL, a series ofleft–right–left–right beats on a single drum, producinga long-held note. Also, two drums can be struckat the same time producing two notes together, oreach drum can be struck twice in succession(left–left–right–right). Timpani can be played verysoftly or very loudly, and crescendos and diminuendoscan be obtained as well.Owing to their wide range of expression, timpanihave been popular in Western (European andAmerican) music since they were brought toEurope by the Turks in the fifteenth century. Atfirst they were played in cavalry bands, the drumsbeing mounted on horses. Usually they wereplayed together with trumpets, a pair of timpanibeing used with anywhere from three to a dozentrumpets. During the seventeenth century they wereimproved somewhat and began to be included inthe orchestra. Usually a pair of timpani was used,tuned a fifth apart, one to the tonic key of the compositionand the second to the dominant (C and Gin the key of C, D and A in the key of D, etc.). Thispractice persisted until the time of Beethoven(early nineteenth century), who greatly extendedthe timpani’s role. His music called for rolls andother special effects, and frequently it required differenttunings from the conventional one. Berliozsuggested replacing the heavy wooden drumsticksused since the fifteenth century with sponge- orleather-headed sticks, making possible a greatervariety of effects. His Requiem Mass calls for sixteentimpani (played by ten timpanists). Afterabout 1850 composers often called for fairly frequentchanges of tuning, instead of a single tuningfor a whole movement or piece. This led to theinvention of pedal-tuned drums, as well as drumstuned by a single turn of a handle (in the older type,each screw had to be turned by hand). Composershave occasionally written for timpani alone, as, forexample, Elliott Carter’s Fantasy and Improvisationfor 4 Timpani (1966).Tinctoris (tink tôr′əs), Johannes (yō hän′əs),1436–1511. A Belgian composer and theoristwho wrote one of the earliest music dictionaries,Terminorum musicae diffinitorium (“Definitions ofMusical Terms”), published in 1473, as well as someimportant essays on the music of his time. Tinctorissaid that no music written before about 1430 was ofreal importance, and he pointed out that most of themajor new developments of his time were begun inEngland, whose most important composer was JohnDUNSTABLE.Tin Pan Alley A term applied to the principalAmerican music publishers, song promoters, songwriters,and record companies engaged in producingand promoting popular music. The name dates fromthe early twentieth century, when a single block inNew York City (28th Street between Fifth Avenueand Broadway) housed most of the publishers, andthe street echoed with the sound of rehearsalpianists, described by songwriter-journalist MonroeH. Rosenfeld as tin pans being struck simultaneously.In succeeding years the locus of Tin Pan Alleymoved uptown, and by 1960 music publishing wasno longer centered exclusively in New York, but thename is still used in a general way for POPULARMUSIC.tin whistleSee PENNY WHISTLE.Tippett (tip′ət), Michael 1905–1998. An Englishcomposer who wrote sonatas, quartets, concertos,and symphonies but became best known for hisoperas and large-scale choral works, all to his owntexts. Although Tippett began composing at an earlyage, he discarded most of the works he producedbefore 1935. Of his early pieces, the Double Concertofor string orchestra (1939) is still performed.In 1938, inspired by a political incident, Tippettbegan to write a large oratorio to protest against thepersecution of Jews. This work, A Child of Our Time(1943), uses black spirituals interspersed among thedramatic sections to comment on the story. His firstopera, The Midsummer Marriage (1955), was concernedmore with the inner lives of the charactersthan the events of the plot and was not well received.In his second opera, King Priam (1962), Tippettused voices in a declamatory rather than lyrical fashionand broke up the large orchestra into smaller