It seemed very, very easy to create the perfect chamois mallet when I came up with the original Bright Chamois design. That mallet was created with synthetic timpani heads in mind, the goal was to impersonate the sound of calf being played with a wooden stick. When played with wood, calf timpani heads give a beautiful punch without any brittleness. This was the ideal sound for when articulate passages need to be clear to an audience in Adelaide's Elder Hall - notoriously difficult for timpani.
But things got much more difficult once I decided to create a contrasting warm chamois mallet. The kind of stick you could use for Beethoven's lyrical passages, or for pieces like Brahms' Tragic Overture - where the rhythmic momentum is propelled by the timpanist, but clarity is often lost inside his rich orchestration when using flannel or felt mallets.
Testament to the theory that timpani mallet making is 75% art and 25% science, it wasn't as easy as throwing more layers of inner material on the same wooden core and calling it a mallet. The core was too bright, the mallet was too heavy at the top, and the excess of inner material dulled the tone produced from the drum.
So after an exceptional amount of trial and error - much more error than trial - I've finally found the recipe. A small, hard felt core - punched to exactly the right diameter - with minimal inner materials (though premium quality), and the Rolls Royce of thick chamois to cover. I can't wait to give these the workout they deserve.
Warm #4 - Chamois is now available in the store.
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