tympani
- n a large hemispherical brass or copper percussion instrument with a drumhead that can be tuned by adjusting the tension on it
- To the sombre moaning of fiddles, melancholy piping of flutes and rumble of tympani a foredoomed Launcelot was born.
- He wrote an opening movement teeming with conflict, a scherzo that called in horns and tympani, a slow deeply reflective movement, then a crashing, cumulative finale based on .
- An eerie rumble of double basses and tympani built in the pit.