Hoffman joins Renee Montagne for a holiday review of drums, triangles and other percussive instruments. "The first drums that were used in Western orchestras were the timpani, or the kettle drums ...

Concerto for kettle drums opens Grand Rapids Symphony season Published: Sep. 11, 2008, 1:43 p.m. By The Grand Rapids Press ...

Two years later, at age 9, he got his own drums. By 14, he was in orchestras playing timpani – a set of four to five kettle drums that provides an orchestra’s deepest, most resounding percussion.

Those drums will keep her busy throughout the Mendelssohn symphony. “I’ll be using three different drums,” said Zator Nelson, the orchestra’s associate principal timpanist.