Beater / clapper
A stick or clapper of wood or metal used to strike a bell, timpani, drum or other percussion instrument.
What it means
The German term covers two related things: the metal clapper hanging freely inside a bell that strikes its wall, and the general word for beaters used to strike percussion instruments such as timpani, drums or cymbals.
Musical use
A bell's clapper swings with the bell as it is rung and strikes the thickest part of the rim, the sound bow; its mass and the point of impact strongly affect the bell's tone and durability. Orchestral percussion beaters differ in head material — felt, wool, wood, rubber or metal — and size; each combination produces its own character, from soft and rounded to hard and rich in overtones. A beater in the narrower sense usually has an interchangeable head, often covered in felt or wool, while a bell's striking part is a fixed piece rather than a separate mallet.
Performance practice
On mallet instruments and timpani, choose the beater deliberately for the tone color you want: hard heads emphasise the attack and overtones, soft heads the fundamental. Switch mallets mid-piece whenever the score calls for a different color.