App guide
Drum Map
Map the pitches. Plan the changes. A timpani setup puzzle: give every required pitch a practical home, then work out how to get to the next one in the time the music allows.
- Build
- Shown in the app's footer
- Open the app
- drum-map.backwerdrhythmshop.com
- Account or install
- None
- Cost
- Free forever
A note on the build number. Every other app in this family prints a
fixed build stamp you can quote. Drum Map does not: it derives the date from
the document's own Last-Modified header, so the number in its
footer is whatever the server last served, and it changes on every deploy
without anyone setting it. Quote what the footer shows you at the time —
there is no stable value for this guide to name.
What this app does
Timpani parts do not come with a setup. Before you can play one you have to decide which drum takes which pitch, and then whether every tuning change the part asks for is physically possible in the bars available. Drum Map is that decision, made into a puzzle.
A standard four-drum setup is given, each drum with its practical range:
| Drum | Practical range |
|---|---|
| 32″ | D2–A2 |
| 29″ | F2–C3 |
| 26″ | A2–E3 |
| 23″ | C3–G3 |
The ranges overlap on purpose. That overlap is the whole problem — it is what makes a setup a choice rather than a lookup.
The two stages
- Set the drums. Every required opening pitch gets a drum. Choose a pitch, then choose its drum; a drum will show a conflict until you repair it.
- Plan the change. With the opening setup fixed, work out the tuning changes the part demands.
Check setup tests stage one; Check complete plan tests the whole thing. Back to setup returns you to stage one, and Reset puzzle clears it.
The six puzzles
| # | Puzzle | What it is about |
|---|---|---|
| 01 | First Chair | The introduction — give every opening pitch a practical home. |
| 02 | Overlap Study | Pitches that more than one drum could take, and why the choice matters later. |
| 03 | Edge Tones | Pitches at the extremes of a drum's practical range. |
| 04 | Five Before the Downbeat | A change with almost no time to make it. |
| 05 | Quiet Two-Count | A change that has to happen where it will be heard. |
| 06 | Late Entrance | Planning around an entrance that arrives after the change. |
“This setup is impossible” is an answer
One of the buttons on the board declares the puzzle unsolvable — and sometimes that is the correct response. Learning that a part as written cannot be covered by four drums is a real timpani skill, and the honest next step is an extra drum, a re-voicing, or a conversation with the conductor.
Read the field note. The app prints it on every puzzle: ranges overlap on purpose, and “valid” means the plan satisfies this authored puzzle — not that there is only one musical answer. A setup Drum Map rejects may still be defensible in a real hall; a setup it accepts is not automatically the one a section leader would choose.
Controls and accessibility
Every pitch, drum and puzzle is a labelled button, and the app states that click and keyboard controls use the same path — the keyboard route is not a reduced version of the pointer one. It supports visible focus, honours the system reduced-motion preference, and lays out for phones, tablets and classroom displays. Unassigned pitches are announced as a running list rather than only shown as empty slots.
Privacy
Drum Map has no account and no backend. Your progress is saved in this browser only and nothing is uploaded; Reset local progress clears it.
Help and feedback
- Report a problem: support@backwerdrhythmshop.com
- Request a feature: feedback@backwerdrhythmshop.com
Include the app name, the build in the footer, the page URL, your browser, what you expected and what happened.
Six setups, and one of them may not work.
Assign the pitches, plan the changes, and find out.