Timpani are resonant and thud like heartbeats; their flexible range of pitches can perform sighs as well as large groans. Of all the percussion instruments, they are the most like our human bodies in this regard. Real Voices and Imagined Clatter begins with an initial exploration of the ringing, metallic, and dry qualities of the timpani sound- world. The drums eventually call forth human voices when the performers begin to listen carefully to their sound. This act of vocalisation is ultimately reciprocal. The players in turn draw out a sustained, bittersweet wailing from a single timpano at the very end of the work. In this way, although there are four performers, this piece serves as a dialogue between eight individual and expressive bodies on stage.