The Dragonfly “School Band” hard timpani stick is a great hard stick for articulation without the slap sound of a wood beater. It is a Viennese-style stick known as “flannelschlager.” Rather than a core wrapped with white felt that quickly and invariably frays and deteriorates, our stick is constructed of layers of leather discs, tightly stacked on the end of the stick. They have a clear, articulate attack with lots of fundamental to the sound. Rather than wearing out like felt wrapped sticks, these sticks “wear in.” The longer you use them, the better they sound. The light-weight aluminum handle has excellent response off the head and feels great in the hand. The rubber cap on the butt-end helps mitigate the noise of sticks dropped accidentally.