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Timpani, without pedals, are able to be tuned, believe it or not. The pegs around the edge of each drum can be turned to tighten or loosen the skin, the cover of the drum. This changes what pitch the drum is.
And, as I stated in my previous post, C-G or D-A are the usual notes composers used, back in the day before pedal timpani were invented. So, in turn, it is to the composer's discretion exactly what notes the timpani have to be tuned to. Also, I'm not 100% sure, but I don't think tuning of timpani is really feasible or acceptable in the middle of a piece, so whatever notes you pick, you must stick to. The general range of timpani(if one is large and one is medium sized, which is generally the case), is low E(one line below F clef) to probably Bb(second to lowest line on F clef), for the bigger one, and C to G for the smaller one. Or, these will probably end up being the safest, if not the most accurate, notes that non-pedal timpani should be tuned to.
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