Fake cannonball falls off stage, hits timpani right on cue in ‘Nutcracker’ accident

2 January 2026, 17:09

“Tchaikovsky couldn’t have composed this timing any better!”

No-one tells you when you start learning percussion that alongside mastering complex rhythms and a bewildering range of instruments, from tubular bells to tam tams and anvils to xylophones, you’re going to need nerves of steel.

Sarah Williams, a percussionist with the Williamsburg Symphony Orchestra, proved she has what it takes in a recent performance.

From her position at the back of the orchestra pit for Virginia Regional Ballet’s production of Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker, she couldn’t see anything that was happening on stage.

In the battle between the mice and the toy soldiers, she was 100% focused on playing the sound of a cannon shot on the bass drum at precisely the right moment.

And she was oblivious when the cannon ball began rolling towards the edge of the stage, amid nervous laughter from some of the audience...

Read more: Festival crowd pirouettes to Tchaikovsky in viral orchestra footage

Cannonball accidentally disrupts Tchaikovsky performance

She didn’t skip a beat when the cannonball – fortunately a lightweight prop – bounced onto one of the timpani behind her, echoing her cannon shot in perfect time with the music.

A quick glance over her shoulder to make sure all was well with the timps, and she played on.

As Williams said in her Instagram post after the show, Tchaikovsky himself couldn’t have timed it better.