Some elements of orchestra may be nervous, almost taking pot (7)
I believe the answer is:
timpani
'some elements of orchestra' is the definition.
(instruments in an orchestra)
'nervous almost taking pot' is the wordplay.
'nervous' becomes 'timid' (I've seen this before).
'almost' means to remove the last letter (almost the whole word is kept).
'taking' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'pot' becomes 'pan' (I've seen this before).
'timid' with its last letter removed is 'timi'.
'timi' enclosing 'pan' is 'TIMPANI'.
'may be' is the link.
(Other definitions for timpani that I've seen before include "Percussion section" , "Tina Pim has a set of kettle drums" , "set of instruments" , "Percussion instrument" , "Main pit (anag) - drums" .)