After 12 years with the same teacher, I switched to another teacher and my first lesson with her was all pedalling. She was on the floor like some crazy person with her hand on my foot pressing on my shoe. On off, on off. My mom was there too and it was such a clown show that I nearly decided to not continue with her. Thank God I didn’t. She ended up changing my life (she had actually studied with Babayan for 6 years, but back then, no one really knew who he was.. we’re talking 2005-2006). I’ve never forgotten that first lesson.
Great story! Garrick Ohlsson has expanded on his at 2:08. Rosina Lhévinne (who was in her eighties) would hold his foot while she was lying on the floor and explain "I'm really serious about this!"
WONDERFUL! When I taught piano, I noticed that there were some students who used the pedal "naturally" without major problems. Others, were a disaster, and I created exercises to teach them to pedal correctly....because to begin with, pedaling MUST be within a rhythmic context.
You must have had a good teacher then. Most teachers focus on technique for most of the time in the early years and kind of neglect the area of music performance where you bring in dynamics, colours
Love these videos where you bring in so many different pianists for their opinions! If you could choose 3 pianists who haven't been on this channel yet, who would it be? 🙂
I'm not a professional pianist, just an advanced amateur. I use the middle pedal in several pieces I play, usually to hold the bass while allowing my right pedal the liberty to clear the harmony when moving lines make it too blurry. Two examples that come to mind are Debussy's Claire de Lune (in the section starting on bar 15) and Albéniz's Corpus Christi en Sevilla (both in the beautiful section in the middle with lots of ppp markings and in the final section).
The thing about this wonderful series is that because they are all pianists playing Steinways or Steinway-type pianos, they don’t discuss the history of the pedals, nor how different piano makers throughout history made different mechanisms for different things depending on the country and its unique sensibilities of the time. Dear Tone Base editors, I think your audience would gain so much by featuring the work of early piano specialists as well, so that there’s not just one perspective. It’s like asking a bunch of Italian Americans to explain the regional cuisines of Napoli vs Venezia, when they’ve never visited, eaten that food with those ingredients, or even bothered to read original recipes. Sure, Italian American has some similarities and is certainly delicious, but you should ask someone from NAPLES to explain a Margheurita pizza.
I was thinking the same thing. I feel like modern pianists miss out on so much in neglecting to give any attention to the pianos the composers themselves knew and played. Older pianos typically had much lighter dampers and damper mechanisms, resulting in a "leakier" sound where the notes would continue to bleed through as the damper struggled to dampen the string. If you were to play a loud staccato chord, without pedal, on the typical historical fortepiano, you'd hear a wash of sound still lingering after you release the notes. This might explain the premature pedal-lifting called for by Beethoven in the Appassionata Sonata example. On the other hand, those early pianos also typically had a markedly shorter or weaker sustain than modern pianos, so this wash of sound lingering after the release of the notes wouldn't be so muddy. I imagine this is why Beethoven called for the sustain pedal to be held completely throughout the entire first movement of the Moonlight Sonata. It's barely doable at half-pedal on a modern piano, but on Beethoven's 1814 Nannette Streicher piano, full pedal would very much have been doable.
I love this knowledge when applying pedal mechanics that can extend to other instruments or pedal-likes. knowing your equipment when getting into pedal effects for amplifiers, expression pedals for volume or parameters on delay rates, and even other forms of modulation in glide ribbon controllers, pitch wheels and resonance knobs on synth keyboards.
i just began learning and decided to tackle one of chopin’s nocturnes and immediately realized how important the pedal was to creating his somber sound and also realized how uncoordinated i was regarding pedaling. very helpful video!
Golandsky and Taubman made names for themselves with relaxation technique and scientific updates on this phenomenon that was discussed as far back as Liszt and his pupils. I remember reading somewhere there were only 6 gradations for one of the pedals meaning depressing pedals is not tied exactly to how the dampers lift off the strings . So does this mean the key itself cannot as older German training taught that moving the key had an effect on the string and that one could mimic the string player's vibrato. There is a lot of nonsense involved with instrumental playing in general . 7:42 shows middle pedal being used for legato upper register chords!!!??? Thiswas completely new to me ! I can't wait to try it on that same DMSonata I played last year of highschool .O'Connor knows a great deal about music and the piano.He must know that Hadyn's small delicate pianoforte's cannot be compared to today's Steinways .Has he played Mozart's Stein.He knows holding the pedal continuously will be and was a new effect in Hadyn's daty but it won't sound the same on today's stronger pitchholding steel strings.I was disconcerted that he did not explain himself better.I've watched him teaching here and have a cd of him!Flutter pedal ? I've heard about this before . There may be some nonsense about shaking keys at bed for a vibrato sound or other things but these people have spent their entire lives many before the age of 6 at the piano and at very knowledgable teachers . This is scarier than most things at piano because you MUST LISTEN or you can't discover . People talk about Michelangeli's pedalling only experts can tell these things and when most of us listen someone would have to lead our ears to it . The high levels of expertise required in every profession ...
When my piano technician came to work on my piano, he said “you use the soft pedal a lot. That’s good.” He noticed all the grooves on the hammers. This guy worked on the pianos for all the touring concert pianists who came to town. My piano is over 100 years and has original Steinway hammers. If I move the soft pedal just right, it hits the string kind of between grooves and get an almost electronic sound. One thing regarded using the sustain wpedal with Bach. I studied harpsichord for many years and used to be deadset against it. But the harpsichord is in fact a very resonant instrument. Even when you lift the key, there is often a slight ring afterward. You have a very small piece of felt or leather dampening the string so it doesn’t kill the sound, unlike the piano, which have thick, heavy dampers. So a harpsichord note doesn’t completely die when you lift the key. So I use pedal a bit now on piano, but not enough to blur anything. Also, having that extra ring can also help give a slightly different color to notes that are sustained over others, which helps with voicing.
I'm not piano player, but when i was playing with my grandma's piano, right pedal always sounded like mint for me ) it made sound feel like mint or menthol :D
Etched into my memory is the best music theory teacher I ever had playing a wonderful chord (some big extended add 9 kinda deal IIRC) and announcing to the class "smoooooooth like a menthol cigarette"
My pedalling technique cost me 1st place in my first ever competitive recital. I kept my heel off the ground and used the pedal with the front of my shoe- the adjudicators notes wrote that I need to keep my heel on the ground while using the pedal, not floating in the air. They docked me for that and the result was 2nd place instead of 1st, lol.
Thank you for all what was included into this very video. So many great comments on pedaling. ANd yes, this is so true we have never been taught how to use all three pedals.
Excellent lesson, could use a demonstration of the dampers action to explain what physically happens when we apply the right pedal. I can see that there can be slight changes when slightly pressing the pedal, but if you watch the dampers, they're either in contact with strings, muting them, or not. Not exactly on or off, but close to it. No way there are many gradations
I heard it read somewhere that out of all classical musicians, pianists make the “best drivers”, presumably because of their fine control and gradation of the use of the pedals. 😎
Awesome video! I'm always surprised by how unconciously many students use the pedal, before someone brings their attention to it. It is such an important tool with hundrets of layers and not just and on/off switch (same for the left pedal!).
The left pedal shifts the hammers laterally. On a real instrument, different displacements do produce a different sound quality. There is a range between the full three string position and full two string position. There is some wear leveling accomplished with the left pedal over time as well.
@ the una corda pedal shifts the keyboard to hit two strings on three. So it has two settings on and off. What don't you grasp? If you put it in between, it would hit no strings
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@@meyerbeer13 Sorry, but now I'm unsure if you're actually being serious 😶
Exploration in the capacity of piano's sound has always been a part of it since it was born for the exploration of making the harpsichord more expressive and resposive to the player's touch, pedals and other old fashioned moderators and una corda etc. were like "special effects" to the music, so... ylu may use it as you like, you are the one playing lmao
With Rosina Lhevinne one had to develop the ear whole finding 7 levels of depressing the damper pedal. Chopin gave very precise indications on his manuscripts for his original pedalizations. Anton R. said, " the pedal ( damper..it's use) is the soul of the piano" ...
A bit OT, but.....a strange habit I learned, to sensitize my ears and to de-fixate my fingers....on a grand piano, I depress the key just enough to hear the damper make a ppppp tone, as they come up off the strings. I try to play pieces with just the raising dampers, without letting the hammers hit the strings. It's an EXCELLENT fix for pianists prone to keybedding. I got so good at it, I can (about 90% of the notes) play the chopin etudes like that. It gives the sensation that the fingers are floating within the keystroke, instead of hitting the wall at the bottom of the keybed. And I'm also very careful to let the keys push my fingers up, instead of lifting them up with the contrary muscle groups.
Interesting perspective. I sort of arrived to the same conclusion, but where I try to take advantage of both a light touch and using the antagonist muscles to bring the fingers up for a more agile dextrous technique.
You can also pedal the phrase. Foot goes gradually down towards the center of the phrase and then gradually goes up again. Gotta use the ear of course.
well, as long as I played the organ, I always cared a lot about finding the good, suiting sound. I always found that much harder than on the piano because the e.g. you have to think first. on a piano I can react or play much more spontaneously than on an organ. good pedalling was a challenge, as you say, but finding the sound was the real challenge
The question of "Pedal Y/N with Bach" is a simple one. If you want originality then play on an original instrument with no pedals as he did. If you're playing on an instrument which he didn't have access to at the time and it has pedals then use the pedals as you've already selected a non-traditional instrument Bach never heard. Use the features the instrument provides. Bach is also played on harps. Modern harps have pedals. Use the pedals.
Thank you for your tutorial...I am Indonesian... Guru saya pernah ajarkan teknik menginjak pedal itu injak dulu pedal baru tekan tuts hampir bersamaan.Apa betul demikian? 😊👍
amazing! very interesting to see different periods, different composers different pianists. i wish i could have listen to BUNATISHVILLI EXPLONATION... espaicelly in Shubert serenada
16:02 This type of voice seems like a deep bass to me, or even a dramatic deep bass, which is the lowest voice in existence that appears after the age of 40/50, I believe that when you reach that age is that kind of voice.
It’s funny like one person says that you should keep your heel on the ground to make the sound better and a moment later another person says the opposite. So I think whatever suits you is just good.
Thank you so much for this very informative video! The pedal feels so much more difficult to master then actually playing the keyboard itself! this video game me a lot of insight; thank you of that:) Also every time I hear Mozart K545 all I'm going to hear is pedal...pedal...pedal..pedal...😂😂😂😂.
I love the sostenuto pedal, I'm only an amateur pianist and most of the playing I do is in the form of improvising; but I've found some great uses for the sostenuto pedal- particularly after I play a climactic section and throw in a descending chromatic scale which finishes with a fortissimo octave/chord in the dominant key- I like the sostenuto for that dominant octave sometimes if I want to immediately follow it up with arpeggios where I use no pedal at all- it has a really nice effect with that dominant octave resonating from the sostenuto pedal and then super crisp and clean pianissimo arpeggios emerging from the thunderous resonance without any sustain at all. Again though I'm just an amateur and I only play for my own enjoyment, I have no idea if this is some widely known cheap trick among actual pianists.
I’ve found about a million uses for it it kinda blew my mind when I discovered it. I was like how can I finger pedal this impossible stretch and I was like oh they invented a pedal for this
Btw, does tonebase have any tutorials on how to structure your practice if you are going at it alone (I had lessons as a kid, but I want to start again)? Also, don't know if you have this, but it would be nice if there was a "learning path" for people at different levels. For example, the most difficult pieces I remember working on were Mozart's Rondo alla Turca and Chopin's Posthum. C-Sharp Minor Nocturne. I probably need to start somewhere there or even a bit lower and grow from there.
Probably best to work with a teacher if you can. A good teacher can assess your level and pick out pieces that are right for your growth. As a teacher myself, I help the student set the piece initially - ie look at the notes and choose the best fingering for each hand, not paying any attention to rhythm until notes and fingering are happening. Then put all together slowly, then in time slowly, then a little faster. When up to a reasonable tempo, then we look at the structure of the piece to make sense of it and work on each section, whatever is going on in it. I also apply ergonomics to playing - the landing and the rotation of the arms for much easier playing.
@@robinkrop9404 Thanks. I actually don't really understand who tonebase is targeted at. Beginners needs one on one guidance. It's one thing to demonstrate something in a video, it's another to monitor and correct (which is equally, if not more important). Possibly teachers benefit from tonebase more than beginners.
Maybe the right person to ask about pedaling is an organist or a pedal pianist? Do pedal pianos still exist? Their pedals play notes rather than modifying the manual, but they definitely know more about depressing them than pianists might.
Fascinating! I learned to play for a decade as a child, and later had years of guided ensemble sessions, and not once did anyone mention to me that there was such a thing as half pedal.
What, do you consider asterisc (*) a crossed circle (the cross would be bigger than the circle (⊕))? Chopin did not at all use asterisc as you can see in pretty much all manuscripts. Of course the other thing that isn't "ped." is when to lift the pedal and not at all mantein until the next pedal (specially if they are not immediately next to the other)
Not true . There are many places where a middle pitch needs to be held over other keys in Bach and everywhere in Chopin and Schumann .Strange I only look at clarinet and violin sequenza and his fire klavier pieces. I need to discover Sequenza IV !
Ok, there may be some cases in older music where you can use the middle pedal - even it was not invented then. But it's debatable if the result is really what the composer had in mind. My recommendation for Sequenza IV: watch?v=wThAxlRh-nQ
Thank you so much for this video! I have an extremely bad habit of just autopiloting on my pedalling, and being intentional about it to the extent in the video is amazing to me. Also, can someone tell me the name of the piece that starts at 23:36? It showed up earlier in the video I think but I can't find it.
Pedalling Is not a matter of technique ( apart from some general prescriptions, for ex. Use a good and elegant pair of shoes!!!! Not barefoot!)...Pedalling Is something concerning High artistic Sense, and High musical perceptions. As Tagliapietra said, the good musician Knows how to use pedals by very, very refined instinct. And, obviously ( but it' s the most rare thing, ....ah ah) listening to what Is produced by the instrument which you' re playing on.... That' s all. Pedal Is the expression of your artistic capabilities ( After trying to understand what was in the mind of the Composer, his "message" in that precise point of the piece) the rest could be learnt....
Oh, I see, so the accompaniment shouldn’t be as quiet when it happens WITH the melody, but you should use the soft pedal when it’s already easier to balance anyway…
Nobody will ever convince me that if we could go back in time and give Bach a Steinway he would refuse to use the pedal. The silliest thing is that most people in that camp are happy to play Bach on instruments he wouldn't recognize that are tuned in a system he wouldn't recognize.
Sería bastante bueno que si se enseña o explica la importancia o no del pedal en el piano se explique en español o de lo contrario es mejor no explicar.
Mozart said something like "If you can't play legato you ain't worth shit." Try to use the sustain pedal as little as possible and hold your fingers down instead. You will become better at organ and accordion this way too. It's more like an effect to play harp-like arpeggios or zither sustains but most of the time people use it as a crutch because they can't play legato. Playing with the pedal it sounds muddy.
This is very interesting…the first lesson I give to all of my students, assuming there is an acoustic piano around, is just having them look inside the piano and see how the pedals work as I press down on them one at a time. I also inevitably give ( maybe a year or two in) what I call “the pedal lecture” where I spend nearly the whole lesson explaining different contexts of pedaling and how to use your ears.
But I. wished he'd followed up. What if Chopin wrote a dotted quarter note? What difference would it make between a quarter and dotted quarter if you hold down the pedal? The composers are often so painstaking with their dots -- real pains in the ykw! What happens to the dot details under the pedal?
I find it more difficoult with piano pedals though, because it's more sophisticated . With the organ you just press what you have to press and surely it's hard (it's like learning to move a third arm that you never used and knowing how to finely move 3 hands together), but at least you don't have to worry about the sound.
@@simonepedrazzini7569 That is a very good point - especially artistically speaking from a pianistic point of view. Piano pedalling is much more nuanced with what is going on with the hands in terms of blending (or not blending) the sounds. However, with the organ it's not quite as simple as " ... you don't have to worry about the sound." The organ pedals have to be played every bit as articulated as the manuals, and in conjunction with the manuals -- not just bass notes, but artistically articulated and phrased contrapuntal melodic lines as well - :-)
Bach was highly interested in new developments in the realm of keyboard instruments. It's silly to think that he'd forgo the use of the pedal on a modern piano.
@@spicy7302 No, they didn’t, but they basically did what a modern piano does. Hell, a Clavichord basically does what a modern piano does (minus the pedal).
Nobody really mentioned flutter pedaling... That is a very quick half pedal that can be 3-4 pedals per second that is particularly useful in more modern music that contains a lot of atonal passage work. Also useful in some of the more chromatic passage work in romantic compositions.
I can see why. chromatic fast notes after each other easily give a blurry tart sound, you cannot hear anything anymore. Only I wonder hoe good that is for the feet muscles
I had a very good piano teacher before I went to college who taught me all sorts of pedal techniques. Not once in college did anyone mention the pedal. Non-piano faculty used to ask me how I was creating so many different sonorities with the pedal.
All my years of study came rushing back during this video, forcing me to remember two things I learned along the way: 1. The ability to do and the ability to teach are light years apart. 2. Performers rarely know what composers wanted - _especially_ when handed detailed instructions on a diamond encrusted platter. 😅
I'm not sure if this is applicable for all grands, but in the piano I use, the middle pedal doesn't just sustain the lower part of the piano, but it also makes sympathetic harmonics from the opened strings, which gives an interesting effect to some pieces of music like recitative sections or Bach organ transcriptions for piano, for example. Kind of like harmonic pedal.
@@nathangale7702 This is correct. No upright that I know of has a proper sostenuto pedal. Only grands. Some have no middle pedal at all. Some of the uprights make the middle pedal a notched locking mechanism that moves a 'practice felt' between hammers and strings. And I do not recall having ever seen a notation in any work calling for the sostenuto pedal but my knowledge is mostly up until the early 20th century.
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Maybe this channel is strong and widespread enough to teach young pianists about pedalling in baroque music. Just please do never forget that the damping in any harpsichord action is very rudimentary, to say the least. So even if all the registers are in the ON position with the dampers on the strings, there will be some amount of constant sympathetic resonance. If any of the registers is/are in the OFF position, the dampers won't even touch the strings so you get a lot of sympathetic resonance, the more registers in the OFF position, the more sympathetic resonance the instrument will produce, since the strings share the same bridge and all the undamped strings will vibrate as well. Plus in historical instruments there were often stops that just did not have any damping at all and could be used as a special effect. (N. B. CPE Bach says that the best way to play a free fantasia on an early fortepiano is if you do it on the undamped stop). So no matter what you do on an early keyboard instrument, whether they be harpsichords, clavichords, early fortepianos, spinets etc, you will always have a bit of a pedal in the sound. The amount can of course vary, but there will always be some constant "pedal" in the sound. Andras Schiff is just utter nonsense to me. Playing baroque music on the piano in a horribly flat way and then use the harpsichord as an excuse... Awful. We also know from a letter by G. F. Duarte Antwerp 1648 to Constantijn Huygens (father of Christiaan Huygens) that harpsichords were set up in a way that the dampers of the registers in OFF position did not touch the strings: "The extreme length of the large clavecimbels is 8 voeten more or less, the pitch Chorista, with 3 registers - that is, three different strings of which 2 strings are at unison and one at the octava and all three of which can be played together or each string separately, with or without the octave, like the ordinary clavecimbels that your honour mentions. But they have a better tone because the unused strings which is not played moves of its own accord, producing such a sweet quiet tone through the principal sound, which does not occur when all three strings are played together." You may be interested to check this: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-MOITmxlKesg.html - without dampers ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-t0gW5hJsZwk.html - the same piece played with dampers
