Hi all,

Taught one of my students who fairly recently came to me from another teacher. she is 17 and although she has been playing for some years has only used the pedal once or twice.

She understands the whole pedal concept very well, the sound was clear and so on, but on looking down at her foot noticed that she was lifting the whole foot off the floor, instead of leaving the heel down and using only the ball of the foot.

She told me that she has a problem with her tendons in she right foot and that she is unable to do that particular action and can she use her left foot (on the right pedal).

She is doing Leaving Cert Music next year (irish equivilent of 'A' level) and performance plays a fairly big part in this.

Have never come across this before.... so... if anyone knows; would she be penallised in an exam for pedalling so and if it's a medical issue can a note be left with examiner.

also.... has anyone else had this issue???
As I said to her yesteday, 'you learn something new every day'

Thanks PG

There' s no reason why one shouldn't practise left foot pedalling in the early stages, but there may come a time in later grades when two pedals may be required. I certainly used left foot for so called 'soft pedal'.

(Those who drive automatic cars are often told that the correct way is to use the left foot for braking, but I reckon there aren't many of us who do it ! Probably because we got so used to right foot braking when we drove 'manual' cars.)

I now what you mean, and of course under, 'normal' circumstances would not advocate the use of left foor for right pedal, obviously as the left foor would be used for una corda pedalling in more advanced repetoire.

As my student and I discovered yesterday it throws you off balance on the stool. You're either twisted (just enough to be awkward and uncomfortable) at the torso or sitting 'off centre'

I'll be avoiding repetoire that requires ue of both pedals..... just unsure of the best way to go about teaching different position so she gets no strain. Maybe a couple of Alexander lessons would help.

Just thinking again , I certainly use both pedals together e.g in the first movement of the 'Moonlight'

If the sound is really good and there's no 'thump', could she not just stay using her right foot and lifting it up ?

The twisting needed to use your left foot is really tricky.

Does she manage well when walking? If so I'm surprised that she can't use a piano pedal. Are you certain that this isn't one of those cases that she's decided for herself that it won't be possible, rather than having been taught carefully and thoughtfully? Might be worth having a quiet word with her Mum to find out exactly what the situation is.

The piano I had at home when I was a child was an old school piano with very large castors so it was much higher than any other piano I have ever played on. This meant that as a child I could put my foot on the floor when playing my teacher's piano but not when playing my own. I presume that my teacher must have shown me how to use the pedal correctly but at home I perfected a technique of pedalling without resting my heel on the floor simply because my foot didn't reach. I later changed piano teachers and had complimentary remarks about the use of pedals in higher grade exams and no one (either teacher or examiner) commented that the heel of my foot was not on the floor.

It was only when I started reading posts on here about pedalling that I realised I was doing it wrong . My first attempts with my heel on the floor were awful and I couldn't control the pedal at all - it really does use a different part of your foot. However, I persisted and a year or so laterI must say it is a lot more comfortable and a lot less tiring to have my heel on the floor.

I suppose I'm really trying to make three points:
1) It is possible to have musically acceptable pedalling at grade 8 level using only the ball of the foot.
2) Using the ball of the foot only is more tiring.
3) Change is likely to take several months and to feel very strange at first.