just to let you know that the exam results came through for my student that couldnt reach the pedal for his piece. He scored 28/30 for that piece and the examiner said that had he been able to pedal the opening and keep it smooth using the pedal instead of his fingers he would have scored higher.

If you are only 8 years old then scoring 28/30 is brill and he scored a distinction overall.

Excellent! Well done that man.

Thats great. Well done to student and teacher. I often wondered whether young children who couldn't reach the pedal would be penalised if they played a piece that needed it. Its good to know they aren't.

Could they reach the pedal if they sat on the edge of the stool?

But excellent result nevertheless.

QUOTE (frumpybabes @ Mar 23 2005, 11:51 AM)

just to let you know that the exam results came through for my student that couldnt reach the pedal for his piece. He scored 28/30 for that piece and the examiner said that had he been able to pedal the opening and keep it smooth using the pedal instead of his fingers he would have scored higher. If you are only 8 years old then scoring 28/30 is brill and he scored a distinction overall.

Congratulations on the remarkable success.. but I am tempted to ask where this logic would end.

For example, if the student was playing an impressionist piece - how could you assess the artistic merit of the performance without the damper pedal?
Sorry to state the obvious .. but keeping playing "smooth" is only one objective of the damper pedal.

On further consideration I would argue that releasing all strings from dampers for purposes of overtones and mingling of sound - that would be the primary artistic impact of the damper pedal.

Unfortunately I cannot think of a perfect answer to this question, but recently I heard an adjudicator say in public that he expects any candidate, irrespective of age, to take responsibility for a credible interpretation of a piece they attempt - irrespective of age.

If techcally you can play all the notes of an advanced piece, but you have been unable to assimilate a key component of performance at that level - then is it worthwhile to be sprinting through all the grades? Could this be an opportunity to broaden ones musical knowledge outside the piano.

Food for thought:

http://www.jazzreview.com/interviews3.html

An article about the late,great french jazz pianist- Michel Petrucciani.

QUOTE (Semele @ Mar 24 2005, 07:37 AM)

Food for thought: http://www.jazzreview.com/interviews3.html An article about the late,great french jazz pianist- Michel Petrucciani.

Wow!

Thanks for that.

Powerful and uplifting stuff.


SP