Hi,
Does anyone have any notes or knows ant website that teaches how to play the pedal effectively, I am using the pedal very often but find that it sound quite uneven.......so would like to refine it further...

Thanks.
ger

Good question. I was discussing this very issue with an adult pupil recently. I find that the pedal markings in most books don't adequately describe my own pedalling technique which works for me. In many books the pedalling diagrams imply that the pedal should be lowered and lifted "immediately" on a new bar and/or harmony but I find I dont pedal this way.
Here's the basic technique I use:-
If we have a basic chordal progression of minims I would pedal the following way...
I play the first harmony and the pedal tends to go down slightly after I've played the chord. Essentially, as well as filling the sound out it is assisting in the legato for the next change of harmony. Here is the most important step. In order for good legato, the pedal should go up at the the same time as the next chord is being played and ideally both pedal and key should meet half way so as to give the best legato effect. Raising the pedal too soon will cause a gap between the chords and raising it too late will cause a smudging of harmonies as the original chord is held through and clashes with the new harmony. It is an art that needs to be practiced but once mastered becomes second nature. Once the new chord has been played I tend to put the pedal back down by the second beat of the bar. It depends on the piano and the acoustics of the room and of course there are much more subtle variations of pedalling with more complex harmonies etc that I won't go into here.
Good luck and just keep working on your technique until you find what works for you.

Gae

Hi Gae,
Thanks for the advise.

However did you meant to say that when I play the 1st note, I should also step on the pedal just before I play the 2nd key?

What about 2nd bar, should I release just before the 1st note or after play in the 1st note?

Thanks,
ger

We pedal with out ears, ger. No website will help you do this. A sympathetic teacher will.

What I mean is, the pedal is there to enhance the sound we are creating. We can only tell whether this is happening by listening to ourselves as we play.

The basic principle for using the pedal to create legato where it would otherwise be impossible (chords, usually) is: if you want the sound to continue after you have let go the keys, then the pedal has to be down. Deceptively simple in concept, not always so easy in practise.

Broad 'rules of thumb' for inexperienced pedal users are:
- a gap between notes\chords means you have lifted it too soon
- blurring means either: 1) you have lifted it too late; 2) or you have not lifted it far enough to kill the sound of the previous chord; 3) or you are not changing (that is lifting then pressing it again) often enough.

Hope this helps.

Steve

Hi Steve,
Thanks for the advise. I usually step on the pedal when I heat the 1st notes...so now I understand, will explore on this.....

rgds/ger

I find this really difficult to teach, because I can't actually remember being taught it myself. I seemed to just aquire the skill to be able to use the pedal effectively. In that sense, it's quite hard teaching someone else.

David

I also found the book "The pianist's guide to pedaling" by Joseph Banowetz very helpfull. It descibes many ways of how you can use the pedal and when. Of course as said before you can only really learn to pedal with your ears and a good teacher and not from a book, but it gives good background information. I had never realized that there are so many ways you can use the pedal and it inspired me to experiment more.