Peddling Tips!

[fuel925]

Firstly, I realise that there's more to peddling than meets the eye, and you could write a whole book about it, but i'm just looking for a few of the basic tips to improve my peddling. I am currently studying Grade 8 VCM, so can obviously peddle my pieces but a lot of the time I find the peddle blurs my playing too much. I found that this is much improved by "half-peddling", i.e. pressing down the peddle only just enough to get the sustain going without pressing it down the full way, but my foot aches when I peddle like this!

Any tips and help would be appreciated, thanks.

[ludwig]

hi fuel925 (doesn't have anything to do with silver does it) 

anyways, the art of pedalling is very tough Perhaps you should try a few different things to see which ones suit you

vibrato pedalling- this will make the piano shake, but hey it makes the same harmonies blend without crowding or drowning the sound

pedalling on the notes - gets rid of any carried over harmonies, works best for tenuto staccato, and any chordal passages with lots of change in harmony

pedalling immediately after a note or chord has been released (not played), so you get that carried over resonance, and not the heaviness

And half pedals (you can also do all of the above with half pedals too), i guess it is a lot more work, but you do get the clarity, try to move your foot inwards a bit for half pedals to not strain the ankle.

There's also the art of release of the pedal, which will also affect the sound, especially the sustain...I guess the only thing is there are no rules to pedalling, there are general guidelines and stuff. So the best way to find clean and effective pedals is to experiment...Goodluck

[abell88]

I used to have (unfortunately, I lent it to someone) a book on pedalling. I think it was called The Art of Pedalling (may be mistaken about that), and it was by K. Schnabel (I think -- I always guessed he was Artur Schnabel's son, though  -- again -- memory is shaky on this). Anyhow, it was a great resource and I wish I had it back -- but maybe you can track it down!

[quantum]

If your foot aches when you half pedal, try to modify your foot position as to eliminate the ache.  Use slightly different points on to foot to touch the pedal and floor until you find a comfortable position.  Use the floor to for stability and control in your half pedalling. 

The best guide to pedalling is your ear.  Learn to instantaneously react to what your ear is telling you and adjust the pedalling accordingly.  Don't expect to use the same pedaling every time you play a piece. 

Good pedaling is also linked with how well you distribute weight among notes in your fingers.  Adding a little more weight to important notes, and a little less for other notes can greatly improve the clarity of your pedalling.