Am I wrong for this?

[instromp]

A school mate of mines, we've became good friends now.Anyway, she plays pretty well, but when plays, she doesn't use any pedal at all .I suggest to her to use it but she always declines and so i leave when she plays . Am I wrong for doing that? It's very irritating to hear something being played purposely wrong.For instance,she plays 1st mvt of moonlight sonata w/o pedal ,it sounds so dry, so i leave.Does that me a bad person?

instromp

[cerulean]

It doesn't make you a bad person, it's just a preference. moonlight sonata without pedal? i'd walk out too, because i'm very particular about that piece. my sister plays that piece and others and totally ignores dynamics, and i usually start arguing with her or just leave the room, lol but yeah, as long as she knows it's just ur preference, she shouldn't get offended and no harm done

[baron_von_heimlich]

I think Beethoven specifically says to use the pedal.

[faulty_damper]

How can you be wrong for your opinion?

If she has the ability to pedal and chooses not to, one would wonder if her ears are functional.  Or there could be another reason why she chooses not to.  Have you asked her why?  If you haven't, you should ask but not in a manner that would cause her to be defensive.  Maybe she used the Schirmer edition in which the editor (the pretentious idiotic one) misunderstood the direction 'senza sordino' and interpreted it as not to use the pedal.  I learned this piece using that edition and I, too, did not use the pedal at first but it just sounded wrong.  I later learned that 'senza sordino' did not meant not to use the damper pedal but to not let the dampers damp the strings.  (But even this direction would not apply to the modern grand piano with its massive sustain relative to the piano Beethoven used.)

So ask her why she doesn't pedal, don't give her your suggestions.  Learn to ask why first before giving you opinion.

[jas]

I think Beethoven specifically says to use the pedal.

I remember reading somewhere that it was unchanged pedal, too, though obviously that couldn't be done on today's pianos. Does anyone know if this is true?

EDIT: Never mind, just read faulty_damper's post.

[ihatepop]

I think Beethoven specifically says to use the pedal.

Yes. He said to play it slowly and without dampers, which means pedal.

[instromp]

Thanks everyone for you comments !

But if that's the way she wants to play it, then that's her preference,but i suppose if she was to enter a competition she would indefinetly change her mind about it...or not .

[invictious]

Is she hot?

Ok, well you should maximum use very light pedalling, infact, full pedalling should be banned, only light pedalling allowed in piano playing.

Full pedalling covers up sloppiness and makes it sound messy, listen to Li Yundi's FI and compare it to others, Yundi uses very light pedally, yet it still sounds smooth and well, wet, whereas other pianist's versions of FI are full pedalled and sound like a mess.

[allchopin]

Perhaps she is using the wrong pedal 

[ilikepie]

Perhaps she is using the wrong pedal 

I thought it was already established that she wasn't using any pedal...

[pianistimo]

i never heard a pedal technique that sounded 'wet.'  where does one get this information except piano forums.  i now think of piano technique as the difference between drenched and dry playing.  whereas, i used to think of only dry as the one side and light or half-pedalled, or flutter pedalled as the other.  of course, with beethoven, you also have the matter of which notes you are attempting to highlight in the moonlight.  i mean you have the bass and then some inner melody stuff.  richter's magnetic recording is my favorite.  not sure if he's simply finger pedalling or not.  he had huge hands.  you can get away with a lot - when you have those.  almost eliminates pedalling except for quality of sound that you want with slight damper.

[donjuan]

For instance,she plays 1st mvt of moonlight sonata w/o pedal ,it sounds so dry, so i leave.Does that me a bad person?

instromp

haha there are serial rapists out there instromp.  you remind me of myself playing chess with my buddy in a quiet living room, and after I pulled my queen out early, he's like 'you dumb sh*t whyd you do that'  and then I say 'I guess I just enjoy living dangerously'

there are people leaping out of planes everyday
-----
however, back to your situation: so you dont look like an anal retentive control freak, dont give advice unless it is asked for.  Look at the bright side -at least you have friends with a common interest. 

[instromp]

haha there are serial rapists out there instromp.  you remind me of myself playing chess with my buddy in a quiet living room, and after I pulled my queen out early, he's like 'you dumb *** whyd you do that'  and then I say 'I guess I just enjoy living dangerously'

there are people leaping out of planes everyday
-----
however, back to your situation: so you dont look like an anal retentive control freak, dont give advice unless it is asked for.  Look at the bright side -at least you have friends with a common interest. 

It was killing me not to say something to her,i tried suggesting but not giving advice.It's her preference so i know not to say anything...I haven't had a good chess game ina while, i think i've gotten rusty with it ,haha.

[alwaystheangel]

If you have to walk out, you have to walk out.  Just be subtle about it.  I have to say that is kind of weird to not pedal Beethoven but to each their own, right?It may not technically be correct but it's obviously the way she finds expresses the music the best.  In a way, It might be an interesting change to not use a pedal.  I always thought of Moonlight being very bare, cold and sparse, sort of like an empty soul or something,  I think that seeing that piece like that, beutifying it with pedal would defeat her INTERPRETATION of the music. 

After all, music is just an extention of our souls.  We don't play music because we love it, we play music because we need to.

Or, maybe, I'm just going way too deep and she's an idiot.

Who knows?  Everyone's a little bit special, right?