What do bottom brackets indicate?

[napoleonspidgin]

I hope this isn't too silly of a question.  I am without a teacher.  Are these pedal indicators?

[go12_3]

Yes, they are. 

[napoleonspidgin]

Thank You.  I wasn't sure.  I have encountered the standard asterisk and release symbols but not brackets.

[birba]

In fact, they're very precise pedal marks.  Never seen anything like that.  You play the note and then the pedal down, not together.  Good idea.

[quantum]

Bartok was very meticulous with his markings.  It is evident in the example above from the Roumanian folk dances.

[napoleonspidgin]

Edit

[quantum]

Correct, it is "Stick Game" from the Roumanian Folk Dances.  I wonder if Bartok only uses these brackets.

It is a standard form of Pedal notation.  Ped * is the other.  There is also all Ped without * between consecutive up-down movements. 

One other thing that is bugging me: the numbers with inch marking at the end of each piece.

End of "Standing Still"


End of "Peasant Costume"



What are those all about?

Approximate time of the piece.

' minutes
" seconds

[birba]

Correct, it is "Stick Game" from the Roumanian Folk Dances.  I wonder if Bartok only uses these brackets.

One other thing that is bugging me: the numbers with inch marking at the end of each piece.

End of "Standing Still"


End of "Peasant Costume"



What are those all about?

Inch marks?!  Those are the seconds the piece is supposed to last!  As you said, Bartok was very meticulous in EVERYTHING he did.  And did you know he was an exceptional pianist who came in second to Backhaus, I believe it was, in a piano competition.

[napoleonspidgin]

Inch marks?!  Those are the seconds the piece is supposed to last!  As you said, Bartok was very meticulous in EVERYTHING he did.  And did you know he was an exceptional pianist who came in second to Backhaus, I believe it was, in a piano competition.

Is it not redundant to indicate the exact tempo and exact time a piece elapses to a stop watch? I love Bartok but that seems a bit obsessive-compulsive.

[quantum]

It can come in handy when one has to program a recital or CD recording, especially if you need to closely follow a timed schedule. 

[hitthekey]

Correct, it is "Stick Game" from the Roumanian Folk Dances.  I wonder if Bartok only uses these brackets.

The Bastien book I'm learning from uses these sorts of pedal indicators. I thought it was normal and that the *Ped indicators were odd. What is the actual standard? Or is there no standard?

[ara9100]

They Are used in a lot of Mozart's Works.

[jgallag]

The difference between the pedal markings is basically a time period difference. The Ped. markings were in common use for a long time, and then sometime recently (don't know exactly when) brackets came into use. Your edition of Mozart's works is probably not the best if it uses brackets instead of Ped. markings. As hitthekey mentioned, they are used in the Bastien books which are beginners' lesson books, not serious material. And when they are used in serious material, they are meant to indicate this exact timing, which I would say is not completely desirable in earlier works, as the choice of pedal usage is one of our artistic tools as the performer. As far as I know, Henle editions are the best for Mozart's works, and these brackets are not use (In fact, I don't think I've ever seen them in a Henle book.) These are editor's changes, Mozart would have used the standard Ped. markings, or whatever was convention at the time, not brackets. As has been emphasized already, they are more meticulous, which is why Bartok used them. I've played the dances, quite fun pieces, but these pedal markings add much to the difficulty. It's not easy to master the timing for the pedal in this work.