Two questions about pedalling

[slane]

OK .. I should know this but pedalling always has been a bit touchy feely for me.

The first piece is Grieg Op. 12 No. 2. Waltz.
There's a "ped" at the beginning of the piece and then nothing. (see attached)
Do I pedal through the whole lot, upto the double bars, releasing the pedal at each bar?
John Thompson in his 4th grade book says not to use any pedal except for the Coda!

And the second one is Burgmuller Op 100. no 7.
I'm using the allans edition which I got from a book co-op for $2.
It has these horizontal lines which I think indicate pedalling (see attached). So all the notes pile up on one another. That doesn't seem very nice to me. There's another edition on IMSLP that doesn't show the pedalling. So are those horizontal lines pedalling? and do I keep the pedal down for the duration of each line. And do you think its better without?

ta muchly
-s

[lelle]

In the Grieg I think it just means that you are supposed to use the pedal and it's up to you to apply it in a correct, pleasant manner.

As for the burgmuller, yes the horisontal lines indicate pedaling. If you have a look at the bars where the notes will "pile up" on another, for example bars 2 and 3, the only pitches present are g, b and d, which make up the G major chord. Since there only are these notes present it wont sound bad to hold the pedal all over them, but rather result in a clean, dreamy sound of G major.

[rmbarbosa]

Slane, I agree with lelle.
As you know, most of the sheet music has no information about pedals. So, you may wish to free download 2 little books about this:
- Possibilities of tone color by artistic use of pedals - by Teresa Carreno
- Guide to the proper use of pianoforte pedals - by Alexander Nikitich Bukhovtsev (this one based on Anton Rubistein technique.
The first book has 34 pages only. The other, more complex,has 44 pages.
I personally do not follow many times the pedals directions of sheet music, I prefer apply what I have studied in these books and when I have doubts, I look for what the great performers do (videos, CD`s, concerts...).
Best wishes
Rui

[slane]

Thanks Rui and Lelle.
I'll listen more closely to my steven kovacevich CD of the Grieg, but AFAIK no one "great" plays Burgmuller!
And I'll download those two little books Rui. Thanks.

[lorcar]

i searched for the two books, but cannot find them on the web.
Any idea?
thanks in advance

[lorcar]

i guess the books became available only to gold members.

I am really struggling to properly use pedal in Chopin waltz. The result is lousy to say the least.
Or maybe the piece is simply too difficult for me now and I should focus on something else.

[lorcar]

I see no-one has the same troubles with pedal...

Also, why historically the instructions for pedals on the score are written as such?
I mean, I was thaught to change pedal with the first note of the new measure, meaning that you keep the pedal from one measure to the next.
If I look here though
https://www.free-sheet-music.de/chopin/Walzer%20Op.%2069%20Nr.2%20Fontana-Ausgabe.pdf
The "*" sign is at the third beat of a measure. Should I remove the foot there? doesn't sound too empty before the first note of the next measure?

[outin]

I see no-one has the same troubles with pedal...

I am used to pedalling according to my ears, so mostly just ignore the pedal markings...they can be pretty odd.