Do you play pedals as written?

[ohmypiano]

Hello all,

I got a question about the sustain pedal. Do you play it strictly as written? For example, Chopin's Grand Valse Brilliante in E flat Op. 18, there are some sections where there's no notation for pedals at all. If I try to play it strictly, it sounds really weird.

What do I do? I'm self taught, and don't have a teacher to ask :-(

Thanks for your help y'all!

[faulty_damper]

Pedal the best way it sounds.  This will depend on how the piano sounds in the room it's in.  It can get more complicated than this, however.  Pedal notation is just a suggestion, not gospel.

[serqin]

When in doubt, look at the harmonies and pedal to accomodate them 

[tdawe]

Barely even look at the pedal markings, personally.

[iansinclair]

I'm assuming we're talking about the sustain pedal -- far right?

I do look at them -- provided that I am reasonably certain that they represent the composer's intentions, and not some arranger's ideas.  One does have to be a little careful of that.  What I am looking for is intention, though, and not necessarily an exact indication.  The question is, did the composer intend the notes to continue sounding after the marked duration or didn't he (or she)?  And sometimes the results are a little surprising...

I do not, however, follow the markings slavishly!  Where there is a difference, though, it is usually that I may use a very brief pedal to make a better legato (my technique isn't all it might be, and I cheat) or I may use it on occasion for a fuller sound (hard to explain) on certain chords or notes.

As faulty said, the best rule is what sounds best in your specific situation -- but, particularly if you are self-taught, making this judgement call as to style of the piece can be tricky.

[teran]

Depends on the composer, ultimately I use pedal to augment harmony but never let it blur the lines. This is probably what most composers intended but the sustain pedal of nowadays has a much longer sustain, and the note decay of modern pianos is much much longer.

Due to this,. I might tweak accordingly.

I only cause a blurring wash for my own compositional messing around, when the effect of the blurring dissonance is what I want.

[ohmypiano]

Thanks for all y'all input. It was helpful. Time for more practice!

[asuhayda]

almost never.  Scores often call for ridiculously excessive amounts of pedal.  But it also depends on which school of thought you come from on this subject.  I for one, like to be sparing with pedaling.

[keypeg]

Well, just looking at the first measure showing pedal, the bass has a Bb7 chord, and the melody goes D, Eb, DF.  That Eb will blur into the harmony of the Bb chord, while the D and F fits in.  So do you want that blurred sound, or do you want a clear sound?  Which sounds better to you?  What do you hear in the playing of the masters?  That's the kind of thing that you go by - your ear.  I've been told about Chopin in particular that the pedal marks we find in editions are especially unreliable.

[sideways]

Probably not your problem, but for me I found that a lot of what I played sounded better with the sustain pedal pressed.  The reason why was because my beat was off and it would kind of keep the music going.  working with the metronome more or less solved that problem for me, but I got into a real bad habit of pressing down the sustain pedal way to much.

[rmbarbosa]

Most of the answers to your question are very good and I agree with them. But you may wish to learn and understand more profoundly the use, without abuse, of the pedals. So, here, in piano street, there are two books very good about the use of the pedals. You may download them, I think. One of them is based on Rubinstein use of pedals. The other, from an argentine pianist (I dont remember her name). There are some rules, also in one other book published by pianostreet (something like the Lechtiwsky method....).
Best wishes