How do I play this note?

[lordnishka]

https://musescore.com/user/4237/scores/26272

I can play this piece off by heart but there was a single note I decided to ignore in a few of the measures: from bars 1 to 8 you can see a whole note in the bass section (the whole note + the eighth notes). Should I worry about it? It doesn't seem like it would effect the song much but I'm not sure how I will stretch my left hand that far lol.

[paperdesigner]

https://musescore.com/user/4237/scores/26272

I can play this piece off by heart but there was a single note I decided to ignore in a few of the measures: from bars 1 to 8 you can see a whole note in the bass section (the whole note + the eighth notes). Should I worry about it? It doesn't seem like it would effect the song much but I'm not sure how I will stretch my left hand that far lol.

I could be wrong, but I think it merely demands that you play with the pedal until the next sustained bottom note. I can't imagine it really wants you to stretch a twelfth in the first bar. Being written that way means you might want to consider giving it just the tiniest extra oomph just to make sure the bottom note rings out clearly as you play the rest.

[lordnishka]

Yeah, it seemed pretty illogical to have to stretch a twelfth to reach the next note.

Thanks for the quick response.

[mjedwards]

     Definitely it is asking you to hold the bass notes with the pedal until the next bass note, and certainly not expecting you to hold it with your finger - few people would be able to stretch the required 12th interval anyway.  And if it were taken to be requiring you to hold the low notes with the finger, the 4th bar would then actually be asking you to stretch 2 octaves plus a 5th, or the interval of a 19th.
     This use of long notes to indicate the use of the pedal is quite common, and I would suggest that it needs to be taken notice of if the piece is to be performed properly.

Regards, Michael.