Is this true?

[stevensk]

I have heard from a friend that daily use of the left pedal on a grand piano, the high compressed felt will be mushy and worn-out because of the new positions of the hammers.

Is this true?

[quantum]

The left pedal was put there for a reason - to be used.  It is like saying, you won't drive your car for fear of having to replace worn out tires.  Using the left pedal will cause wear on the hammers, similarly not using the left pedal will cause wear on the hammers.  Either way, the hammers will get worn with playing.  One might as well use the facilities available on the instrument.  

Personally, I make frequent use of the left pedal to harness to entire tonal gamut of the instrument.  

[hfmadopter]

The left pedal on my Henry F Miller softens the tone as well as lowering volume, I would imagine that is do to the hammers touching the strings in a softer portion of felt from normal. But that is a rather endearing sound to me that I use in my style of music. No matter if you use the left pedal or not eventually hammers have to be voiced and some day beyond beyond that replaced ( years and years down the road perhaps). So I really don't even think about it.

[stevensk]

"The left pedal was put there for a reason - to be used"

Yes, of course, what else?  What I am talking about is the daily use of the left pedal and, if hammer needs to be replaced after 8 years, that is good news for the piano company but not for us.

[quantum]

Hammers have to be eventually replaced, as well as other parts of the piano.  An instrument won't go on forever without maintenance and replacement of worn out parts.  As much as one may wish to believe, instruments do age.  IMO, frequent left pedal use is a non-issue. 

If the hammers need to be replaced after 8 years, then so be it - you got 8 years worth of playing with them.  That has much more lasting value then a set of hammers.  It is an unlikely scenario though for a home instrument to have hammers last only 8 years, unless you are an exceptionally heavy player.  Institutional instruments that get bashed 24/7 have much more frequent need for repairs.  Even on such school instruments I have rarely encountered a left pedal that does not do its job. 

If you do a few simple things such as: not using the left pedal as a substitute for a practice pedal and not playing forte with the left pedal, wearing out the hammers due to left pedal use should be no issue at all. 

[iansinclair]

If you need the left pedal for some of the music you are playing, use it.  Just remember that it isn't a substitute for learning to control the dynamics with your touch!  You must learn to play the full dynamic range of your instrument (some are more responsive than others) by touch.

The left pedal will make the instrument softer, that's true.  But what it is especially useful for -- and where some music almost requires it -- is a subtle (or sometimes not so subtle) change in the quality of the tone.  Hard to describe, but any good grand will have a definite change.  Perhaps "more gentle" might be a way to describe it...

Using it won't hurt anything at all.

[stevensk]

"Just remember that it isn't a substitute for learning to control the dynamics with your touch!"

Oh, thank you for THAT information, I have worked for more than 20 years as a  professional pianist. This is quite new information! (ironically)

[iansinclair]

"Just remember that it isn't a substitute for learning to control the dynamics with your touch!"

Oh, thank you for THAT information, I have worked for more than 20 years as a  professional pianist. This is quite new information! (ironically)

My apologies.  I was not aware that you were an expert; perhaps I was misled by the tenor of your initial question.  Not all of the readers on this forum are as well qualified as you are, and using the left pedal for dynamics is, unfortunately, a not uncommon error in less well qualified pianists.

[pianoplunker]

If you need the left pedal for some of the music you are playing, use it.  Just remember that it isn't a substitute for learning to control the dynamics with your touch!  You must learn to play the full dynamic range of your instrument (some are more responsive than others) by touch.

The left pedal will make the instrument softer, that's true.  But what it is especially useful for -- and where some music almost requires it -- is a subtle (or sometimes not so subtle) change in the quality of the tone.  Hard to describe, but any good grand will have a definite change.  Perhaps "more gentle" might be a way to describe it...

Using it won't hurt anything at all.

Back when I had access to a real acoustic piano, I used to love to play Bach with the left pedal down the whole time. It really does have a unique tonal quality.  Pedal should be used more for tone quality rather than for volume in my opinion. You can always use your fingers to make it louder or softer

[chrisbutch]

Yes, it would be a pity to avoid using the left pedal forte for no other reason than to minimise felt wear, as somebody recommended earlier. It's a valuable (and generally under-exploited) addition to the instrument's tonal palette, for which there's no equivalent substitute. The balance between the various upper partials is modified in a way you can't mimic by touch alone.