[CAUT] More Thoughts on Pedaling

[Chris Solliday]

This is a multi-part message in MIME format.

---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment
Re: [CAUT] excessive pedaling?Jeff my friend, I just don't know how to =
respond to such hysteria. Chris
  ----- Original Message -----=20
  From: Jeff Olson=20
  To: College and University Technicians=20
  Sent: Thursday, March 24, 2005 12:22 AM
  Subject: [CAUT] More Thoughts on Pedaling


  Fred S. commented:



  "If I don't provide pianos that have had a good una corda voicing, as =
one example, the piano students who play them won't learn what the =
possibilities are, and they will be unaware of being unaware."

  Not to flog a semi-comatose ungulate, but if ideal piano performance =
is not possible without a qualitative reduction in volume, as is =
theoretically caused by the una corda pedal on properly voiced hammers, =
why would ideal piano performance not also require a qualitative =
increase in volume via, say, a pedal which shifts the hammers' striking =
point to a (voiced) harder portion of the hammer?

  In other words, why the bias to an artificially induced softness as =
opposed to an artificially induced loudness? If one is deemed desirable, =
why not the other?

  Imagine instead of shifting the action to strike one string (as it did =
originally), the default was one string, and the shift caused two =
strings to be struck. Is there any reason, other than subjective =
preference, for one to exist and not the other? For that matter, if a =
mechanically induced softness is desirable, why not employ a "mute" =
pedal (one that places a strip of felt between hammers and strings)? =
Surely that would dramatically alter the timbre (harmonic series =
emphasis), and thus be a good thing?=20

  Incidentally, I don't believe there were any pedal markings on music =
prior to the 1790s. CPEB died shortly before then, so, assuming I'm =
correct about pedal markings, would it be unfair to suggest that Wim's =
professor was out in his own private la-la land in una cording the heck =
out of a CPE piece (the only mention about pedals I recall from CPE's =
tome, "Essay on the True Art of Playing Keyboard Instruments," was a =
reference to enjoying the undamped register of the forte piano).

  I'm not suggesting you guys are all wrong, by the way -- merely that =
the present state of affairs (including the predominant modern pedal =
arrangement) perhaps isn't quite as self-evident as it's being portrayed =
here. A few changes of inventive serendipity here and there, and we =
might have more pedals, or pedals that perform at least slightly =
different functions from their current incarnation; it seems to me that =
there's a built-in bias toward that which did evolve, and an =
underestimation of the role of chance in that evolution.  (See the =
evolution of the modern computer keyboard, which is known to be =
biomechanically inferior, for an example of that.)

  But then perhaps this is all, as Chris has suggested, the result of a =
feverishly unaware midsummer night's dream on my part (this is certainly =
the wrong season to have such a dream).=20

  In any case, I have been inspired to more meticulously adjust the una =
corda pedal and voice the hammers accordingly on my own personal grands, =
so please excuse me while I gather my hammer hardening lacquer and set =
to work. I'm really looking forward to that shift to a brighter tone, =
where I can at long last bring out the true brilliance of Bach (JS).... =
;-)

  Best,

  Jeff 0.





---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/caut.php/attachments/21/23/ed/de/attachment.htm

---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment--