[CAUT] More Thoughts on Pedaling

[Wigent, Donald E]

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And then there was the WING piano that had up to 6 pedels. Do you
remember.?=20

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From: caut-bounces@ptg.org [mailto:caut-bounces@ptg.org] On Behalf Of
Jeff Olson
Sent: Thursday, March 24, 2005 12:22 AM
To: College and University Technicians
Subject: [CAUT] More Thoughts on Pedaling

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Fred S. commented:

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"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.

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