<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD><TITLE>Re: [CAUT] excessive pedaling?</TITLE> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; = charset=iso-8859-1"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.2900.2604" name=GENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=#ffffff> <DIV> 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? 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). 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.    </DIV></BODY></HTML>