<html xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" = xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" = xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" = xmlns:st1="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" = xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"> <head> <META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; = charset=us-ascii"> <meta name=Generator content="Microsoft Word 11 (filtered medium)">  <title>Re: [CAUT] excessive pedaling?</title> <o:SmartTagType = namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="PersonName"/>  <style>  </style>  </head> <body bgcolor=white lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple> <div class=Section1> And then there was the WING piano = that had up to 6 pedels. Do you remember.? <o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> <div> <div class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'> <hr size=2 width="100%" align=center tabindex=-1> </div> From: caut-bounces@ptg.org [mailto:caut-bounces@ptg.org] On Behalf Of Jeff Olson Sent: Thursday, March 24, = 2005 12:22 AM To: <st1:PersonName = w:st="on">College and University Technicians</st1:PersonName> Subject: [CAUT] More = Thoughts on Pedaling<o:p></o:p> </div> <o:p> </o:p> <div> Fred S. commented:<o:p></o:p>  <o:p></o:p> "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."<o:p></o:p> 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?<o:p></o:p> 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?<o:p></o:p> 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? = <o:p></o:p> 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).<o:p></o:p> 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.)<o:p></o:p> 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). <o:p></o:p> 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).... ;-)<o:p></o:p> Best,<o:p></o:p> Jeff 0.<o:p></o:p>  <o:p></o:p></fo= nt>  <o:p></o:p></fo= nt> </div> </div> </body> </html>