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John Piano
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1880 Advertisement John Brinsmead Sons Piano Music $16.00 1880 advertisement john brinsmead sons piano music . Old antique historical victorian prints maps and historic fine art---------- full page from the illustrated london news, an illustrated weekly newspaper weeks date as shown on top of page, the size of each page is approximately 15.5 x 11 inches (395x280). All are genuine antique prints and not modern copies, the illustrated london news is an i... |
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US $3.45
The middle pedal on a piano has a mysterious set of functions that vary with the age, model and condition of the piano. First, one should understand what all three pedals do.
Some pianos have only two pedals. There are old pianos with this configuration, and there are brand new models that use only two pedals, so having two pedals is no single confirmation of the age of a piano.
Regardless of how many pedals there are, the right pedal has a single function. The right pedal acts to sustain all of the keys of the piano.
The middle pedal, if there is one, was originally intended to sustain (see above) only those keys which were depressed while the middle pedal was down. Think of it as a "selective" sustain. All the other keys that are not included in the middle pedal continue to be damped, that is, not sustained.
On many pianos, especially those in the current era, have a middle pedal which acts as a mute, in which a piece of felt is automatically draped across the strings, damping and quieting the sound. It is suitable only for quiet practice.
The left pedal is used to quiet the sound.
On an upright piano, this is done by moving the hammers closer to the strings so that they strike the strings with less force, since force is partially dependent on the distance from the hammer to the string.
On a grand piano, the left pedal makes the sound softer by moving all the hammers slightly to the right. Since each hammer strikes three strings, moving it to the right will make the hammer strike only two strings, making it 2/3 as loud.
I have only found a functioning middle pedal ("selective " sustain) on a handful of fine instruments.
While not required to play any music correctly, the middle pedal is called for starting with the music of Debussy and Ravel at the beginning of the 1900s. You will also find it in modern classical music, such as Ives and Ruggles.
Think of the middle pedal as an idea that never came to fruition, the pinkie toe of the piano, vestigial and forever mysterious to all.
John Aschenbrenner is an Emmy Award Winning Composer and a leading children's music educator, book publisher, and the author of numerous fun piano method books in the series PIANO BY NUMBER for kids.
You can see the PIANO BY NUMBER series at http://www.pianoiseasy.com and http://www.pianoiseasy2.com