tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-66158231284495346762024-03-05T02:57:55.708-08:00Cincinnati NoteEdward Neemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16575558081870347468noreply@blogger.comBlogger19125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6615823128449534676.post-40751734330581639952017-01-19T06:55:00.000-08:002017-01-19T06:55:58.521-08:00Ivan Wyschnegradsky and Diatonic ChromaticismIn the several hundred years that musicians have been working in twelve-note equal temperament, we've barely scratched the surface of what's possible. Moving up to 24-note equal temperament doubles the notes and increases the range of potential tunes exponentially. A twelve-note scale has has 12x12x12 = 1728 melodies with four notes; a 24-note scale gives us 13,824 potential melodies!<br />
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That level of freedom can be exhilarating, or paralyzing. Many composers working in quarter tones have treated the quarter tone scale more or less like two normal chromatic scales that are out of tune with each other. That's a good way to start, but there's much more to quarter tones than that.<br />
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Ivan Wyschnegradsky devoted his life to studying quarter tones and other microtonal divisions of the octave, and it shows! He slides through the quarter tone scale with ease, inventing rich post-Romantic melodies that drip with emotion and sensuality. To an uninitiated listener, the quarter tones might be jarring at first, but I find that the initial discomfort evaporates quickly as I'm drawn into his inner sound world.<br />
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At the foundation of Wyschnegradsky's compositional method is "diatonic chromaticism". Here is his diatonic chromatic scale:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJe-JESeQv4G8WWya7n486_d1S4R5icOTlNdJ8yBKPJ31_hBzCy0embCmQrnQAZ3CsFRn2iaHpjVevTjDvlVQK33QYLIMd_RH4cY7d45awXlhwC8uhaHRUr1qfUIYbAXoouxvvcxLSzk8/s1600/Wyschnegradsky+scale.png" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="103" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJe-JESeQv4G8WWya7n486_d1S4R5icOTlNdJ8yBKPJ31_hBzCy0embCmQrnQAZ3CsFRn2iaHpjVevTjDvlVQK33QYLIMd_RH4cY7d45awXlhwC8uhaHRUr1qfUIYbAXoouxvvcxLSzk8/s400/Wyschnegradsky+scale.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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This 13-note scale sounds chromatic, but theoretically it has a lot in common with a normal diatonic scale. It is made up mostly of semitone intervals, with two quarter-tone intervals between the 6th and 7th scale degrees and the 13th and 1st scale degrees (shown with brackets). Similarly, a 7-note diatonic major scale is made up mostly of whole tones, plus two semitone intervals:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhApVlC37iA2dlIsaKr_nUvvRg9ILFzdZYdKq06ykuPeKDXmD4TAgudvyJuossozo8EcIHyC79q_SrB9xtQOhGJERmuDgX6HGFkQxWhBTQDc_LGDlf75e1j4KN4EpC61c95D2v3E7_SKtU/s1600/diatonic+scale.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="105" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhApVlC37iA2dlIsaKr_nUvvRg9ILFzdZYdKq06ykuPeKDXmD4TAgudvyJuossozo8EcIHyC79q_SrB9xtQOhGJERmuDgX6HGFkQxWhBTQDc_LGDlf75e1j4KN4EpC61c95D2v3E7_SKtU/s320/diatonic+scale.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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Even though Wyschnegradsky's scale sounds a lot like a normal chromatic scale, the little differences count for a lot. There are <i>no </i>major or minor chords in his scale! That fact alone forced him to think outside the box when searching for harmonies. Also, perfect fifths are scarce (only three exist). The most common intervals are the major fourth (a perfect fourth plus a quarter tone) and the minor fifth (a perfect fifth minus a quarter tone). These intervals occur naturally in the overtone series, just like our "normal" consonances of thirds and fifths. They closely approximate intervals around the 11th harmonic (11/8 and 16/11 respectively).</div>
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Wyschnegradsky's system replaces the familiar "circle of fifths"</div>
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with a circle of major fourths!</div>
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Just like in the circle of fifths, the circle of major fourths orders the keys so that moving between adjacent keys will change only one pitch in the scale (shown outside the circle).</div>
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When Wyschnegradsky wrote his 24 Preludes, Op. 22, he must have had Chopin and Scriabin in the back of his mind. Both Chopin (Op. 28) and Scriabin (Op. 11) wrote masterful sets of 24 preludes in all major and minor keys, going around the circle of fifths. Wyschnegradsky's preludes use his diatonic chromatic scale in all 24 quarter-tone keys, going around the circle of major fourths. All of his preludes have a clear tonal center, making it easy to hear that the first prelude is in C, the second is in F half-sharp, the third is in B, and so on.</div>
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Wyschnegradsky originally wrote these Preludes in 1934 and revised them in 1960. In the introduction to the score, he tells us that he started by restricting himself to using only the pitches in his 13-tone scale. In the revision, he allowed himself to play more freely with hyper-chromaticism, using all 24 pitches per octave.<br />
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No doubt his revisions were quite substantial! Some of the best moments in his Preludes are when he takes advantage of the poignant beauty that quarter tones can bring to even simple melodic gestures. One of my favorites is at the climax of the second prelude in F half-sharp. The drooping chords and hyper-chromatic voice leading build up so superbly, thrusting the music to a dramatic peak.<br />
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The third prelude in B returns to more "diatonic" sound, even though there is some of Wyschnegradsky's ear-titillating voice leading lurking in the left hand. It reminds me of Prokofiev's <i>Visions Fugitives—</i>a deceptively simple set of miniatures that belies the sublime artistry behind the surface. I love the shimmering trills that slowly descend across the keyboard, bringing the music to a questioning standstill.<br />
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With its Bartókian rhythms and driving intensity, the 40 seconds of the fourth prelude in E half-sharp are among the most crowd-pleasing of the set. Echoes of Bartók also come through with the relentless insistence on a descending modal scale, which forms the subject of a rapid-fire canon at the end.<br />
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Here are the first four preludes in their entirety:<br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">No. 1 in C: <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://youtu.be/4wCWzzvocfU&source=gmail&ust=1483802440911000&usg=AFQjCNEUbtyX6D365nHaZxuhqVnyInHLYQ" href="https://youtu.be/4wCWzzvocfU" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/<wbr></wbr>4wCWzzvocfU</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">No. 2 in F half-sharp: <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://youtu.be/3YRQjh0RXDo&source=gmail&ust=1483802440911000&usg=AFQjCNFv7odP-5mamcXitGo7RB2V-_idUw" href="https://youtu.be/3YRQjh0RXDo" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/<wbr></wbr>3YRQjh0RXDo</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">No. 3 in B: <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://youtu.be/eqEe3TeQmDw&source=gmail&ust=1483802440911000&usg=AFQjCNFD8zauZrGU_YMD_shRWKWNNJXTRw" href="https://youtu.be/eqEe3TeQmDw" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/<wbr></wbr>eqEe3TeQmDw</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">No. 4 in E half-sharp: <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://youtu.be/zUbSBk_3ZzU&source=gmail&ust=1483802440911000&usg=AFQjCNHp2NamuY1ZB2XxWVitrb7eYLL5lA" href="https://youtu.be/zUbSBk_3ZzU" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/<wbr></wbr>zUbSBk_3ZzU</a></span></div>
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Happy quarter-toning!</div>
Edward Neemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16575558081870347468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6615823128449534676.post-60828558980982807072016-12-15T12:37:00.003-08:002017-01-19T12:46:32.560-08:00Quartertones for Keyboard SoloAmid the cobwebs of almost-forgotten piano history lies the strange story of the quarter-tone piano.<br />
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A typical piano is tuned in semitones, with 12 equally spaced notes per octave. (Also known as 12-EDO, for 12 Equal Divisions of the Octave.)<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chromatic scale in semitones (12-EDO)<br />
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A quarter-tone piano is tuned in 24-EDO, with twice as many pitches per octave. In other words, between any two adjacent notes on a conventional piano (e.g. C and C sharp) there would be an extra note on the quarter-tone piano (e.g. C half-sharp). This requires some <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Partial_accidentals.svg" target="_blank">extra accidentals, in imaginative shapes</a>.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ultra-chromatic scale in quarter-tones (24-EDO)</td></tr>
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But where can all those extra notes fit? A quarter-tone piano needs twice as many keys as a conventional piano. The intrepid <a href="http://www.august-foerster.de/cms/en/20/" target="_blank">August Förster piano manufacturing company</a> solved this problem by stacking two piano mechanisms on top of one another, with the upper one tuned up a quarter tone.</div>
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This beast of a piano was constructed in 1923 on the initiative of Alois Hába, one of the early pioneers of quarter-tone composition. It was followed in 1928 by an upright version for <a href="http://www.gavindixon.info/Ivan_Wyschnegradsky.htm" target="_blank">Ivan Wyschnegradsky</a>, a Russian émigré in Paris who devoted himself to becoming the "microtonal Scriabin".</div>
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Meanwhile, the quarter-tone bug had spread across the Atlantic. At the instigation of Hans Barth, an experimental pianist and composer, Charles Ives composed his Three Quarter-Tone Pieces in 1923–24 and contributed funds to commission George Weitz of Chickering Pianos to develop an quarter-tone piano. Even though the premiere performance of Ives's Pieces used two pianos (one was tuned a quarter tone up) and two pianists (Hans Barth and Sigmund Klein), Ives originally intended the third piece, a Chorale, to be played by one pianist on a two-manual quarter-tone piano.</div>
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Alois Hába, Ivan Wyschnegradsky, and Charles Ives were the vanguard of quarter-tone piano composition, writing ground-breaking works from the 1920s on. But after the initial flurry of mechanical innovation, piano makers abandoned the idea of a single instrument that could play in quarter tones. Those early instruments, once so full of promise, now languish as museum pieces.</div>
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Composers turned to a simpler, more practical way of getting quarter tones: using two pianos tuned a quarter tone apart, just as Barth and Klein had done to premiere Ives's Pieces. <a href="https://youtu.be/yrVpPtktDVA" target="_blank">Mildred Couper</a>, Alan Hovhaness, <a href="https://youtu.be/LX2jnaYotzs" target="_blank">John Corigliano</a>, and <a href="https://youtu.be/_iycR_ILurQ" target="_blank">Georg Friedrich Haas</a> all used this method. </div>
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But two-piano writing, with two pianists, is really a different genre to solo writing. Even though many ambitious pianists have played Wyschnegradsky's music on two pianos, it's extremely difficult to recreate the feeling of the piano solo using two instruments. Can you imagine playing the melody line of a Chopin Nocturne on two pianos, alternating back and forth every few notes? That's what it feels like!</div>
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I've tossed around the idea of playing Wyschnegradsky's 24 Preludes, Op. 22 as a solo piano piece for years, but I never could quite figure out how to make it work. And then I stumbled across Aron Kallay's pathbreaking recording <i><a href="http://microfestrecords.com/beyond-12-notes/" target="_blank">Beyond 12</a>, </i>and the world hasn't been the same since! <a href="http://aronkallay.com/" target="_blank">Aron Kallay</a> has made a major project of commissioning works for virtually re-tuned piano, which he performs using a MIDI keyboard and <a href="https://www.pianoteq.com/" target="_blank">Pianoteq</a> software. Composers can re-tune any note to literally any pitch they can imagine. After all, a MIDI keyboard is really nothing more than a controller with 88 pressure-sensitive keys. There's no reason that middle C on the keyboard shouldn't be able to sound at a G sharp... or that two seconds later, by pressing a pedal you can change that same key to sound at a D half-flat!</div>
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I play the Wyschnegradsky Preludes on a MIDI keyboard hooked up to my laptop, where I have two virtual Pianoteq pianos running with one tuned a quarter-tone flat. My keyboard playing comes in on MIDI channel 1, and each note is then rerouted (via <a href="https://puredata.info/downloads/pd-extended" target="_blank">Pd-extended</a>) to one of the two pianos on channels 2 and 3.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGS5Pl70281RvxwAaUeFy1Wc7gQ39aZ8l4oQ5-rfjZcYI-taN3MCiqV-h-YBpRBXFYUZgH24kTmG3247NRYM7DS-X2EkgIKLLazIFVGn-NWQJcglFdwC2TU7xF5UrGMipBTU_7F11pFWc/s1600/piano+diagram.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="323" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGS5Pl70281RvxwAaUeFy1Wc7gQ39aZ8l4oQ5-rfjZcYI-taN3MCiqV-h-YBpRBXFYUZgH24kTmG3247NRYM7DS-X2EkgIKLLazIFVGn-NWQJcglFdwC2TU7xF5UrGMipBTU_7F11pFWc/s400/piano+diagram.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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Of course, my keyboard can control only half the notes on the virtual pianos at any one time. I'll map certain keys to certain pitches for one section of the piece, and then I'll need to change to a different key mapping for a different section. I might have to change mappings several times over the course of a prelude, depending on how complex it is. For example, the first prelude is quite simple and has only three different mappings; the second prelude is full of rich chordal writing and needs 15 mappings! To change between mappings (and to control the pedals), I use a <a href="http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/SoftStep2" target="_blank">SoftStep foot controller</a> as follows:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA21y688jxoT9x9gQRyV9sio4aCD1yRtg-b684LIqlNK3Ql89UA2ZBZl8Rdlijj5k77j7AQ-o0NSYugdVYxIHMR17JBfrLnVIKP24Bw3fDzu_a6vseA3duMrEHszimJdQMQ7IsN_8QMTU/s1600/softstep2_top.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="332" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA21y688jxoT9x9gQRyV9sio4aCD1yRtg-b684LIqlNK3Ql89UA2ZBZl8Rdlijj5k77j7AQ-o0NSYugdVYxIHMR17JBfrLnVIKP24Bw3fDzu_a6vseA3duMrEHszimJdQMQ7IsN_8QMTU/s640/softstep2_top.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span id="goog_215082820"></span><span id="goog_215082821"></span>So far, these Wyschnegradsky Preludes have been a revelation! I'm working my way through the set, and have recorded the first two here:</div>
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<ul>
<li>Prelude No. 1 in C: <a href="https://youtu.be/4wCWzzvocfU">https://youtu.be/4wCWzzvocfU</a></li>
<li>Prelude No. 2 in F half-sharp: <a href="https://youtu.be/3YRQjh0RXDo">https://youtu.be/3YRQjh0RXDo</a></li>
</ul>
<div>
The first prelude is little more than a whimsical introduction, but the second prelude is already a masterpiece, with drooping chromatic chords that remind me of Rachmaninoff.</div>
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<div>
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Edward Neemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16575558081870347468noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6615823128449534676.post-4935725500994647202015-05-23T20:52:00.001-07:002015-05-23T20:52:31.269-07:00UPDATED: A new MIDI sostenuto pedal solution with PianoteqIn <a href="https://youtu.be/z7gnBRsaJ-0">my video on rolled chords with the independent sostenuto pedal</a>, the piano sound is generated by <a href="https://pianoteq.com/">Pianoteq 5</a>, indispensable software for anyone who wants to get a realistic acoustic sound from a MIDI keyboard. At the time I published the video, Pianoteq didn't support the independent sostenuto pedal. This has been fixed as of last month—there's <a href="http://www.forum-pianoteq.com/viewtopic.php?id=3672">now an option</a> to have the sostenuto pedal ignore dampers raised by the damper pedal!<br />
<br />
<a href="http://cincinnatinote.blogspot.com/2015/03/constructing-virtual-midi-sostenuto.html">My original method</a> of hacking a sostenuto pedal can now be greatly simplified. I still use a Pure Data patch to "convert" my USB pedal into a sostenuto pedal. However, the patch only needs to send controller messages to the Pianoteq virtual instrument; the sostenuto effect is correctly managed within Pianoteq. My new patch is here: http://edwardneeman.com/sostenutoPianoteq.pd<br />
<br />
The setup instructions are still <a href="http://cincinnatinote.blogspot.com/2015/03/constructing-virtual-midi-sostenuto.html">the same as before</a>. However, Pianoteq will be receiving MIDI data from two separate sources: the MIDI keyboard, and Pure Data. To send MIDI data from Pure Data to Pianoteq, I do the following (this is Mac specific):<br />
<br />
<br />
<ol>
<li>Open the Application "Audio MIDI Setup".</li>
<li>Under the Window menu, select "MIDI Studio".</li>
<li>Doubleclick IAC Driver to open the "IAC Driver Properties" window.</li>
<li>Make sure the "Device is online" box is checked.</li>
<li>In the Pure Data application, select "MIDI Settings" under the Media menu.</li>
<li>Set the Output Device to IAC Driver.</li>
<li>Pianoteq will now need to accept MIDI data from both the IAC Driver and the external MIDI from the keyboard.</li>
<li>In Pianoteq, select "Audio/MIDI Setup" in the File menu.</li>
<li>Make sure all the relevant inputs are checked under "Active MIDI inputs", or just check "Listen to all MIDI inputs".</li>
<li>Don't forget to select the independent sostenuto option! Right-click (or control-click) the sostenuto pedal and check the "Ignore the damper pedal" box.</li>
</ol>
Happy pedaling!<br />
Edward Neemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16575558081870347468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6615823128449534676.post-55175463801116919862015-03-18T08:04:00.002-07:002015-03-18T08:04:55.140-07:00Using the Independent Sostenuto Pedal for Rolled Chords<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In a </span><a href="http://cincinnatinote.blogspot.hk/2014/09/a-new-pedaling-technique.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">previous post</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and </span><a href="https://youtu.be/AWEFgQyCRok" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">video</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, I dealt with how an independent sostenuto pedal—that is, a sostenuto pedal that works even when the damper pedal is depressed—can be used to expand the possibilities of pedaling technique. <a href="https://youtu.be/z7gnBRsaJ-0">I recently posted a video</a> that gets much more specific, focusing on how the independent sostenuto can be used to pedal rolled chords.</span></span></div>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-c16d7006-2d5c-177e-87de-1263da1deb7f" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I covered the technique involved in </span><a href="http://cincinnatinote.blogspot.hk/2014/09/a-new-pedaling-technique.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">my previous post</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (under the heading “Only Hands Small”). In cases where the notes of the rolled chord cannot be held simultaneously, the sostenuto pedal can catch one or more notes (usually the bass notes). The damper pedal can thus be used with much more flexibility, since it’s no longer required at the beginning of the roll to sustain the full chord.</span></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the video, I use this example from the Nocturne in C minor, Op. 48, No. 1 by Frédéric Chopin:</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtxaytr4b6Z5SN93ygUlwVgwmDBea1zzvy7nu4Ut6g-t45sKbB1aazq63u_1aXDi79pbmaPP4Fgtmenvr_Q8KPVkplrw7wJTKsjDTIbf6ttBdRufAmEr0i3Kk83XAxO7SjqZg5zk2gVG4/s1600/Chopin+Cmin+Nocturne+example+background.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtxaytr4b6Z5SN93ygUlwVgwmDBea1zzvy7nu4Ut6g-t45sKbB1aazq63u_1aXDi79pbmaPP4Fgtmenvr_Q8KPVkplrw7wJTKsjDTIbf6ttBdRufAmEr0i3Kk83XAxO7SjqZg5zk2gVG4/s1600/Chopin+Cmin+Nocturne+example+background.png" height="360" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">By catching the bass notes of the arpeggiated chords on the sostenuto pedal, it becomes possible to change the damper pedal at the end of each roll, keeping a legato line in the treble voice.</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVnRpgYntrWPYrMytxTGCka2DT7fHgszNVwCvJ6k-Gv-m30g7CahEO4NLHUJO2SXQMdBjj91bQN2vhIl-bu2JbbDJgTj2sHT4JC17nZq8tIIHXy7Puqd-Mk_VUvzCSSaNYAW-27ath4Q8/s1600/Rolled+Chords+example+sost.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVnRpgYntrWPYrMytxTGCka2DT7fHgszNVwCvJ6k-Gv-m30g7CahEO4NLHUJO2SXQMdBjj91bQN2vhIl-bu2JbbDJgTj2sHT4JC17nZq8tIIHXy7Puqd-Mk_VUvzCSSaNYAW-27ath4Q8/s1600/Rolled+Chords+example+sost.png" height="225" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://youtu.be/E4xyhA2pzdA?t=4m3s" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Gabriela Montero’s splendid performance</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> of this Nocturne is a good example of how the treble voice can end up with gaps due to pedaling, without the assistance of the sostenuto. </span><a href="https://youtu.be/z7gnBRsaJ-0?t=5m13s" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Here is my demonstration</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> of how to use overlapping pedal in the passage.</span></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I should mention that there is another common pedaling technique to get a legato melody line without using the sostenuto pedal at all. By holding the melody notes over the pedal changes, it’s possible to avoid gaps in the melody. </span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgF3AYClgMN3YIy3rcPqfHf76C3z8Cx-D1rhDPF9LkyvSlkHXVWeD9IqbYpn3c_j6AXuL0qlhDQ_uUEhuDIBBzZBqbF_8n6okXQwuQUtL1xgDpSvkV9YW_yCceW-Ut-kYAVggBXnePQmAo/s1600/Chopin+legato.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgF3AYClgMN3YIy3rcPqfHf76C3z8Cx-D1rhDPF9LkyvSlkHXVWeD9IqbYpn3c_j6AXuL0qlhDQ_uUEhuDIBBzZBqbF_8n6okXQwuQUtL1xgDpSvkV9YW_yCceW-Ut-kYAVggBXnePQmAo/s1600/Chopin+legato.png" height="146" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The melody will be slightly blurred, because consecutive notes will overlap on a single pedal, but it is so subtle that it is unlikely to be a problem. The passage from the Nocturne is particularly amenable to this technique, because the overlapping melody notes usually fit with the following chords. </span><a href="https://youtu.be/DjRky-ACSJg?t=3m24s" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Lugansky’s performance of this Nocturne</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> is a stellar example of how this can work. However, it can be more difficult with small hands, because the speed of the roll and the quiet dynamic require the chords to be played legato with stretching.</span></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Compared with holding melody notes, the main advantage of overlapping pedals is legato transitions between the full chords, not only between the top melody notes. Actually, the two techniques are closely related; both involve sustaining notes over pedal changes. This is an important technique for advanced pianists and one that is greatly enhanced by the independent sostenuto pedal. Holding the bass notes of rolled chords is just the tip of the iceberg.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Symphonic Etudes</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://youtu.be/z7gnBRsaJ-0?t=6m48s" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In my video</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, I demonstrate how the opening rolls of the Symphonic Etudes, Op. 13, by Robert Schumann can be played with the assistance of the sostenuto pedal. I have highlighted the notes that I catch on the sostenuto pedal in the example below:</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDOumyIfh2EnW3401sr01Dxt2vaZ0pvBGTCKjnZ5lCmXjLWA04-qRWbpZeEawwo1BQv-WfExMsK8Z5mnnBoCSsD2wG_UzIlNbKAzhQUbQjr3qX-h_xxjzMpyhXjlSrYjPoHpF0LegIA8U/s1600/Schumann+red.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDOumyIfh2EnW3401sr01Dxt2vaZ0pvBGTCKjnZ5lCmXjLWA04-qRWbpZeEawwo1BQv-WfExMsK8Z5mnnBoCSsD2wG_UzIlNbKAzhQUbQjr3qX-h_xxjzMpyhXjlSrYjPoHpF0LegIA8U/s1600/Schumann+red.png" height="360" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This example is more complicated, because the music seems to ask for quicker rolls than in the Chopin Nocturne, and it requires some quick footwork to get the desired notes on the sostenuto. I use a slightly different technique for more reliable results. Instead of catching the desired note </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">during </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">the roll, I catch that same note from a </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">previous </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">chord, using the </span><a href="http://cincinnatinote.blogspot.hk/2014/09/a-new-pedaling-technique.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">partial sostenuto technique</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. After playing the chord, I press the damper pedal, lift all the other notes, and press the sostenuto pedal to catch only the desired note. Here is how it works:</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZu1NzqMCK-7HkXp4YCRRIdzrgvISW-YPLU3eFABvBlH7dWmwtrx3wpCgfm1NbuEek4sQ0RCSWuNxPmByMQSkk7ihsacXjChhR9etm3q4D-FobaJIbiPkyhUP9ApbQ_9gSxiV0V41sQdg/s1600/Rolled+Chords+Schumann.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZu1NzqMCK-7HkXp4YCRRIdzrgvISW-YPLU3eFABvBlH7dWmwtrx3wpCgfm1NbuEek4sQ0RCSWuNxPmByMQSkk7ihsacXjChhR9etm3q4D-FobaJIbiPkyhUP9ApbQ_9gSxiV0V41sQdg/s1600/Rolled+Chords+Schumann.png" height="192" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The disadvantage of this method is that the E will slightly blur the F sharp minor chord on the first beat of the second bar, but the blurring is usually too slight to be heard. I use this technique on two of the three chords highlighted above; in the case of the final chord, I find that catching the B sharp from the first beat of the fourth bar compromises the D sharp dominant seventh on the next beat.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hommage à Rameau</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In the second movement of </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Images, Book 1</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> by Claude Debussy, <a href="https://youtu.be/z7gnBRsaJ-0?t=7m33s">the sostenuto pedal can be used to assist with a rolled A major chord</a>, abruptly returning to a </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">piano </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">dynamic after a crescendo:</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5DwZfxS4aHfq48Uaompgt3EwyE804-ZKkUBEbncIOxB6VLNbED1-kv1-gBRMMeozNaNKb2JRD1eTWGKuPhF7GUw1tYVaD_6Z2ZmcrSb0hpjw_wDg1GDedvbLMce-nNa_tPiE2EsR43XM/s1600/Debussy+red+cropped.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5DwZfxS4aHfq48Uaompgt3EwyE804-ZKkUBEbncIOxB6VLNbED1-kv1-gBRMMeozNaNKb2JRD1eTWGKuPhF7GUw1tYVaD_6Z2ZmcrSb0hpjw_wDg1GDedvbLMce-nNa_tPiE2EsR43XM/s1600/Debussy+red+cropped.png" height="196" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I roll the chord hand over hand in order to have more time to catch the bass with the sostenuto pedal. If played as written, the left hand has to jump immediately after playing the bass A octave, leaving only a very tight window to catch those notes.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Many pianists, </span><a href="https://youtu.be/KWIxKO17Klk?t=1m44s" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">including Marc-André Hamelin</span></a><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, take advantage of the sudden shift to make a dramatic break in the melodic line. This is a very effective and musically justified solution. However, I like the effect of a sudden piano without such an obvious gap, as if the music were in free fall and elegantly landed into a soft A major web. In fact, this is one of my favorite applications of the independent sostenuto pedal in the standard piano literature. Regardless of one’s preference, having the option of using the sostenuto pedal greatly enhances the musical possibilities of this passage.</span></span><br />
Edward Neemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16575558081870347468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6615823128449534676.post-58215497284731056252015-03-18T07:48:00.000-07:002015-03-22T08:15:46.093-07:00Constructing a Virtual MIDI Sostenuto Pedal<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>This post explains how I created the sostenuto pedal that I used for <a href="https://youtu.be/z7gnBRsaJ-0">this video</a>.</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>An independent sostenuto pedal</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> is a pedal that catches the dampers of any keys that are being played at the time the pedal is pressed. It works slightly differently from the sostenuto pedal on an acoustic piano. Normally, the damper pedal can interfere with the acoustic sostenuto—if the damper pedal is down, the sostenuto pedal can’t be pressed effectively until the damper pedal is raised again. The independent sostenuto pedal removes this limitation, allowing the two pedals to be used together freely and intuitively.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://cincinnatinote.blogspot.hk/2014/09/a-new-pedaling-technique.html">In an earlier post</a>, I showed how to “hack” the acoustic mechanism to create an independent sostenuto pedal. This can be a great way to experience its potential on your own instrument, but the method can be complicated and time consuming and doesn’t work on every piano. Fortunately, the “mechanism” of an electronic keyboard is much simpler (at least until the point of sound production), so creating a sostenuto pedal on a keyboard is quick and reliable.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.38; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">On most three-pedal keyboards, the middle pedal works like an independent sostenuto pedal by default. I</span><span style="line-height: 1.38; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">f you invested in </span><span style="color: #1155cc; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1008157-REG/yamaha_dgx_650_portablegrand_piano_pa150_pedal_black_kit.html" style="line-height: 22.0799999237061px; text-decoration: none;">something like this</a></span>, you're already set.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">However, a three pedal set for a keyboard can be a bit pricey, and it may not be worth it if you play mostly acoustic instruments. Here’s a simple way to construct a virtual sostenuto pedal that costs less than $20. You will need the following:</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A laptop (if you don’t have one, </span><a href="http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/RPU3" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">this</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> is still your cheapest option)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A MIDI to USB cable (available </span><a href="http://amzn.com/B0047B4WB6" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">here</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> for $7.15 at time of writing)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A USB foot pedal (available </span><a href="http://amzn.com/B0098PLPOI" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">here</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> for $10.75 at time of writing)</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I still own a keyboard with a traditional MIDI hookup (Casio PX-120), but these are almost obsolete. More recent models have a USB connection, meaning the MIDI to USB cable would be swapped out for a normal USB cable, saving a few more dollars.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Principle</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My virtual sostenuto pedal works by sending the MIDI data from the keyboard to the laptop, altering that MIDI data, then sending it back to the keyboard. <a href="http://www.indiana.edu/~emusic/etext/MIDI/chapter3_MIDI.shtml">MIDI is a code that electronic instruments use to speak to one another and to computers</a>. There’s MIDI code for a wide variety of things, including pushing the damper pedal (sends a value of 127 to controller 64), pitch bend (sends a value between 0 and 16,384 to the pitch wheel), or an emergency “reset” button that turns off all sound (“All Notes Off”, or a value of 0 to controller 123). In a typical keyboard performance, the vast majority of MIDI data are note events. Note On events occur when a note is pressed. They specify the key number (from 0 to 127, middle C is 60, A4 is 69) and how hard the key is struck (also called "velocity" with a value from 1 to 127). Note Off events occur when a key is released. They also specify a key number and have a velocity of 0.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At the time the sostenuto pedal is pressed, it checks which keys are being played. Our virtual sostenuto pedal will need to keep track of the MIDI note events so that it knows which keys to sustain. As long as the sostenuto pedal isn’t used, any MIDI data sent to the computer gets bounced straight back to the keyboard. When the sostenuto pedal is pressed, a “snapshot” of the state of the keyboard gets saved. Any notes that were being played will not be released as long as the sostenuto remains down. That means that the certain Note Off events coming from the keyboard won’t be passed back. When the sostenuto pedal is released, those Note Off events are sent all at once, with the exception of those that correspond to a note still being held at the time.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Setup</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Even though it’s not too difficult to manipulate the flow of MIDI data as outlined above, I don’t currently have a quick solution. My system is the result of hours of experimentation, and even once you’re equipped with all my tools it takes a while to set up. I’d welcome any ideas of how to streamline the process. I made a rudimentary patch using </span><a href="http://puredata.info/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Pure Data, a free and open source visual programming language especially designed for musicians</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. I’ve posted my patch </span><a href="http://edwardneeman.com/thirdpedal.pd" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">here</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here are the steps to configuring your sostenuto pedal:</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Connect the keyboard to the computer using the MIDI to USB cable.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Connect the USB pedal to the computer.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Turn off the Key Repeat option on the computer. On my Mac, this option is in System Preferences->Keyboard. If you don’t do this, the USB pedal may not work properly.</span></span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Download and install </span><a href="http://puredata.info/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Pure Data</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, then download and open my thirdpedal.pd </span><a href="http://edwardneeman.com/thirdpedal.pd" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">patch</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Note that Pure Data is a powerful program with a steep learning curve. It's a valuable tool for musicians though, and I highly recommend learning the basics of its operation. <a href="http://www.pd-tutorial.com/english/index.html">This</a> is a great tutorial.</span></span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Check to see if the MIDI is working correctly. When you play notes on the keyboard, the keyboardStatus graph in the thirdpedal patch should change. If not, check the MIDI settings in Pure Data or in the system preferences. On my Mac, the MIDI preferences are hidden in a separate application “Audio MIDI Setup”.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Click the “toggle sostenuto function” button at the top of the thirdpedal patch so that an X appears.</span></span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Try out the USB pedal. When you push the pedal, it will send a keystroke to the computer. You can figure out which keystroke by checking the key number box at the top left of the thirdpedal patch. My USB pedal will function like a giant “B” key by default, which is </span><a href="http://www.expandinghead.net/keycode.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">key code 98</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. </span></span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If your pedal sends a different keystroke, you can set the number by clicking and dragging in the number box below the “toggle sostenuto function” button. (The box that says “set the pedal number here”).</span></span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Turn the local control off on the keyboard. This will cut the connection between the physical keyboard and the keyboard’s audio output. This step is important, because you want the MIDI data to be filtered through the computer before it comes back to the keyboard and is converted into audio, like in this diagram:</span></span></div>
</li>
</ol>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlizyCtmzu_23Mz851ypIpzZQ2Qp2iSBnP11-aolq_cQTnSWc6Upk1KzuFwW4hWxGXh8k2LXJ9Mq2yWeBKafH21u-nylyZk6b9uWN9vJS6hiy_kZfYOs2GCPiGgM7fFOqIlulGrSOq6rw/s1600/pedal+diagram.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlizyCtmzu_23Mz851ypIpzZQ2Qp2iSBnP11-aolq_cQTnSWc6Upk1KzuFwW4hWxGXh8k2LXJ9Mq2yWeBKafH21u-nylyZk6b9uWN9vJS6hiy_kZfYOs2GCPiGgM7fFOqIlulGrSOq6rw/s1600/pedal+diagram.png" height="228" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 20.7000007629395px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I haven’t tried to adapt any of this process to any setup other than my own. If anyone does attempt to set up their own virtual sostenuto, I would be happy to help where I can, and would welcome any feedback! Good luck.</span></span><br />
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What Happens</span></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">You can view the status of the keyboard (which notes are pressed, and at what velocity) in the keyboardStatus graph on the thirdpedal patch. Pushing the sostenuto pedal will copy the data in the keyboardStatus graph into the pedalStatus graph (which looks exactly the same, but inverted). The patch will filter out any Note Off MIDI commands that correspond to notes with a positive pedalStatus value. The number of </span><span style="line-height: 20.7000007629395px; white-space: pre-wrap;">blocked</span><span style="line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Note Off commands is recorded in the suppressedReleases graph. It is important to keep track of the suppressedReleases, because when the sostenuto pedal is lifted, the appropriate number of Note Off commands have to be sent for every pitch that was held on the sostenuto pedal.</span></span></div>
<br />Edward Neemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16575558081870347468noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6615823128449534676.post-82095182173231895762014-09-15T18:39:00.000-07:002015-03-15T08:05:09.272-07:00A New Pedaling Technique?<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>This post expands on many of the points covered in my video, <a href="http://youtu.be/AWEFgQyCRok" target="_blank">"An Introduction to Double Pedaling."</a></i><br />
<br />
Over the past two months, I have been developing “double
pedaling,” a pedaling technique that allows the damper and sostenuto pedals to
be used together in new ways. The sostenuto pedal, patented by Albert Steinway
in 1874, remains little more than a curiosity among today’s pianists—even many
experienced pianists have only a hazy idea of the potential applications of
this pedal. Double pedaling greatly increases the possibilities of the
sostenuto pedal, giving pianists unprecedented control over the resonance of
their instrument. The pedal mechanism on the modern piano has a crucial flaw
that prevents or complicates double pedaling in all but the most trivial
instances. Fortunately, this flaw is easily fixed with a slight modification.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Sostenuto
Mechanism<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The sostenuto pedal is like a selective damper pedal. The
actual damper pedal (the right pedal) lifts <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">all
</i>the dampers, the sostenuto pedal only <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">holds
up</i> the dampers of the notes that are being played when it’s pressed.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg58E30gme7yYKCx5egecHxvb7BHf5-ZOz_2vWJ_uyiDAHH88-AudkSxxHingQxgLRPv7R9gV_oo8ujfAH90xPJPgYlsmgX6F4DhTEihBJDHE0aIB36Bg2JEjP25NqsNc2hUil6L9FhkCU/s1600/sostenuto+mechanism+labels.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg58E30gme7yYKCx5egecHxvb7BHf5-ZOz_2vWJ_uyiDAHH88-AudkSxxHingQxgLRPv7R9gV_oo8ujfAH90xPJPgYlsmgX6F4DhTEihBJDHE0aIB36Bg2JEjP25NqsNc2hUil6L9FhkCU/s1600/sostenuto+mechanism+labels.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The picture above shows the damper lift rods of a grand
piano. The sostenuto mechanism consists of two elements: the <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">sostenuto rod </b>(a metal bar that runs
lengthwise next to the damper mechanism), and <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">sostenuto tabs </b>(covered in red felt in the above picture, each
damper lift rod has a tab attached). When a damper is lifted, the corresponding
sostenuto tab goes up with the rest of the mechanism. When the sostenuto pedal
is depressed, the sostenuto rod moves into the path of the tabs, preventing the
raised tabs from going back down and holding the raised dampers up.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJAc7sXnUCfnyRXeHka-pzNWj829E0vGxlwT3RUxMW1Ql107s2pOhiCwIx1d6fzu8_S8JNahK9hfXhhMmDRgL4g4QDtfX2xXk37Yqdc1mFwqirrxI3Dbu8-22tigX41ozoCqR1I6eDyXw/s1600/sostenuto+engaged.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJAc7sXnUCfnyRXeHka-pzNWj829E0vGxlwT3RUxMW1Ql107s2pOhiCwIx1d6fzu8_S8JNahK9hfXhhMmDRgL4g4QDtfX2xXk37Yqdc1mFwqirrxI3Dbu8-22tigX41ozoCqR1I6eDyXw/s1600/sostenuto+engaged.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-no-proof: yes;"><br /><!--[endif]--></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The picture above was taken with the sostenuto pedal
depressed. The sostenuto rod has moved into position and has caught two
sostenuto tabs, preventing the corresponding dampers from descending.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The dampers that are down when the sostenuto pedal is
engaged won’t be held up, because their sostenuto tabs are <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">under </i>the sostenuto rod. Those dampers will still go up when the
corresponding keys are pressed, but their sostenuto tabs will remain underneath
the sostenuto rod. To facilitate the normal action of these dampers, the
sostenuto tabs are attached to the damper mechanism with a hinge so that they
can bend downwards, as in the picture below.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFkR4T88UAxpHp95YET3X7doWrR95osIu3vKUDv2R3GLMfwKKSZPMpY_7Kkvo4hR18uiDlOq-RqKt-iERe3FFtPy5r6dFGBA99nCmw94ATUiMk9HK1gEK9ppOIpZPzbmZhzlG3CJ82nrw/s1600/sostenuto+tab+flex.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFkR4T88UAxpHp95YET3X7doWrR95osIu3vKUDv2R3GLMfwKKSZPMpY_7Kkvo4hR18uiDlOq-RqKt-iERe3FFtPy5r6dFGBA99nCmw94ATUiMk9HK1gEK9ppOIpZPzbmZhzlG3CJ82nrw/s1600/sostenuto+tab+flex.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-no-proof: yes;"><br /><!--[endif]--></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Problem with the
Sostenuto Pedal </b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This brief discussion of the sostenuto mechanism
demonstrates why the sostenuto pedal does what it does: it holds up any
dampers that are raised when it is depressed. It’s worth taking a step back,
though, and asking the question, what <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">should
</i>the sostenuto pedal do? My answer: the sostenuto pedal should hold up only
the dampers that correspond to piano keys that are being played.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There is a small but crucial difference between what a
sostenuto pedal does and what it should do. As long as the damper pedal doesn’t
enter the picture, the sostenuto pedal works correctly—dampers are only raised
when the corresponding keys are being played. However, the damper pedal lifts <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">all </i>the dampers, rendering the sostenuto
pedal useless! If the sostenuto pedal is pressed while the damper pedal is
down, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">all </i>the dampers will be caught
in the raised position, regardless of which keys are being played at the time.
While this seems like a small issue, it completely undermines the usefulness of
the sostenuto pedal. Classical pianists today use the damper pedal almost all
the time in music from Beethoven to the present. As a result, the sostenuto
pedal can only be used in unusual situations, and it requires special care so
that the damper pedal doesn’t screw it up. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In order to reap the full benefits of double pedaling, it’s
necessary to modify the mechanism so that the damper pedal doesn’t interfere
with the sostenuto mechanism—in other words, the sostenuto pedal will function
as it <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">should, </i>even when the damper
pedal is depressed. We can then catch notes or chords on the sostenuto pedal
while the damper pedal is down.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Solution<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The problem boils down to the fact that playing notes on the
keyboard and pressing the damper pedal are equivalent as far as the damper
action is concerned. In both cases, the dampers are raised in the same way, to
the same height. The key to solving our double pedaling problem is to restrict
the damper pedal so that it raises the dampers to a slightly lower level.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Experienced pianists know that pedaling is not really a
binary thing. There’s the “black and white” of pedal up and pedal down, but
there’s also an infinity of grays in between. This “half-pedal” zone can be
tested by depressing the pedal very slowly and continuously testing the piano’s
resonance. Half-pedal is a deceptive term, as it’s actually much closer to the
“up” pedal position. At the position we call “half-pedal” (or quarter-pedal, or
three quarters-pedal) the pedal is barely depressed, and the dampers are barely
raised off the strings, muting them to some degree. Once the pedal has been
depressed further, to about half or three quarters of the way down, the dampers
are already fully off the strings and the piano sounds exactly like it does at
full pedal. A fully-depressed pedal lifts the dampers an extra few millimeters,
but doesn’t actually change the sound of the instrument. However, these
millimeters are crucial, because the damper needs to be lifted all the way in
order to be caught be the sostenuto pedal.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguPDHc31AmKovWTG5LjvnwTxnfC9FuvJ4VGedMnaSCRKxLGNOX0FWPHBhEAl2CAP1gWBcr7UUoNDwtenSH5JQPaO7Uc3kZ3lJ407lmMI-gwnytJityOt2qUhyphenhyphenm8izAf4NZBF_CESW3A3Q/s1600/damper+diagram.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguPDHc31AmKovWTG5LjvnwTxnfC9FuvJ4VGedMnaSCRKxLGNOX0FWPHBhEAl2CAP1gWBcr7UUoNDwtenSH5JQPaO7Uc3kZ3lJ407lmMI-gwnytJityOt2qUhyphenhyphenm8izAf4NZBF_CESW3A3Q/s1600/damper+diagram.png" height="251" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-no-proof: yes;"><br /><!--[endif]--></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I’ve illustrated this in the diagram above. The “sweet spot”
refers to the point in the damper’s upward trajectory where the dampers are
fully off the string, but are not yet high enough to be caught by the sostenuto
pedal. Restricting the damper pedal’s range so that it can’t go past the sweet
spot will prevent the damper pedal from interfering with the sostenuto pedal.
Pressing a key on the keyboard will still lift the damper all the way.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
On most pianos, restricting the damper pedal is a simple
operation that only takes a few minutes. There is usually a screw that is
attached to the bottom of the body of the piano, above the damper pedal rod.
Adjusting the screw is one solution (see the picture below).</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj72UL-W-n-8MNL20nodj4pGQLcQiphEx9E8-QBjdjQbVKu5ZChyphenhyphenotADwS46bVTNy8ZNImrKh5GbGrQTY2v1Myeq8zUPW-B8i136a_Kxo9JLfQdnJHRaBREqP4-gll5-rab3aYlrd5Nkzk/s1600/pedal+rod+screw+annotated.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj72UL-W-n-8MNL20nodj4pGQLcQiphEx9E8-QBjdjQbVKu5ZChyphenhyphenotADwS46bVTNy8ZNImrKh5GbGrQTY2v1Myeq8zUPW-B8i136a_Kxo9JLfQdnJHRaBREqP4-gll5-rab3aYlrd5Nkzk/s1600/pedal+rod+screw+annotated.jpg" height="203" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-no-proof: yes;"><br /><!--[endif]--></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
For a quick fix, or for pianos without an adjustable screw,
there are various points in the pedal action where a barrier can be added to
restrict the pedal motion. In the picture below, I added a folded piece of
paper at the top of the pedal lyre.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-no-proof: yes;"><br /><!--[endif]--></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsvNjiUguKBCF1fpN5e3ZNFQZmlFE_wR-iumebjg4sDWpbcSUNAjJBwKgoq-mnhzvJC7mZv8eEp-D51NFHZ-b5jBZS653-TD1WfW9giSJ6j4RdTGowNLBeDBi_vp_VMW8KRZWSSBxtE6s/s1600/restricted+pedal.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsvNjiUguKBCF1fpN5e3ZNFQZmlFE_wR-iumebjg4sDWpbcSUNAjJBwKgoq-mnhzvJC7mZv8eEp-D51NFHZ-b5jBZS653-TD1WfW9giSJ6j4RdTGowNLBeDBi_vp_VMW8KRZWSSBxtE6s/s1600/restricted+pedal.jpeg" height="239" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Troubleshooting a
restricted pedal<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Restricting the damper pedal should allow double pedaling on
any well-regulated instrument. Unfortunately, many instruments, even carefully
maintained concert instruments, have issues with the sostenuto mechanism that
are ignored because the sostenuto pedal is so rarely used. The adjustments
suggested below can be attempted if restricting the damper pedal doesn’t
produce the desired results, and should only be carried out by a trained piano
technician.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The most common problem is that the sostenuto rod is not in
the correct position and catches dampers that are barely raised. The diagram
below shows how a faulty sostenuto mechanism can cause instruments to have no
sweet spot at all.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-no-proof: yes;"><br /><!--[endif]--></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYQncx8xTJDqBMmw5jes-LEOsISZk8pM0UKr1fdNHj0Aqe55HUNJH5Pe4aO9VQNYdtqWRHxdWDAPncmFU1qdX5QUsGTUhUfv1t06zPYwnHGnzg2nam8SXLh-HfaYUTXNFvcu9miIXgsQM/s1600/damper+diagram+problem.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYQncx8xTJDqBMmw5jes-LEOsISZk8pM0UKr1fdNHj0Aqe55HUNJH5Pe4aO9VQNYdtqWRHxdWDAPncmFU1qdX5QUsGTUhUfv1t06zPYwnHGnzg2nam8SXLh-HfaYUTXNFvcu9miIXgsQM/s1600/damper+diagram+problem.png" height="201" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-no-proof: yes;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This can be solved by adjusting the sostenuto rod so that it
catches the tabs in a higher position.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Sometimes the sostenuto pedal is not consistent, catching
some notes but not others. This happens when the dampers are lifted unevenly.
Regulating the dampers is a major operation that can take several hours.
Depending on how severity of the problem, adjusting the sostenuto rod instead
may be a more cost-effective solution. For the purposes of double pedaling,
it’s advantageous to have the dampers lift further off the string, which
increases the size of the sweet spot. However, too much lift can affect their
ability to dampen the strings promptly on release of a key, since only the
force of gravity returns the dampers to the rest position!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Another common problem occurs when notes are caught on the
sostenuto pedal <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">after </i>the pedal is
depressed. Sometimes the hinge on the sostenuto tab does not work correctly, so
that the tab “jumps” over the engaged sostenuto bar instead of flexing down.
This may require adjusting or replacing the faulty tabs.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Double Pedaling
Techniques<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Once you’ve “liberated” the sostenuto pedal from the damper
pedal, you’re ready to explore all the possibilities of double pedaling. I’ve
found four basic double pedaling techniques:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">1. Joint Pedaling<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In joint pedaling, the sostenuto pedal catches part of a
larger sonority (usually including a bass note). The damper pedal is then used
normally, but with the advantage that the pedal can be changed without losing
the sonority. Most double pedaling applications in the standard repertoire fall
under this category.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9YjGyraYc2NvPnGaxGFe6b0VsNOGFaM9b3qFvlCrVPKZHrzZBF74jrTqjuKaSeRL6ZK9joJ6uoRpnonKBnBmFsgnjU48MoZJiR-3ZqAci_jYjXbw-0DHN9oQqhH6P7v0OSWfgYONh0og/s1600/Ravel+Gaspard+de+la+nuit+example.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9YjGyraYc2NvPnGaxGFe6b0VsNOGFaM9b3qFvlCrVPKZHrzZBF74jrTqjuKaSeRL6ZK9joJ6uoRpnonKBnBmFsgnjU48MoZJiR-3ZqAci_jYjXbw-0DHN9oQqhH6P7v0OSWfgYONh0og/s1600/Ravel+Gaspard+de+la+nuit+example.png" height="400" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="mso-no-proof: yes;"><br /><!--[endif]--></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In the above passage from “Ondine” from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Gaspard de la nuit </i>by Ravel, it’s impossible to achieve a legato
bass line as marked without double pedaling. Holding the C sharp with the
damper pedal blurs the change of harmony on the second beat. By catching the C
sharp with the sostenuto pedal, the damper pedal can be changed on the second
beat without losing the bass.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This would normally require the pianist to keep the damper
pedal raised while the sostenuto pedal is depressed, creating a gap in the
sonority that undermines the sensual sweep of the right hand arpeggio.
Restricting the damper pedal solves this problem!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a name="OnlyHandsSmall"></a>
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">2. “Only Hands Small”
Technique<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Do you have small hands but big ideas? Pianists with smaller
hands often have to break chords or release notes early, and are left with the
dilemma of either losing the full sonority or muddying the pedal. By catching
some notes with the sostenuto pedal immediately before a damper pedal change,
it’s possible to overcome this disadvantage. Here’s an illustrative passage
from the Piano Concerto No. 2, Op. 44 by Tchaikovsky:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKxCMC_3Qwvn7bHEclVrwyqDzhDHDzebB2ChGRbFJODpQVa_GtMxVSY4RX-kbbmgtEwkvUhmeEeItO-c1BOM4RCPh2blg7Q92vkvh1ZWzFGan0aGqwBTPm9-Fb0zBN3rKjhmcrgB3onDQ/s1600/Tchaik+excerpt.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKxCMC_3Qwvn7bHEclVrwyqDzhDHDzebB2ChGRbFJODpQVa_GtMxVSY4RX-kbbmgtEwkvUhmeEeItO-c1BOM4RCPh2blg7Q92vkvh1ZWzFGan0aGqwBTPm9-Fb0zBN3rKjhmcrgB3onDQ/s1600/Tchaik+excerpt.png" height="196" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="mso-no-proof: yes;"><br /><!--[endif]--></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My left hand isn’t big enough to hold the bass D in the
final rolled chord. That means that I need to change my pedal early in the roll
(before the F sharp) to catch the bass D. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-no-proof: yes;"><br /><!--[endif]--></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQdtAQxDkaJ-V-5KMH5BiEnlrE2pOfMq2i4DOV0yQUSkykIluLJomZOfYtJGTcEmu191tH1KEzfYzoGfBMGCcZr9Hv_ueUNdlrTJLR69L3pTqr30JfsjJVGEXqNu1beb-Yfy9D7ecXTFA/s1600/Tchaikovsky+example+1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQdtAQxDkaJ-V-5KMH5BiEnlrE2pOfMq2i4DOV0yQUSkykIluLJomZOfYtJGTcEmu191tH1KEzfYzoGfBMGCcZr9Hv_ueUNdlrTJLR69L3pTqr30JfsjJVGEXqNu1beb-Yfy9D7ecXTFA/s1600/Tchaikovsky+example+1.png" height="159" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-no-proof: yes;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This solution is not ideal, since it makes it impossible to
preserve a legato connection between the melody D in the right hand and the
preceding E. A better solution is to catch the bass D with the sostenuto pedal,
allowing me to change the damper pedal at the melody note without losing the
bass. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-no-proof: yes;"><br /><!--[endif]--></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbick_ccdSb4PdLdXr3UB4fFcZCws-L_cHXFmLuCjQTeGtNpNgEckbJrRJrboyuC_SA7F4km-sawAc-b7h6xZM3QLfuYCYWKyI2y0teDuqdxGcAI4PSnqjfKszg3bmhY2w3MpJ4oZ1k-o/s1600/Tchaikovsky+example+2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbick_ccdSb4PdLdXr3UB4fFcZCws-L_cHXFmLuCjQTeGtNpNgEckbJrRJrboyuC_SA7F4km-sawAc-b7h6xZM3QLfuYCYWKyI2y0teDuqdxGcAI4PSnqjfKszg3bmhY2w3MpJ4oZ1k-o/s1600/Tchaikovsky+example+2.png" height="159" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-no-proof: yes;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It is important to release the E octave in the right hand (shown in the full except above) before beginning the roll; otherwise it will be caught on the sostenuto pedal
and will blur the D major chord. The E will still be held on the damper pedal.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">3. Overlapping
Technique<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Overlapping the damper and sostenuto pedal<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b>can produce all kinds of highly
complex sonorities. The current piano repertoire doesn’t offer too many
opportunities for interesting overlapping effects. This is an area that I hope
will be explored soon by budding composers.<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Here’s one example of overlapping technique, from the Piano
Concerto No. 3, Op. 30 by Rachmaninoff. This passage alternates between two
chordal melodies moving in different directions. While Rachmaninoff doesn’t
indicate it, you can get an interesting effect by sustaining each melody while
the other melody is active, for a true contrapuntal texture.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Here is the conventional pedaling approach:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJaKTYXrpYgrEsJKFHuKf9Rf79b28b9NUvQpqwYSF6axKmcdjaXftobPumK6of5m-9fzARfJXAxHd5fodR91V9oodX1s3c6eiPq0Fs86VfRdvRRgdL20HTtsXMijxZFr7kppZMXAm1zck/s1600/Rachmaninoff+3rd+concerto+example+3.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJaKTYXrpYgrEsJKFHuKf9Rf79b28b9NUvQpqwYSF6axKmcdjaXftobPumK6of5m-9fzARfJXAxHd5fodR91V9oodX1s3c6eiPq0Fs86VfRdvRRgdL20HTtsXMijxZFr7kppZMXAm1zck/s1600/Rachmaninoff+3rd+concerto+example+3.png" height="154" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="mso-no-proof: yes;"><br /><!--[endif]--></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Most recordings use this pedaling, or something similar. This
pedaling sustains both melodies equally. However, you can still hear an
eighth-note gap in one of the melodies at each pedal change (shown with big red
rests):</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-no-proof: yes;"><!--[if gte vml 1]><v:shape
id="Picture_x0020_6" o:spid="_x0000_i1027" type="#_x0000_t75" alt="Rachmaninoff 3rd concerto example 4.png"
style='width:6in;height:104pt;visibility:visible;mso-wrap-style:square'>
<v:imagedata src="file://localhost/Users/Stephanie/Library/Caches/TemporaryItems/msoclip/0clip_image025.png"
o:title="Rachmaninoff 3rd concerto example 4.png"/>
<v:textbox style='mso-rotate-with-shape:t'/>
</v:shape><![endif]--><!--[if !vml]--><!--[endif]--></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguG7LBDIDf-rgaSpSYUVgaDNtc6oJS3fg5qI5FWk1N3EZrfJXh6xtWopMhe9WLHupCs9fwHlH8EIeiivU-NNg4I04gTFvbX7K4e7mIQAVg6GUHgxuS1IgBraEYlrKlIQdXFprLvmqhyphenhyphen2E/s1600/Rachmaninoff+3rd+concerto+example+4.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguG7LBDIDf-rgaSpSYUVgaDNtc6oJS3fg5qI5FWk1N3EZrfJXh6xtWopMhe9WLHupCs9fwHlH8EIeiivU-NNg4I04gTFvbX7K4e7mIQAVg6GUHgxuS1IgBraEYlrKlIQdXFprLvmqhyphenhyphen2E/s1600/Rachmaninoff+3rd+concerto+example+4.png" height="154" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Theoretically, double pedaling lets you play both melodies
legato, without any gaps. On each beat of each measure, first change the damper
pedal and then change the sostenuto pedal:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgubakh9zXGnERVLkMBIWcjLTMbEgiY8FFLdKk241_u1JTR3H2ow1HrT-y_9Q-Y0AZfBLFhUFNqbZemsbTnc-QBOweD7dXtYrAVaVbNzKZs5Xspdng0uWKVkDEhL1ETm0ljVA_FETrHXg0/s1600/Rachmaninoff+3rd+concerto+example+5.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgubakh9zXGnERVLkMBIWcjLTMbEgiY8FFLdKk241_u1JTR3H2ow1HrT-y_9Q-Y0AZfBLFhUFNqbZemsbTnc-QBOweD7dXtYrAVaVbNzKZs5Xspdng0uWKVkDEhL1ETm0ljVA_FETrHXg0/s1600/Rachmaninoff+3rd+concerto+example+5.png" height="166" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="mso-no-proof: yes;"><br /><!--[endif]--></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It works as follows: on the first beat, the damper pedal
goes down, and then the sostenuto pedal catches the chord from the upper
melody. On the second beat, the sostenuto pedal holds the upper melody while
the damper pedal changes, and then changing the sostenuto pedal catches the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">lower </i>melody. On the third beat, the
sostenuto pedal holds the lower melody while the damper pedal changes, and then
changing the sostenuto pedal catches the upper melody! And so on. This pedaling
looks intriguing on paper, but in practice I found it too cumbersome at tempo.
Still, it shows some of the vast potential of the overlapping technique.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">4. The Partial
Sostenuto<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Double pedaling enables catching <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">part </i>of a chord on the sostenuto pedal. That’s impossible with
conventional pedaling, at least without releasing the extra notes. The “partial
sostenuto” technique is useful in this passage from the Etude-tableau Op. 39,
No. 7 by Rachmaninoff:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRWibWf0nAhWPMzDoYwOfIauNr-aY6Z8cP1OyPurULPS4-DAzMq9cc19tA6vFcDJTmEB_D1-YYu5Y-w7-Krn8mLKqzVgDc_kYQlirhbgyFENwNRkIo_vgiWACXt0uW74rRSwqXgwj0Z1M/s1600/Rachmaninoff+Etude+example.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRWibWf0nAhWPMzDoYwOfIauNr-aY6Z8cP1OyPurULPS4-DAzMq9cc19tA6vFcDJTmEB_D1-YYu5Y-w7-Krn8mLKqzVgDc_kYQlirhbgyFENwNRkIo_vgiWACXt0uW74rRSwqXgwj0Z1M/s1600/Rachmaninoff+Etude+example.png" height="148" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="mso-no-proof: yes;"><br /><!--[endif]--></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
With double pedaling, I can catch the first chord in the
left hand of this example without catching the right hand notes. First, I play
the chord and depress the damper pedal. I can then lift my right hand and the
pedal will keep the melody ringing. Since I am no longer holding down the right
hand notes, they won’t be caught when I press the sostenuto pedal to catch the
left hand chord.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Conclusion<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I have only begun experimenting with double pedaling
technique over the course of the past few months, and I am already convinced that
it is a powerful tool that has wide-ranging potential to enhance the coloristic
and expressive capabilities of the modern instrument, with numerous possible
applications in the standard piano repertoire. Modifying the pedal mechanism to
allow double pedaling is a simple operation that can be achieved without any
additional piano parts—only minor adjustments are necessary.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My goals with my double pedaling project are as follows:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
1) To increase awareness of the sostenuto pedal’s function
and its applications, and to develop and spread the practice of double
pedaling.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
2) To make a working sostenuto pedal a standard part of
every instrument. Many entry-level grand pianos still do not have sostenuto
pedals, and it is rare to encounter an upright piano with a sostenuto pedal
(Steinway uprights, select Bösendorfers and the Yamaha YUS series are the
exceptions). Of course, having a sostenuto pedal on a piano does not mean that
it will actual work, as keeping it regulated is frequently seen as optional!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
3) To encourage piano makers to modify their pedal
mechanisms in house, so that double pedaling works correctly on new pianos
without any further modifications.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I’m optimistic that I’ll see some real progress in these
areas in the near future. Unfortunately, I don’t anticipate it will be a smooth
road. The current environment in the piano world is very hostile to any
innovation in piano design. So I’m asking for your participation! I would love
to hear any feedback on double pedaling, or any new pedaling ideas that you
might have. Also, please share this article and my video on double pedaling,
which is available here: <a href="http://youtu.be/AWEFgQyCRok">http://youtu.be/AWEFgQyCRok</a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Thanks!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As a final note, there is one type of piano that
consistently has a working sostenuto pedal: electronic pianos. On most full
size modern keyboards, it’s simple and cost-effective to buy a pedal board with
a sostenuto pedal, if it’s not already included. Due to a quirk in the way that
keyboards are programmed, it is slightly easier to have a sostenuto pedal that
works independently of the damper pedal than the alternative. It’s not
surprising that keyboard manufacturers have taken the path of least resistance
and have developed a sostenuto pedal that works perfectly for the purposes of
double pedaling.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Happy pedaling!</div>
Edward Neemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16575558081870347468noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6615823128449534676.post-20999281667468883602014-01-06T11:44:00.002-08:002014-01-06T11:44:32.363-08:00Paul Schoenfield's Peccadilloes<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaDU2-ya4Ewb3pA0vRqNfmJT6dE0FOeugHkGpscatp_moBH1hqQAz0H07ilszcrSbga7GWuNayHxN3Rbansai8AaFGOsKUMtJD8HwyMwXF6l66xWgPhul6hSVk56dmaUvPTtFvID17XrE/s1600/Schoenfield+snippet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaDU2-ya4Ewb3pA0vRqNfmJT6dE0FOeugHkGpscatp_moBH1hqQAz0H07ilszcrSbga7GWuNayHxN3Rbansai8AaFGOsKUMtJD8HwyMwXF6l66xWgPhul6hSVk56dmaUvPTtFvID17XrE/s1600/Schoenfield+snippet.jpg" height="156" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
That has to be one of the best performance indications ever: “<a href="http://www.thefreedictionary.com/kvetch" target="_blank">kvetch</a>”. It was pencilled in my score of <i>Peccadilloes</i> by the composer himself, Paul Schoenfield, when I visiting the University of Michigan last summer to play for him. I wish he had added it to the actual published edition. This particular passage is from the fifth movement, “Shuffle,” out of a set of six. The innocuous title belies the sombre mood, dominated by specters and ghosts which rise out of the blurred harmonies in the lowest piano registers.<br />
<br />
Before I was introduced to this piece by my teacher James Tocco, I only knew Schoenfield from his <i>Café Music </i>trio, which has now gone viral and is already part of the standard repertoire. I asked him how he felt about being known by a single work, a fate famously bemoaned by Saint-Saëns (Carnival of the Animals) and Rachmaninoff (Prelude in C sharp minor). He was philosophical about it, remarking that at least he was known by a mature work of which is a good representation of his style.<br />
<br />
I've received overwhelmingly positive feedback on this piece when I've performed it, and I wouldn't be surprised if it soon earns a place in the regular piano competition repertoire, just as the Carl Vine Piano Sonata No. 1 did eight or nine years ago. It's still little known though. <i>Peccadilloes </i>was written for Christopher O’Riley (of From the Top and Radiohead arrangement fame), who premiered it but hasn't played it much since. The only commercial recording is by <a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/paul-schoenfield-refractions-six-british-folk-songs-peccadilloes-paul-schoenfield/19547445?ean=636943938027" target="_blank">James Tocco on the Naxos label</a>, a brilliant performance that is marred by an out-of-tune piano (the B two octaves above middle C is jarring, particularly in the Shuffle movement where that note is very prominent).<br />
<br />
Ironically, when I made <a href="http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLyNPPhglDEDD6OY2l3KAT7L41nyRyBMjc" target="_blank">my own YouTube recording</a>, my piano also suffered from tuning issues. I was recording at the <a href="http://www.ellylim.com/index.php" target="_blank">ELMS Conservatory in Jakarta</a>, which has a recital hall on the top floor of a four-floor building. The tropical sun beats down on the roof and turns the room into a sauna, which the Kawai piano has adjusted to excellently—far better than I could. As I found out, turning on the AC ruins the balance. I literally started recording as the tuner was leaving, and by the time I was recording the Shuffle, the piano was in barely usable shape.Edward Neemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16575558081870347468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6615823128449534676.post-31876712111671505032013-12-19T18:36:00.001-08:002013-12-19T18:36:52.873-08:00After a hiatusOne of the nice things about writing on an almost totally unknown and unread blog is that no one cares if I take an unusually long hiatus.<br />
<br />
My last blog sat for a year, unattended, before I finally put it out of its misery and took it down.<br />
<br />
The hiatus was caused by... well, I have no end of excuses. But there were a few good reasons. I redesigned <a href="http://edwardneeman.com/" target="_blank">my website</a>, something long overdue and that took me down lots of dead ends. I wasted more time than was good for me trying to come to terms with Javascript and jQuery, before deciding to leave that to smarter folks who expect more from their browser experience. Next step: Try to fix the margins so that it looks good on a tablet as well...<br />
<br />
Another major cause was the looming deadline to submit my dissertation to the Juilliard Doctoral Committee. I got it in with 30 minutes to spare, on December 2. Much of the last few months of editing involved getting things to “flow”, as my advisor would put it. The language had to be fixed and compacted. Reading it now, it feels almost too compact, as if every sentence was trying to compress an entire chapter of my research into improvisation. My ideal would be a kind of do-it-yourself guide to free improvisation, touting the benefits (musical, creative, spiritual, health, whatever) of group improvisation for classical musicians.<br />
<br />
I don't like brevity for its own sake. I bristled a little when I had to rewrite my sentences to make them a few words shorter, or I had to use circumlocutions to avoid repeating a single word too many times. It definitely made things more... efficient. But is efficiency really the end-all of writing? Writers like Malcolm Gladwell, or Steven D. Levitt of Freakonomics, manage to make their arguments simple and cogent, but they don't spare words. Instead they find a lot of different ways to get to the same point, emphasizing it through varied repetition. That's what I'd like to be able to do. Unfortunately, my repetitions, read back with the benefit of a few months' hindsight, merely sound repetitive. So they had to go.<br />
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I'll try to keep a reasonable schedule of updates here in the future. After all, I do enjoy blogging, even if it is mostly for my own edification.<br />
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<br />Edward Neemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16575558081870347468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6615823128449534676.post-63571646187093716032013-07-25T07:45:00.000-07:002013-08-29T15:41:39.115-07:00CD of the Month<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwhVC8FLFQyLjLOH4OCTThAmHO8MtsrbHvPWniVSz6Ox6vxz2KvPyMpDPUFsolWy3RLj-t6vIlyboljC3yrMgqp6bsZEMIemZGCtl0Ahr7XggRDPnVuX-W8hJ1voQ_PJNg7R_gweh5d0M/s1600/1098807.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="314" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwhVC8FLFQyLjLOH4OCTThAmHO8MtsrbHvPWniVSz6Ox6vxz2KvPyMpDPUFsolWy3RLj-t6vIlyboljC3yrMgqp6bsZEMIemZGCtl0Ahr7XggRDPnVuX-W8hJ1voQ_PJNg7R_gweh5d0M/s320/1098807.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<a href="http://c3.cduniverse.ws/MuzeAudioArt/Large/07/1098807.jpg" target="_blank">Garrick Ohlsson plays Gershwin</a>. I caught the tail end of the Concerto in F on the radio last week in the car, and sat in the carpark until it finished. I played the Concerto six years ago, but I've never had an urge to revisit the piece until after hearing this. It's a piece that has some memorable tunes and great moments, but it can feel overblown. If it's in the wrong hands, that is. Ohlsson does it with sneaky humor and refuses to let it get bogged down in the big orchestral climaxes. Before they announced his name on the radio, I was guessing it would be a jazz pianist crossover recording. Truly amazing stuff.Edward Neemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16575558081870347468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6615823128449534676.post-53189590435972245142013-07-13T21:39:00.000-07:002013-07-14T04:36:43.510-07:00The World Piano Competition: A Renewal<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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At the end of the finals of this year's World Piano Competition, based in Cincinnati, director Mark Ernster remarked that while the competition is currently in its fifty-seventh year, it's as if it had been born anew, thanks to its recent partnership with CCM and the Cincinnati Symphony. As a competitor, third prize winner and sufferer in last year's competition, I couldn't agree more. Unlike last year, the competitors were treated to a smoothly organized experience with great pianos, great audiences and a highly accomplished jury. I couldn't get to the first two rounds, but I listened to the live stream of the finals just down the hall from the actual competition in a vacant classroom (since the whole family came along, we needed a “baby-proof” setting).<br />
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The final round of any competition is always a strange thing. It's the most exciting, it draws the biggest audiences and the most speculation. But the finalists, exhausted from a week of non-stop adrenaline and working on a tight rehearsal schedule with the orchestra, rarely are in top form. It can be an exercise in stamina more than actual musicianship. While I can't confirm it firsthand, I did hear from a few others that this year's competition conformed to the rule. Still, the three finalists were all exceptional pianists who gave it their all.<br />
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Misha Namirovsky started the evening with a thoughtful and expressive Brahms D minor concerto. I was particularly captivated by a lush and serious slow movement that maintained an undercurrent of tension despite a tempo that was a little slower than normal. Unfortunately, the octave passages in the first movement were probably not as clean as he would have liked, and a number of little inaccuracies crept into the last movement as well. The real disappointment was a embarrassingly slipshod job by the Cincinnati Symphony under the baton of associate conductor Robert Treviño. They sabotaged the performance with a sluggish response to the soloist, incorrect tempi, and flat, lifeless lines. This concerto has too many extended orchestral interludes for the pianist to be able to hold the piece together on his own, so inevitably it came across as dull and long-winded. Namirovsky was awarded the bronze medal, quite fairly I think, although it's easy to imagine that the result could have been very different with slightly different circumstances.<br />
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Jin Uk Kim dazzled with a hair-raisingly accurate and polished account of Beethoven's fourth concerto in G major. He was the audience prize winner and the favorite of many of my friends. I thought he gave a powerfully structured interpretation of the first movement that climaxed in a brilliant cadenza. Ultimately, he was let down by his choice of repertoire; the finesse and lithe character were missing in a piece that is all about a quicksilver attention to gesture and shape. His style would have made for an unbeatable Prokofiev 3, or even Beethoven's Emperor concerto. He came away with second prize, although probably it was a very close call.<br />
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Marianna Prjevalskaya concluded the evening with a highly individual take on the Brahms D minor. Her presence on stage was electrifying, and she demonstrated true artistry in a compelling and tumultuous performance. I can't say I agreed with every interpretative choice she made—the second movement was stagnant at times and the slower sections in the third movement were a little mawkish for my taste. She was daring, she was challenging, she was maybe controversial, but her musical authority put her ahead of the pack and she emerged victorious as the gold medallist. The orchestra rallied behind her wonderfully, sounding like a completely different ensemble than only a couple hours before.<br />
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The level of artistry was inspiring at the World Piano Competition this year, and it looks to have turned over to a new leaf. It's an exciting time for piano and pianists in Cincinnati!Edward Neemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16575558081870347468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6615823128449534676.post-65707609570018693322013-07-10T11:11:00.000-07:002013-07-10T11:11:26.480-07:00Mendelssohn and sempre pedaleMendelssohn’s Fantasie, Op. 28 stands out among his wide-ranging output for piano. I think it's certainly one of his more challenging works, especially the final Presto. That’s probably why it’s one of the few Mendelssohn piano pieces on the circulating repertoire of our super-virtuosi, along with the G minor concerto. But the first two movements are so quirky—if I didn’t know the music, I doubt I would guess Mendelssohn as the composer. I'd go for Schumann, probably, especially with the bizarre asymmetrical phrasing in the second movement.<br />
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I’m currently working the piece up for the Art of Piano festival at CCM next week, and I played it through for James Tocco a few days ago. I don't think I've ever had a teacher who was more concerned about detail—Tocco has a musicologist’s mind for tiny things in the music that too many of us wouldn't give a second thought. But he manages to draw out so much meaning from these breadcrumbs off the composer’s table that he completely transforms my understanding of the music.<br />
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What would you make of this <i>sempre pedale</i> marking?<br />
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I probably thought what 90 percent of pianist would think: Mendelssohn is asking me to change the pedal here and hold it for the next five measures. There a similar passage in Beethoven’s “Tempest” Sonata, where the pedal blurs a single-line melody:<br />
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Mendelssohn was, of course, very much into Beethoven, and was one of the first pianists to tackle his monumental “Hammerklavier” sonata. He was surely familiar with this passage and might have been paying homage.</div>
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But Tocco suggested a more radical interpretation: The <i>sempre pedale</i> could indicate that the pedal <i>remains</i> sustained, not a change of pedal. Then there would a single pedal starting nine measures earlier, lasting for a total of fourteen measures! This pedal would blur through the B minor-F sharp major chord changes on the second line of the example. More strikingly, F sharp major would blur with F sharp minor as Mendelssohn suddenly reverts to the opening tonality six measures before the end.</div>
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It might seem out of character for Mendelssohn. The image of Beethoven as a raving genius who thrust the Classical world kicking and screaming into the Romantic era matches perfectly with uncomfortably messy pedaling. But Mendelssohn? From a respectable upper middle class family, stylistically conservative, who according to Taruskin, never outgrew his precocious early style? On the other hand, Mendelssohn was very clear with his markings and didn’t normally leave pedal markings hanging unended. Surely if he wanted a pedal change, he would have written it.</div>
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That evening around midnight, I received an email from Tocco. His meticulous attention to detail hadn’t allowed him to sleep, and he gave me a near-exhaustive list of <i>sempre pedale </i>examples from Beethoven and Mendelssohn. The more you look, the less clear it gets, but he thought—and I agree—that there’s a strong case to be made for a single, fourteen-measure pedal. Beethoven often used <i>sempre pedale </i>to indicate a sustained pedal (no change), for example near the end of the first movement of the “Appassionata”:</div>
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Mendelssohn used the term even more frequently than Beethoven. Sometimes it seems to indicate a change of pedal, but more often than not it means to sustain it. One of my favorite examples is in his first sonata, Op. 6, where he writes <i>sempre Pedale </i>after a long cadenza-like movement that leads into a powerful finale:<br />
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Tocco classified this one as probably indicating a pedal change. But wouldn’t it be cool if it were sustaining? The sonority that would build up over the course of these seven measures would be pure cacophony on a modern instrument! Unlike in the Fantasie, there is really only one harmony here—a long dominant pedal—even through there are plenty of passing tones.<br />
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It’s long been accepted that the differences between Beethoven’s pianos and ours mean that we don’t really need to observe his more eccentric pedalings exactly. For every pianist who plays the “Tempest” passage above with one long full pedal, there are probably three who use shades of half pedal and half changes to keep things under control. I think the same could be said for Mendelssohn.<br />
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One more caveat: <i>Sempre </i>is a tricky term. I bet if Beethoven were alive today, he wouldn't use a crazy term like <i>sempre fortissimo </i>quite so easily. Like here:<br />
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He writes that at the climax of the first movement of the “Appassionata.” Counting the two measures of <i>fortissimo </i>before, there are seventeen(!) full measures of fortissimo before the next written dynamic, <i>piano</i>. I think everyone understands that the excitement has to wind down somewhere, without a sudden drop of dynamic right at the end of this passage. I think there would also be general agreement about what Beethoven means: this is a powerful, sustained climax. But in the best performances I’ve heard, this passage isn’t necessarily all loud loud loud. Instead it’s volatile, like a pot boiling over on full flame. It’s not surprising that a more considered approach is more exciting and effective than seventeen measures of jackhammer, but thanks to that <i>sempre </i>too many pianists fall into that trap.<br />
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Still, <i>sempre fortissimo </i>and <i>sempre pedale </i>are worlds apart. I have a clear preference for pianists who play with too much pedal over those who play too loudly. Too loud is just unmusical, but a good musician who takes chances with the pedal has balls. Or powerful ovaries.Edward Neemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16575558081870347468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6615823128449534676.post-51213258257046980422013-07-02T21:08:00.000-07:002013-07-02T21:08:55.906-07:00Life, and art<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The past month or so has passed so quickly! I gave a lecture-recital on improvisation in graphic scores back at the end of May. The recital was a requirement for my degree at Juilliard, but I talked them in to letting me do it in Cincinnati and save the cost of a plane ticket. I talked mostly about improvisation and played two graphic scores by Roman Haubenstock-Ramati. In the Q&A afterward people were more curious about the scores. Following a graphic score, even if you know the <i>exact </i>path and method of interpretation used, is inevitably an exercise in frustration for a classical music listener who's used to having everything clearly laid out. So when I made a DVD of the performance to send to Juilliard, I analyzed my performance of the solo version of <i>Catch 2</i>. It was pretty fun to listen back, really a discovery since I had surprisingly little idea of what to expect. As it turns out I managed to skip a whole line of the score—a whole repetition to be exact! I posted the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_f_T_nYVcJs" target="_blank">video on YouTube here</a>.<br />
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The birth of our son James Jerome on June 11 has made the past few weeks both terrifically exciting and frustrating, since looking after a newborn is a delightful chore that leaves little time for anything else. I'm still scrambling to finish revising my dissertation (on improvisation) since I'm told it will soon get worse. I have the Art of the Piano festival to look forward to here in Cincinnati in a few weeks; we're expecting some terrific teachers and pianists to come through. More on that soon.<br />
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<br />Edward Neemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16575558081870347468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6615823128449534676.post-11170968524199066012013-06-03T06:35:00.001-07:002013-06-03T07:22:00.661-07:00Hands Off My Music!My teacher at CCM, James Tocco told me that when he played Aaron Copland’s <i>Piano Fantasy </i>for the composer, he was pleased but offered no real suggestions. He was just happy to have great musicians play his music.<br />
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Several composers I've worked with have told me that performances change how they perceive their own piece, and for that reason they like to let performers get on with it without too much interference.<br />
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I'm preparing a program of graphic scores by the Polish-Austrian composer Roman Haubenstock-Ramati. I wrote to Carol Morgan, who worked with him and recorded a number of his works, and she sent me back this story:<br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;">When I first came to Vienna I was asked to play his early Klavierstücke I. </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;">I thought I ought to play them to him before the concert to see if he thought it OK, so we arranged a time to meet, and all he said was he didn't want to hear them, he was sure it would be fine, he would hear them at the concert.</span></div>
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That’s a new level of composerly laissez-faire—how could the composer not even want to hear the piece before it is performed?<br />
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Edward Neemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16575558081870347468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6615823128449534676.post-43927722631927248182013-05-08T13:51:00.000-07:002013-05-08T19:07:01.792-07:00A Hearty American FeastThe last Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra concert for the season finished with a bang. Copland's Third Symphony is not my favorite Copland piece, but Robert Spano and the symphony made a powerful case for this quintessentially American classic.<br />
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I was less impressed with <i>All Things Majestic</i>, a four-movement symphonic work by Jennifer Higdon that concludes her residency with the symphony this year. In general, I'm a big fan of her music. She has an uncanny way of finding the perfect orchestral color for every moment, and her music is as outgoing and friendly as she is. I imagine instead of her writing her musical strokes on the page, that it's a big, friendly dog licking colors onto a smooth musical canvas.<br />
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This piece didn't really speak to me, however. I think one of the best things about Higdon's writing is that it's accessible to the players as well as the audience—she keeps things simple on the page, without unnecessary technical complications. This piece seemed almost too simple though, as if it was written for a talented high school orchestra instead of a top professional group, and the players seemed unsure of what to do with the music. They weren't helped by Spano, who offered little musical assistance. The principal cellist, Ilya Finkelshteyn, made a valiant effort to grind some expressive nous out of his solos, but the other leading strings seemed uninspired by solos which never turned out to be soloistic. There were also moving images in the background, courtesy of the local PBS station CNET. It's very hard to make visual elements work with orchestras, and every time I've experienced the combination I've wished they hadn't taken the trouble. But I hope to be convinced otherwise someday.<br />
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I hadn't seen Spano conduct before. His loose black shirt and thick glasses gives him the appearance of not caring too much about appearance, as a kind of dismissal of the showmanship that dominates the show biz of Classical music. His conducting was equally undemonstrative, with few expressive hints visible from the audience, let alone the histrionics of the podium actors. He often reverts to symmetrical conducting, his left hand mirroring his right. There must be a powerful intellect behind his conducting, however, which came to the fore most notably in the Copland. He built the work intensely and purposefully, in granite blocks, without unnecessary prettiness.<br />
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The highlight of the evening for me was undoubtedly the Barber Piano Concerto, performed by Garrick Ohlsson. Garrick Ohlsson is a giant bear of a man and the piano looks like a toy instrument next to him. He projects his sound so easily over the orchestra, even in Music Hall which I've found to be unhelpful to more restrained soloists. Like Spano, Ohlsson lays out the music simply, smoothing out the expressive bumps in favor of a expansive structure. I always found it interesting that Ohlsson, a pianist who does everything so well, should have won the Chopin Competition of all competitions and built his career on Chopin. I like his Chopin playing, but if I had to choose I'd like it little less facile at times. The Barber Concerto suits him perfectly, and his performance was utterly magnificent, I think the best piano performance I've heard at the CSO this year.Edward Neemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16575558081870347468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6615823128449534676.post-10540320976500773292013-04-30T10:49:00.001-07:002013-04-30T10:49:09.504-07:00Perfectly Cromulent<span class="zw-portion" style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">I'm a vegetarian and a food fanatic, and I plan my concerts like I plan my meals. I like to keep the palate unencumbered with an overdose of sauce and murky textures, preferring simple ingredients that complement each other's flavors and allow the discerning gourmand to appreciate the subtleties of each. I confess I have a sweet tooth, but even the puff pastry at the end of the program needs a twist of lemon or an accompanying rooibos tea to put the sweet and the light in context. My favorite part of every cooking show is when the chef enlightens the tasters to the </span><span class="zw-portion" style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">raison d'être </span><span class="zw-portion" style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">of his </span><span class="zw-portion" style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">plat du jour. </span><span class="zw-portion" style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">Both cooking and music need no explanation, but sometimes the right words can be the key that lets the consumer see through the eyes of the creator.</span><br />
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<span class="zw-portion" style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">I like my ingredients locally sourced, and I work with area producers to ensure the finest quality and to prepare their food in a way that is satisfying for them. Recently I've been working with the Latin-flavored </span><span class="zw-portion" style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">hors-d'oeuvres </span><span class="zw-portion" style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">of Reinaldo Moya and the carefully-seasoned wild greens of Lindsey Jacob, with an added improvisatory touch for some extra spice. I am a fan of the staple grains from the American plains. I program the Piano Sonatas of Elliott Carter and Samuel Barber and Aaron Copland's Piano Fantasy as often as I can. I spent seven years in Australia refining my palate and I've imported some unusual finds that are hard to find on these shores by Roy Agnew, Richard Meale, Larry Sitsky, and others. My wife is an accomplished pianist (currently</span><span class="zw-portion" style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"> on sabbatical preparing for our soon-to-be born son), and I have concocted a few postprandial nibbles which we present as a duet team. Our most popular is "Some Enchanted Evening" from </span><span class="zw-portion" style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">South Pacific</span><span class="zw-portion" style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">, although I have a few good ones from other musicals—</span><span class="zw-portion" style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">Fiddler on the Roof </span><span class="zw-portion" style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">and </span><span class="zw-portion" style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">My Fair Lady—</span><span class="zw-portion" style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">as well as a fandango, </span><span class="zw-portion" style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">Niña del Fuego</span><span class="zw-portion" style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">.</span><div class="spacer-para" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Segoe UI', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; height: 20px; line-height: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">
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Edward Neemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16575558081870347468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6615823128449534676.post-6213122596308298812013-04-22T05:30:00.003-07:002013-04-22T05:30:37.258-07:00Inon Barnatan at CSO<br />
I met the Israeli pianist Inon Barnatan at the <a href="http://www.masterclasses.org.il/" target="_blank">Tel-Hai Piano Masterclasses</a> in 2001. That was twelve years ago and he was still in his early twenties, but he was already a fully mature musician. I still remember his blistering performance of Ravel's "Scarbo" in the opening concert—I don't believe I've heard a more breathtaking interpretation since.<br />
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I bought tickets to hear Lars Vogt—a pianist I haven't heard—play the C minor Mozart Concerto with the Symphony last Saturday, and when Vogt had to cancel at the last minute, Barnatan stepped in, playing the same concerto. His performance was simply amazing, and revealed a stronger and more nuanced musical mind. The C minor concerto is one of Mozart's thorniest, with a dark undercurrent but in a setting that often feels awkward. It doesn't have the natural operatic flow of the D minor Concerto, Mozart's only other piano concerto in a minor key. I like my Mozart fully dramatic, and I don't worry about the "stylistic requirements" that I've felt has lead too many musicians to treat his music with kid gloves. Barnatan managed to combine his fluid tone with just the right amount of excitement at the right moments. The orchestra was an exemplary accompanist, although the conductor Roberto Abbado seemed to struggle to set the tempos at the beginning of each movement, which tended to be slightly on the slow side. I have noticed that a number of big name soloists treat Cincinnati as a kind of backwater and don't give their performances here, but Barnatan was fully engaged and gave it his all.<br />
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The second half of the concert was Richard Strauss's Alpine Symphony. It's a reminder how indebted our movie soundtracks are to a soundworld created in Austria a century ago. Abbado really made his presence felt on the podium and moulded the sprawling 50-minute work so that every moment was taut with interest and the character of each section was clearly etched. The highlight for me, however, was the remarkable playing of the individual solo instruments, particularly in the wind section.<br />
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As a side note, this tone poem has an important history with the Cincinnati Symphony. According to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_Alpine_Symphony" target="_blank">Wikipedia</a>, In 1916, the conductor Ernst Kunwald and "influential Cincinnatians" managed to acquire the music for this piece, premiered the previous year in wartorn Germany and were planning the American premiere when Leopold Stokowski, Kunwald's predecessor at the CSO, suddenly announced that he would perform it with the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra on April 28, six days before the scheduled CSO performance. Rehearsals were hastily scheduled and the Cincinnati Symphony eked out a performance just in time to beat the Philadelphia "American premiere" by just over 24 hours.Edward Neemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16575558081870347468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6615823128449534676.post-90633408416186637972013-03-23T16:42:00.000-07:002013-03-24T13:48:02.706-07:00A Lull in Menlo<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">My wife and I are on spring break this week, enjoying the hospitality of my aunt Miriam in Menlo Park. Appropriately, I spent the plane trip reading Joel Sachs' excellent biography of Henry Cowell, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Henry-Cowell-Man-Made-Music/dp/0195108957/" target="_blank">A Man Made of Music</a>. Much of Cowell's childhood was spent in Menlo Park not far from here. Yesterday was a hiking day covering <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angel_Island_(California)" target="_blank">Angel Island</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muir_woods" target="_blank">John Muir Woods</a>, and on the drive we passed the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Quentin_State_Prison" target="_blank">San Quentin State Prison</a> where Cowell was imprisoned for four years on a morals charge.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I've been catching up on much-needed practice for my recital at CCM in three weeks, playing on Miriam's 100 year old Henry F Miller piano. It's a real workhorse—heavy action, and a boomy sound that the aging dampers struggle to contain that leaks out and fills her living room with glorious resonance. We've been to a couple musical events—last Sunday we were at George Lopez's recital at <a href="http://cnmat.berkeley.edu/" target="_blank">CNMAT</a>. He played four piano pieces written in the last ten years, including powerful performances of <i>Sylvan Pieces </i>by Cindy Cox and "at the cusp of dawn, a breath" by Vineet Shende. <i>Sylvan Pieces </i>were inspired walking through the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens. Each of the five pieces begins simply, in the middle of the piano, before rapidly spiraling outward. My wife called it "inspired minimalism" because of how clear the development process seems to the listener. Lopez was at his best in Shende's piece, with exotic Indian-inspired sounds that produced hypnotic sound world on the piano. Unfortunately the Young Chang piano and the acoustics in the small hall made an uncomfortable fit for this piece.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">My brother plays violin in the orchestra at UC Berkeley where he's a PhD student in statistics, and we headed over to the orchestra lunchtime concert on Wednesday. I've found that university orchestras are particularly responsive to a good conductor. David Milnes is not a demonstrative conductor on stage, but he gets a great result from the orchestra. They began with a relatively new work, <em style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;">Wide sea, changeful heaven </em><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;">by Reynold Tharp, with thick orchestra textures and scalar melodies that explored the outer registers. It reminded me of Ligeti, although Tharp's voice is indisputably original. The bulk of the program was the Stravinsky <i>Symphony in Three Movements</i>, which was despatched with flair and not a little dollop of humor.</span></span><br />
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Edward Neemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16575558081870347468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6615823128449534676.post-24542531406010913832013-03-21T09:36:00.000-07:002013-03-21T09:36:05.893-07:00Szymanowski's BoleroI think of Szymanowski as a "neglected" composer. Probably there are too many recordings and performances nowadays for that label to really be valid, and I'm not sure that they really need more exposure. His music is probably best in the penumbra of not-quite-so-well known.<br />
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I first discovered the Mythes for violin and piano about 12 years ago in the unmatchable recording on <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFXqkNcueV4" target="_blank">Deutsche Grammophon by Krystian Zimerman and Kaja Danczowska</a>. The textures in that piece, the sensuality, the achingly languid melodies, show straight away what a genius the composer was. What a masterwork! I performed it with a violinist only once, and despite our preparation the concert was curiously unsatisfying, not helped by a unsympathetic piano. While I'd love to do it again, the sensation of reaching for the unattainable performance without quite making it seems in keeping with the wistful of Szymanowski.<br />
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I'm playing another violin and piano piece, the Nocturne and Tarantella, next week. While the Nocturne is truly beautiful, I didn't appreciate the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUx44mVNcXg" target="_blank">Tarantella</a> at first. It's grown on me. While it shows an early Szymanowski still finding his voice, I like to compare it with a late work by Ravel, the Bolero. Both works are by the greatest orchestrators and musical sensualists of all time, and are rhythmic and repetitive to an uncharacteristic degree. If anyone else had written these pieces, no one would be playing them. But the subtle shifts in color and dynamic in the Tarantella, if done right, change the piece from a bland virtuosic romp into something with a quiet internal glow despite all the outward ruckus.Edward Neemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16575558081870347468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6615823128449534676.post-54546120060954885912013-03-18T18:26:00.001-07:002013-03-18T18:27:01.207-07:00Half a StravinskyMy first experience with Stravinsky's Violin Concerto of 1931 was at Juilliard a few years ago, when I was enlisted by Francesca Anderegg to accompany her on a few days' notice. Stravinsky's twisted harmonies and his middle-period polyphony was causing me enough grief at the time that I don't think I appreciated the music fully. It's almost a Bach concerto, deconstructed and rebuilt in a cubist form. Listening to Fran playing the piece again last weekend with the St. Olaf College orchestra (the live recording is archived <a href="http://www.stolaf.edu/multimedia/play?e=747">here</a>), I almost didn't recognize parts of the piece because the solo part was so heavily boosted in the audio mix! Fran has a beautiful, rich tone on her instrument and a steely intellect that brought real clarity and direction to the solo part. With scarcely any backing from the orchestra, it sounded almost like a Romantic aria. It was a wonderful new perspective on the piece for me, and Fran's playing was so engaging I didn't really miss the orchestra that much. Interestingly, the live acoustics in the hall apparently made it hard to hear her, so I might have had the better deal through internet streaming.Edward Neemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16575558081870347468noreply@blogger.com0