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Pedalling in Piano Playing - the Sustaining Pedal

When a mention of “the pedal” is made without specifying which of the pedals, it is usually referring to the rightmost pedal, or “sustaining pedal” (not to be confused with the “sostenuto pedal” which is the middle one on a grand piano, and in fact is rarely used). The leftmost pedal is the soft pedal and is usually shown by the sign “UC” or “una corda”. Then “Tre Corda” means release it. It can also be used at the performer’s discretion during extremely soft passages, such as PPP. 

We will be concentrating on the rightmost pedal (sustaining pedal) in this article.

You need to sit in such a way that you can pedal with your right foot, keeping your heel on the ground as a pivot, and pressing/releasing the pedal with your toes. Try and avoid lifting your whole leg up and down as you pedal. You may need to adjust your sitting position if this is difficult. People are often surprised by how far back they need to sit in order to make this possible. Also, sitting on the edge of your seat can help to angle your thigh downwards slightly which may better enable a comfortable position for pedalling. You can see me demonstrate by following the links to videos further down this page.

In most pieces where pedalling is required (or an option), you change the pedal with the changes of harmony (if using a lot of pedal throughout whole passages of music). Pedal is meant to add richness and sonority to the sound. It can help to sustain notes which are impossible to make legato with fingering alone, but should never be used as a substitute for good fingering. When adding pedal, care must be taken not to obscure phrasing, staccato and rests.

There are two main types of pedalling technique: legato pedaling, and direct pedaling.

As the name suggests, legato pedalling can enable you to achieve a legato effect when playing a sequence of chords or notes that are impossible to join up with fingering alone. It can also be used just to enhance an already legato passage of music.

When doing legato pedalling to join up chords (or any notes), your foot should come up at the moment you depress the keys for the next chord, then your foot should immediately go back down again before you release the keys with your fingers in order to catch and sustain the notes of that chord. If you lift your foot too early, i.e. before you play the chord where you want to change the pedal, you won’t be able to join up the chords and will end up with a gap. Also, if you put your foot down again too early, you may catch the notes of the previous chord and end up blurring them with the notes of the next chord, preventing a clean sound. Sometimes in certain passages or styles of music, a blurring of the sound is what’s required and this is fine, but first you need to learn how to get a clean sound while joining up chords with the pedal. Legato pedalling is quite hard to coordinate at first, because when done correctly, the movement of your foot will feel out of time with the music.

Direct pedalling, doesn't necessarily create a legato effect. Instead its purpose is more to add sonority, resonance or emphasis to particular notes, chords, or passages of music. An example of direct pedalling would be where you depress the pedal at the same moment your fingers depress the keys for a chord, then release the pedal at the same time as releasing the keys. The movements for direct pedalling are much more synchronised, and easier to get the hang of than legato pedalling. 

You can see me demonstrate some legato pedalling in these pieces of music:

In Church by Tchaikovsky (soft pedal is also used at the end of this one.)
Gurlitt Slumber Song
Chopin Sostenuto in E Flat

You can find more articles about technique here.

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Qualified graduate piano teacher.
Fellow of The Incorporated Society of Musicians.
More than 25 years of experience teaching piano and music theory in person and online.
  • Home
  • Reviews
  • Videos
  • Articles & Tutorials
  • About
  • Fees & Payments
    • Fees
    • Make a Payment
  • Learn Online
    • Beginner's Piano Lesson Package
    • Classical Compilation
    • Free Downloads
    • How to Play Fast eBook and Studies
    • Instruction Video and PDFs - Berens Study in A Minor
    • Music Theory Tutorials
    • Online Music Theory Lessons
    • Online Piano Lessons by Video Exchange
    • Piano Tutorials
    • Skype/FaceTime Lessons
    • Shop
    • Zoom Lessons for Adults
    • Zoom Lessons for Children
  • Contact