Effective Practive & Motivation
FAQ | recommended resources | piano: bare essentials | Effective Practice & Motivation
Below are some of the many different aspects involved in learning
how to practice the piano effectively.
Environment | Goals | Musical
Form | Rhythm | Fingering |
Pedal | Posture
& Tension | Method | Motivation | Memory
PEDAL
The Damper Pedal
The damper pedal creates interesting sounds at the piano and it
can be fun to explore these sounds. The damper pedal is the pedal
furthest to the right and is played with the right foot. The ball
of the foot should remain in contact with the pedal even after
the pedal has been lifted; this will help prevent additional sound
occurring as a result of the foot 'hitting' the pedal. The heel
should remain in contact with the floor at all times. Students
will usually feel more comfortable if they do not sit too closely
to the instrument.
At first, beginning students will want to develop their coordination
so that they are able to comfortably change the pedal at specific
points in the music. Later, you may want to experiment with pressing
the pedal to different depths which is often referred to as using
¼ pedal, ½ pedal and full pedal ( and many gradations
in between!).
A common misconception is that when something sounds too blurry,
the pedal needs to be changed more frequently. Although keeping
the pedal down for too long can make a passage sound too blurry,
sometimes a better solution will be to either adjust the amount
of weight from the fingers, wrists and/or arms, or to change the
depth of the pedal.
The same pedal techniques will not produce the same results on
different pianos or different rooms. Good pedaling is an art;
it requires constant listening and adjusting. Something else to
consider is that different stylistic periods of music require
different kinds of pedaling so an understanding of music history
and stylistic periods is also helpful.