Pseudo-sostenuto

Bob Anderson fndango@azstarnet.com
Tue, 23 Sep 1997 18:00:21 -0700


Dave, I don't think that the auxiliary bass sustain pedal is used by
many pianists, but it reminds me of a customer(quite eccentric) who had
an old Chickering. It had a sostenuto, but some of the tabs were broken
off, and it didn't work very well. Anyway, he used the sostenuto  to
help play a stride style bass. It was pretty funny to watch him hit
those low bass octaves, quickly followed by the sost. pedal. If he had
had the "pseudo-sostenuto" pedal, he wd have done the same thing, but it
wouldn't have worked as accurately as a true sostenuto.

The middle pedal is basically an extra leg or "appendix" that can be
discarded without much grief. But it's better to find out if you have
that odd "eccentric" customer who'll miss it before you jump. 

Personally, I felt a little indignant to discover that someone had put a
Pianocorder in a Yamaha C3, discarding the sostenuto in the process.
Doesn't the customer at least have the right to keep the pieces? Someday
one might want to discard the Pianocorder and get back the sostenuto.

Bob Anderson
Tucson, AZ


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