PDtek@aol.com wrote: > > Since I am not myself an accomplished pianist, I have a question for those on > the list who are. Is there truly any legitimate use for a bass sustain > function on a grand piano? Or is it as I have always suspected, nothing more > than a marketing device to justify a third pedal on a piano that the > manufacturer wants to cut costs on by eliminating the more costly sostenuto > mechanism? > > Dave Bunch > .- Dave, My experience with pianists is that very few have bothered to learn how to use the middle pedal, the real one. The few that do use it have the added hindrance of never knowing if a particular piano will have an operational sostenuto. I once prepared an early 1900s Bosendorfer for a pianist who was upset that he would have to rethink the pedalling of a Poulenc trio he was about to perform on this two-pedalled grand. If you are thinking of removing the bass sustaining pedal from the hotel piano to save maintenance hassels, I vote for ripping it out - it will never be missed. You would need to block the pedal in the up position, of course. Some wonderful effects can be achieved with sostenuto (Debussy and Ravel wrote compositions which show markings for Ped 2) but with PseudoPed, there would be no magic possible. The stride pianist, mentioned by Bob Anderson, probably wanted to hold the bass tones while playing the right hand "dry" but this is the first time I've heard of anyone using the "poor man's sostenuto" for anything besides keeping the other two pedals separated. You guessed right about it's purpose: American grand pianos are _supposed_ to have 3 pedals so how can we make 'em cheaper? 64-dollar question for JB: who invented the bass sustain pedal? -- Thomas A. Cole RPT Santa Cruz, CA
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