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Miss Joy |
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QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
QUESTION: Why is the middle of the keyboard
Middle C instead of Middle A? It seems like it should start with an A in
the middle, because that is the first note you learn.
ANSWER: Middle C isn't the middle of the keyboard either; the middle of your piano keyboard is in the crack between E and F--44 notes on each side (count them!). Middle C is called that because it's the missing middle line between the treble and bass staffs. If you drew a line between the two staffs and then pushed them together so that you had one big staff (called The Grand Staff) of 11 lines, the lines and spaces would all go straight up the white key scale without any skips, from low G to high F; and the middle line would be Middle C. The other thing is that the keyboard didn't have 88 notes when the piano was invented--it only had about 49. Then it got about 61, then 63, and finally 85 by the middle of the 19th century. Finally they stuck 3 more on the top for 88. There's even one piano made today with 96! 'A' might be the first letter that you learned, but I'll bet the first note was --Middle C! QUESTION: What does the middle pedal on the piano do? ANSWER: The middle pedal, officially called the SOSTENUTO PEDAL, was patented in 1874 by the Steinway Corporation of America. The sostenuto pedal does only one thing when it is depressed: it will catch and hold any dampers that are already fully raised from the strings. The dampers are those things that lay across the strings and go up and down when you play a key. When the sostenuto pedal is properly used it will keep the dampers which have been raised, up until the sostenuto pedal has been released. Soundwise, what you get is one note or a bunch of notes that will be sustained for as long as the sostenuto pedal is engaged. What makes it so cool is that you can use the right pedal (damper pedal) as well as the left pedal (the una corde pedal) while you are also using the sostenuto pedal. The only trick is to not let the sostenuto pedal up until you really and truly want to release the sounds you have been sustaining. To properly play the sostenuto pedal, the note or notes that you want to have the sostenuto pedal play must be played and held by the fingers until the sostenuto pedal is FULLY put down to the floor or depressed. The right pedal must not be depressed at the same moment the sostenuto pedal catches the notes to be held, because then ALL the dampers will be caught by the sostenuto pedal and all the notes will be held instead of the specific note or notes you want held. Once the sostenuto pedal has been put down, the pianist can go ahead and use the damper pedal as much as needed. The note or notes caught in the sostenuto pedal will continue to be held through any changes made by the right pedal. The sostenuto pedal has to be kept completely depressed when you are using it; even the smallest, tiniest, bit of a release will result in the catching of other unwanted tones. It takes a bit of practice to get used to using it correctly, playing the notes (while making sure the damper pedal is not on) and then pressing the middle quickly. QUESTION: What is the damper pedal? ANSWER: The damper pedal is the one on the right which raises all the dampers (the felt pads which rest on the strings to stop the sound) and lets all the strings vibrate without having to hold keys down. But the pedal on the left is the soft pedal, and it works differently on grands and uprights. If you have a spinet, console or upright piano, the left pedal will push all the hammers closer to the strings so that it's easier to play softly; lift up the top lid and look inside while you work the pedal. On a grand, the left pedal is called the "una corda" ("one string"). It shifts the whole action to the right a little so that each hammer only hits two strings instead of all three; when you push it you can see the whole keyboard move. Some very small grands don't have this; the pedal works like an upright pedal. |
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