Helping Students Learn to Use the Pedal
By Mike Zachary, D.M.A.

You may also download a printable pdf of this lesson.

Learning to use the pedal is connected to the idea of learning about chords. With most of my students, I assign the major triads fairly early in their piano lessons. If the student has a fairly well-developed hand, I have him learn to play the chords according to the following pattern:



With students who struggle striking the three notes of the chord at once, I typically employ exercise-like chord patterns for them such as those shown below:



Once the student has become familiar with the major triads, I have him start learning to play the chords as I, IV, and V chords. Thus, in the key of C, I have the student play the C chord four times, the F chord four times, the G chord four times, and the C chord one last time. Even in situations where I don’t think the student is necessarily ready to learn the music theory relating to these chords, I have them play them as shown in the excerpt that follows:



At this point, the student may only have enough chord knowledge to know that the C major triad consists of C, E, and G, etc. He may not understand what the I, IV, and V chords are. He may not understand that the terms tonic and I chord are interchangeable, and he may not understand anything about chord inversions.

Even though his knowledge is this limited, he can learn how to play the chords in a connected fashion; and he can learn how to use the pedal as he plays these chords. And he is ready to learn the basic principle of pedaling: when the chord changes, clear the pedal.

Teaching the Student to Hear

The student needs to be able to distinguish among these three items:

1.         Chords that are clearly disconnected.
2.         Chords that overlap.
3.         Chords that are smoothly connected, that is, that are legato.

When I am explaining these ideas to students, I often describe disconnected notes as “choppy,” I often describe overlapping notes as “messy,” and I often describe the smooth connection as being “just right.”

As we teachers often do, I often exaggerate these differences to ensure that students can hear the differences among the different sounds. When I demonstrate notes that are clearly disconnected, I might play an example like the one that follows:



By emphasizing the rests between the two chords, I try to make it clear to the student that there is definitely silence between the two chords; thus, the student can sense the chords are clearly disconnected.
Once the student can clearly sense the disconnected nature of this approach, I then show him chords that overlap. Often, I begin by saying, “This chord sounds good”:



Then I say, “And this chord sounds good, too”:

Then I say, “But it doesn’t sound too good if you hear both of these chords at the same time”:



Now that we have established the importance of keeping the sound of the chords separated, I play the overlapping chords in a subtler manner:



By playing the first chord firmly and holding it while I strike the second chord, I help the student to hear the “blur” that is created as the sound of the first chord is carried over as the second chord is played. If the student can focus his attention on this blur, he will on the right track for being able to hear when the pedal needs to be cleared. For emphasis, I repeat the basic principle of pedaling: when the chord changes, clear the pedal.

Having demonstrated these principles, I then show the student that we want the chords to be connected, meaning (a) we do not want them to be disconnected, and (b) we do not want them to overlap. I then play two chords, using the pedal, and demonstrate the properly connected sound:



Having demonstrated these ideas (and, in many cases, having demonstrated them many times to ensure the student is listening accurately and closely), we now return to the student’s chord exercise; and we ask him to play the example, using the pedal. The following passage shows what is being done:

Letting the Ear Be the Guide

In most cases, students who are listening closely to what they are doing—especially under the guidance of a careful teacher—will quickly develop the coordination to lift the pedal and depress the pedal when they need to do so in order to achieve a sound that is legato, but not a sound that is disconnected or overlapping.

In the following paragraphs, I explain the well-known concept of syncopated pedaling; however, I do not teach this to most of my students at this level. If the student can achieve an appropriate legato chord connection with knowing about syncopated pedaling, I generally find this is the best solution. In some cases, teaching syncopated pedaling at this point seems to be over-teaching that merely confuses students instead of helping them.

If, however, I have a student who has difficulty in achieving the desired legato sound, we briefly discuss syncopated pedaling.

Syncopated Pedaling

In some ways, the term syncopated pedaling is confusing. Most of the time, the term syncopated deals with the rhythm of the music, not the rhythm of the performer’s foot as he plays the pedal!

Perhaps the simplest way to understand the term syncopated pedaling is to think, “When you actually evaluate it very closely, you will find that you don’t lift the pedal and put it back down until immediately after a chord is struck.” In the following illustrations, I will use an X to demonstrate precisely when the pedal is lifted to create various effects.

In the following example, if the chord is lifted where the X is shown, the listener will hear that the chords are clearly disconnected:


Even if the pedal is lifted at the same time as the F chord, the listener will hear the disconnection between the chords:



However, if you (a) leave the pedal down as you move from the C chord to the F chord, (b) leave the pedal down as you play the F chord, and (c) lift the pedal a split second after you play the F chord and put it down again, it will make a legato sound that has neither the annoying disconnection nor the amateurish overlapping. Perhaps the pedal action could be indicated as follows:

The Biggest Mistake With Syncopated Pedaling

Ultimately,  the ear must control pedaling. In some cases, students need to understand precisely when the pedal is lifted and depressed in order to create a legato sound; however, if a student begins to focus on the foot action without giving proper attention to the sound, he will ultimately miss the point of pedaling.

Especially in the early stages, the teacher must be diligent to point out the possible differences in sound that occur when chords are disconnected, when they are overlapping, and when they are properly connected. When students understand this idea and when they understand that the basic principle of pedaling is that chords should not overlap, they will be well on their way to proper pedaling.