What one thing can reveal an accomplished pianist from an amateur? Something hardly noticeable, but absolutely essential to good playing—the damper pedal that helps connect one note to the next, warm up the tone of the phrase, and generally nuance the music. However, pedaling should never steal the show by blurring a passage and ruining the clarity of the sound. An accomplished pianist knows the amount of pedaling to use based on the style of the piece and the acoustics of the room in which he or she plays. Harmonic pedaling is good for hymns and chorales. Flutter pedaling works in baroque and classical pieces, and sonorous pedaling (a kind of sophisticated blurring) in impressionistic pieces.
Did you think pedaling mattered so much? Unless you particularly notice, that part of the playing rarely will catch your attention. Next time you watch a good pianist, take note of the ways in which he or she plays the pedals.
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