Pedals - You quickly get the hang of them, or it is very difficult

[ChristopherDB113]

I've heard from several teachers that students either quickly get the hang of playing pedals or it is a long painful learning curve. I was fortunate to be one that picked them up quickly, but wanted to know what people's opinions are on the % of people that quickly take to pedals. Hindsight being with me, when I took lessons I should have asked teachers that question.

[Piperdane]

Perfecting the pedals comes from diligent practicing, and expert guidance from a teacher/tutor. One needs the teacher/tutor to point out mistakes and correcting pedal technique, something few of us can do on our own.

My teacher draped a towel from my waist and attached it to the lowest keyboard ... the point there was for me to learn without looking and it worked. Start with pedal alone, then with the left hand on a manual with no stops drawn, then the same pedal passage with the right hand in the same manner.

Amateurs practice until they get all the notes right ... Professionals practice until they can't get all the notes wrong!

[myorgan]

Some of the answer probably lies in the age of the student. I would think younger students are able to pick up pedals a bit easier than aged students. Learning theory leads me to believe this is true.

Michael

[samibe]

I don't know. I picked up pedalling at about the same speed as I've learned any unique skill (juggling, slack-line, etc.). I find that it takes about 20hrs of concerted effort/practice before I start to crest the initial learning curve. After about 100hrs, the skill feels comfortable and is becoming part of how I think. I think that might be one of the reasons that I'm not intimidated by something as complicated as using all four limbs to create music.

I know several people who are intimidated by the pedals and never really got past that intimidation even after they were relatively competent.

[jbird604]

Experiences are surely varied. For me, I used to think of the pedals as quite daunting. The idea of playing complex pedal lines, even in hymns, just terrified me. About 15 years ago, I remember showing up at church to discover to my horror that a guest music minister had selected "Praise to the Lord, the Almighty" as the opening hymn. At that time, though I thought of myself as a "better than average" church player, that was one hymn I had avoided playing because the pedal line "moved around too much," and I totally blew it that day! Up until six or seven years ago, I wouldn't even think of playing "All Creatures of Our God and King" with its elaborate moving pedal line, and there were many other hymns I simply told myself I could not play.

But nowadays, there's nothing in the hymnal that I find hard to pedal. The two hymns I mentioned above are now among my favorites. I actually relish the opportunity to "rock" the pedals on "All Creatures," which I try to use every couple of months now. I've come to enjoy the pedals so much that I've actually become "dependent" on them, and when I am forced to play hymns on a piano now and then I feel really handicapped without my "third hand" -- my feet!

OTOH, I know "little old lady" organists (of both sexes) who have been playing organ for decades who still haven't ever taken their right foot off the expression pedal and are still hopping around on one foot, toes only, only playing the odd pedal note here and there because they "just can't find those notes" on the pedals. I don't know what has actually held such players back, other than a stubborn belief that they just "can't do it." Or perhaps they haven't taken the time to watch youtube videos of accomplished players romping all over the pedals and obviously having such fun doing it. Or they just don't care, or they never really open the organ up, and whether or not the pedals are being played makes little difference to them.

I'm of the opinion that playing the pedals is actually not nearly as hard as we tend to think it is when we first approach the organ. It eventually becomes just as natural and easy as playing the manual keys, and just as vital to one's organ skills.

[myorgan]

OK John, let's see you play Wonderful Grace of Jesus on the pedals!

Michael

[jbird604]

You got me there, Michael! But I don't think that one is in our hymnal...

[andijah]

I've come to enjoy the pedals so much that I've actually become "dependent" on them, and when I am forced to play hymns on a piano now and then I feel really handicapped without my "third hand" -- my feet!

This sounds familiar; happens to me, too, every now and then. I have to consciously switch from organ to piano mode in my brain and then I can play hymns at the piano without getting too confused. When I started playing the organ, I never thought that this would happen one day.

I also know people who've played the organ for many years and still don't use their feet. Don't know why. There is this awkward phase when your brain simply doesn't seem to want your feet to do anything different than your hands (or when you continue playing the same notes in your left hand and with your feet), but this goes away when you continue practising. I don't know if it's easier for people who didn't play the piano a lot before they started organ. For me, who was already a good pianist, finding my feet was hard work but definitely worth it. I can play all hymns in our standard books without having to practise, but of course there's still a lot to learn.

[andyg]

As this is in General Chat and not in a church/classical-specific section, think about those of us who succumbed to the Dark Side! (or who only ever fought for the Empire [ like the Empire Cinema, Leicester Square! ] ) :)

My first organ was a Gulbransen spinet. The first week I had it at home, I taught myself to play pedals. I did so without looking, right from the word go. I practised until I could play any note from a standing start. Then went on to root and fifths, root and fourths, and finally pedal scales and arpeggios (good fun on 13 notes!). That was a heck of a lot of pedal practice and I didn't do much else on the organ that week. I'm not sure if I'd recommend that approach to my students, though.

I played as many different organs as I could, both pipe and electronics, with pedalboards of all shapes and sizes, and made sure that I could do the same things on those instruments.

Over the course of a month or two, I got the hang of things and have never had an issue since. I find I can adapt to a different pedalboard very quickly, even some of the rather quirky English pipe organs that aren't built to any recognised standard.

[jbird604]

I think you did a good thing, Andy, to concentrate on the pedals from the start. Not a bad idea for a beginning organ student, even though few teachers would actually spend that much time on the pedals at the beginning.

But your early study obviously paid off in making you thoroughly confident on all kinds of pedals, which is another skill many of us lack.

[Larrytow]

I guess since I started my musical training on an organ ( a spinet Wurlitzer ), playing the pedals was always involved. My first teacher had a saying that sticks in my mind even today yet : Pedal Peekers are Poopy Players. And she was adamant about that issue ! Thanks to her insistence on that point right from the start, playing just about any pedalboard is now second nature to me.

However, like others here, when I have to play a piano ( never had a piano lesson in my life ) I really miss having pedals. I get comments all the time about my feet moving when I am playing a piano, but it is so ingrained that I have a hard time not doing it.

[timnc]

I'm in my 50s and just started learning organ a year ago. The pedals are not my biggest challenge. Although proper classical technique is a work in progress as I struggle to keep my knees together and the ankles on closer intervals. I find the hardest thing to be the manuals: finger substitutions and repeated notes. I know I'm probably preaching to the choir, but the right shoes are so very important. I started with organ shoes and glad I made the investment--cheaper than one month of lessons! I see some folks wearing regular flats or even in their socks. I've been lazy to go get my shoes and tried it without them and it didn't take long for me to get off my bench to get them. I can certainly understand the challenge of trying it without them, but I would hope that teachers would insist on actual organ shoes with suede soles and a good heel.

[myorgan]

Amen! I couldn't have said it better myself.

Welcome to the Forum, and I hope you continue participating here in future years!

Michael

[ChristopherDB113]

Those shoes are a good investment and can last a long time. I only have one pair, and that is the same pair I bought when I started taking lessons in the mid 90's.

I think that taller people, or rather ones with longer legs can do better in socks. I'm average height, or maybe a bit less, and need that low heel to hit pedals maybe halfway to either end from middle E.