The baroque piece I'll be playing on my exam will be Fiocco's Suite in G Major op. 1, no. 1, mvmt. 11 (not my videos, I couldn't find the sheet music online, sorry):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHyCKer8RXA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSXL9anofpw

I'm having a lot of trouble playing the chords in the left hand legato, especially where the chord repeats, so my teacher and I are debating whether to pedal or not. She heard me play the piece with pedal, lifting at least once on every eighth note, and without pedal where there are triplets or ornaments on the right hand. I think my teacher doesn't mind if it weren't an exam piece.

If you were the examiner and heard me pedal this piece just enough to make the LH chords not sound so detached, would you scrutinize me for pedaling?


P.s. Is it just me, or do all classical music videos on YouTube seem to be getting a rating of 0.5 out of 5...?

I'd say yes to pedal. Never heard of the composer, though.

I would as an evaluator not mind the pedal depending on how it is applied. As pedal is not usually applied in Baroque Music it would have to really be done well and sparse so that it did not give a pedal sound. The piece needs to be kept clean. But it is really subjective to the evaluator. Some are very hard core you never! play a pedal with a Baroque piece no matter how clean and sparse you add it. So you really have to ask your evaluator to know for sure and of course that is impossible. It is a gamble. Hope you do well.

As a judge, I would never criticize based on the choice of whether or not to pedal, I would criticize based on how well that choice was executed. If you pedal, then it needs to be clean, not muddy the melody, and provide a smooth connection to the LH chords. If you don't pedal, then the detached chords need to all have the same articulation, same length, and same tone. The RH will also need to be carefully articulated with the fingers (legato observed where needed, slurs and staccatos all in their right places.)

This is very true. When my students use pedal in Bach, they sometimes get comments like "You need to make the piano sound like a harpsichord" or "No pedal in Bach."

My take is, if you play Baroque music on a modern grand piano, you should use everything (including all three pedals!) to your advantage. There are some Baroque pieces that, when you toy around with the sostenuto pedal, will create an organ effect that's not available to the harpsichord or clavichord.

I also think you should pedal. You might want to experiment with half-pedaling, 3/4 pedal and 1/4 pedal to see if more or less than just full pedal would be best here. Since you have no idea if you are going to get an adjudicator who approves or one who disapproves of use of pedal here, you should just go with your personal convictions and be ready to defend them. They may even ask why you used pedal, and if you can provide a good reason (i.e., so that the LH chords would sound legato) then that might work to your favor. It's when someone does something without any conviction as to why they're doing it (because my teacher told me, for example) that it works against you.

Does it depend on how "purist" the evaluator is?

I once heard an adjudicator at MENC solo contest for instruments remark to the listeners in the room, as well as to the student and the piano accompanist that Baroque music is not played with piano pedal. He was making a point because this performers' Handel was not played according to the period.

When accompanying solo instruments I often sat in on adjudications to hear what the judges comments were in general. I have also done that in voice contests over the years. It all adds up to more knowledge about adjudicators expectations. Stylistic concerns were mentioned quite frequently as well as all the other things the evaluation pertains to. In these adjudications there were oral comments and written comments, the comments I'm referring to were aural.

Question: Have you played on the piano you will be using for your exams before, or will this be a one shot opportunity? And, do you get practice time on it before playing? That might be a consideration for what you decide to do - instruments can be peculiar sometimes.

I pedal in Bach, but I try to use the pedal in a subtle way. I call it "cheating" pedal --- my students love that! I use it only to smooth over little inconsistencies that wouldn't be noticeable on a harpsichord, but which may be glaring on a piano.

Students tend to pedal too deeply. Remember, the farther down you press the pedal, the farther up it must come to change. You should only press it down far enough to engage.

I'll be doing the RCM exam. It's been 10 years since my last exam so I don't know how it is now but iirc, we just play, they judge, and we get our mark later, so I'm not sure if I get a chance to say anything at all about our performance.

I've been experimenting with different ways of pedaling this piece. Currently, I'm pedalling only between the two notes in the RH that immediately precede each chord in the LH and the note on the RH melody that is played on beat with the chord, accounting for ornaments. I still have time before the exam, so I'll try to prepare two versions - one with pedal and one without - and ask the examiner which they prefer.

Thank you for your advice and good wishes!