i find it hard to believe there is no use of the pedal in the entire piece until measures 18 and 19. i guess all the pianists i hear play it really have that good legato to emulate such connection, but there are some jumps that seem impossible to play legato to me.

i thought people might pedal in between some of the chord changes and just not smear any of the sound with the pedal.


like for example this part in the left hand is too great of a span for me to link the intervals in a legato fashion. ive read that some people just say use the right hand, but id rather not have to resort to doing so if at all possible. -_-

If your hands can't reach that interval, but you can use your right-hand to emulate the same sound... why wouldn't you?

I see no other reason not to other than laziness.

well because some of those spans would be hard for anyone to reach except those with very large hands, thus, leading me to believe that wasn't the intention. it wouldn't make any sense to write the music in a fashion that it is written if it was meant to be played with the right hand in my opinion (i am not very experienced so i am not really sure when mixing hands does come into play). but some of the videos ive watched that show peoples hands for this particular piece apply the bass clef section only for their left hand.

the only good one i could find was of evgeny kissin and it looked to me as if he was using the pedal like i thought, but, i couldn't see well enough to really make the decision.

and from what ive read of chopin he had fairly average sized hands which also leads me to believe using the right hand in that manner wasn't the intension.

its not laziness, but rather, i want to make sure if i attempt to start perfecting the piece i play it in a manner that is considered the standard and acceptable way to play it because ive had a few experiences in which i started making my own decisions with pieces and teachers have commented on certain passages saying something along the lines of playing it with that type of technique is bad form.

Actually, Chopin had slightly-smaller than average hands - not much, but just slight. Liszt had average hands barely reaching a tenth.

My hands aren't huge - ninths are great, tenths are okay, elevenths are a stretch. Pretty average. I'd play this left-hand only in the bass, right-hand in the treble, but that's because it fits under my fingers as such.

There is no WRONG approach to fingering, especially when it comes to legato, so long as there is no tension or unnecessary motion. In this case - your case - if you can't reach it, I see no problem with using your right hand to aid. You will probably have to work on the balance so the thumb doesn't ring over the other notes, but if you can't make it work with just your left-hand, don't use the pedal to overcome that.

The pedal doesn't equal legato.

Do you have a teacher right now?

yeah i do, but she will just look at me and say, "you are not quite ready for this yet." which i do respect but i have to explore a little bit of chopin from time to time because i love his music so much it always keeps me practicing harder and harder.

i guess ill ask her monday.

i don't use the pedal when it isn't noted, i have been scolded plenty of times for not observing the score and staying as true to it as humanly possible, but in this instance, my instincts tell me there is something strange i am not seeing regarding the technical aspects of this piece.

She may be right. There are quite a few things I'd have a student learn before attempting this piece. Technically, this piece isn't *that* difficult*. Musically is another story, but that's not what's in question here.

If you want to explore Chopin, I'd recommend asking your teacher to assign you an easier piece of his. I'm not sure of your level, but there are quite a few at the intermediate-level.

Most composers do not explicitly indicate exact pedaling in their scores, but largely leave that for the performer (just like few composers add fingerings to their scores). For many pieces, the pedaling may change from one performance to the next depending on the particular piano, the room in which you are playing, and your evolving conception of how the piece should sound. As Cortot once said about this very Chopin Prelude (Op. 28, No. 2): "The use of the pedals in this piece, and particularly of the sustaining pedal, cannot possibly, in our opinion, be indicated exactly."

zYe, can you record and listen to your playing? That is an excellent form of feedback. If you can play it so it sounds right, does it really matter how you make that sound?

Ok, ii, unleash the hounds on me...

The pros do use pedal on this prelude.

Here's a good example

That's Pawel Wakarecy from the last Chopin competition. Watch closely and you can see his foot pumping up and down. In some of the closeups you can see the dampers on the grand piano going up and down. You can't really tell how subtle the pedal is, or exactly what he is doing, but he is using it frequently. You can also see his hands if that will help you...

It's not marked in the music - so what? Exact pedal markings are rare.

And another thing - that archive from the Chopin competition is a great resource for people learning Chopin pieces. They won't show up in a youtube search. The video above has a lot of the easier preludes in it that we all aspire to play.

Sam

ok thats what i thought. thanks.

The question isn't necessarily whether pedal is appropriate for this piece or not (which I think it is, at discretion), but how to accurately create something legato.

The idea is, when you're practicing this piece - or any - you want to play it WITHOUT THE PEDAL AT FIRST. Make things as legato as possible where required. Later on, add the pedal.

No hounds That's good advice. If one simply can't get the legato any way, then the pedal will do. But that doesn't mean alternatives shouldn't be tried - especially because one person is saying it is bad technique, when it isn't.