Piano Teacher NJ Reveals Secrets of Great Sustaining Pedal Techniques


Barbara Ehrlich Piano Studio is pleased to announce the release of guidelines to using the sustaining pedal for Romantic period compositions and beyond. The informative article includes tips on chord structure, suggested improvements to score marks for the modern piano, and pedaling techniques to emphasize bass or treble notes.

The article highlights Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata as an example of Romantic period pedaling techniques. Revealed is the secret to unlocking the mystery of Beethoven's entire first movement on the contemporary piano. Pianists learn tips on:

  1. Rhythmic pedaling
  2. Silence pedaling
  3. Third pedal technique
  4. Half pedaling

Piano students learn the secret of how to create what Beethoven himself called the "voice from a vault." On the modern piano, the results are hopelessly muddied. But with this guide to proper use of the sustaining pedal, pianists can accomplish the same sound that the great Romantic composers created with earlier instruments.

Barbara Ehrlich, owner of New Jersey Piano Lessons, comments, "Composers opened out the chords, playing their notes successively instead of simultaneously, and used the sustaining pedal to sustain what could not be stretched by a single hand. Piano music was completely changed forever from this single pianoforte innovation."

The in-depth article demonstrates the differences in effects upon treble and bass from sustaining pedal techniques, including “thinning out” the resonance to clarify the tones of the notes. Included are exciting revelations about chord structures and composition architecture of the period.

“Two basic types of chords evolved to accompany pedaling,” says Ehrlich. “By understanding the use of these chords in harmonic structure, the power of playing Romantic music is unleashed.”

About Barbara Ehrlich Piano Studio

Barbara Ehrlich Piano Studio is a Somerset County private piano teacher partnership based in Bedminster, NJ with a roster of current young piano students that includes a broad array of student ages, cultures and backgrounds. The newly formed Barbara Ehrlich Piano Studio works closely with parents to oversee and coordinate music activities in a variety of areas, including piano lessons, practice, theory and sight-reading.