Hi everyone,

I have a bit of a silly question, but first, a little background:

I'm a university student, and I play piano and guitar. I took lessons for piano for a couple of years (so, when I was quite a bit younger), but then hadn't played for about 5 years when I decided to pick it up again. A lot of things are coming back, and I'm pretty motivated when teaching myself, but some things aren't!

I've decided to learn a piece that I know is quite a bit above my level, but I've always been of the mind that if I set my mind to it and put in the time, I can do it. So, my question: part of this music seems to be physically impossible for me to play, so I'm thinking I must be reading it wrong. I noticed an "as before" comment for the pedal, and the sig. is "Led.". Would that be the pedal that holds the note you played when you pressed it, but not anything after that? If so, the music is still hard, but a little more possible :D I can't seem to find this info anywhere.

So, my simple and silly question that I'm a bit embarrassed to ask; what is the terminology used in the sheet music for which pedal?

Thanks in advance for any help anyone can give me!

Michelle

Yes, that "L" in "Led." is probably just a fancy "P".

Ahh, thanks for your help. Unfortunately, it has raised another question!

You're right, upon looking closer at my music, that is certianly a fancy "P" for "Ped."

But, in that case, I'm thinking it is actually impossible for me to play this piece I wanted to post a little screen capture, but it's not allowed, so I'll do my best to describe what I'm having trouble with.

Basically, in the bass clef, there's a couple of low notes that are to be held for the entire bar. Meanwhile, still in the bass clef, there's a little trilling piece to be played at the same time, an octave and a half higher. The right hand is completely busy doing its own thing, so I can't figure out a way to do this without having three hands if that "Ped." is talking about the right pedal. Any ideas?

Thanks again for the replies,

Michelle

Hey Michelle

You don't have three hands? Eew, freaky

This might be a silly question too, but are you sure that piece isn't arranged to be played on the organ?
Then it would make sense, since then you can sustain those bottom notes working the multiple peddles you have.

And also, the order of the peddles sometimes differs from piano to piano.
Some have three peddles, while most only have two.
And sometimes the una corda is situated on the left, while, like on mine (since my piano has three peddles), it's in the middle.

My point is, you shouldn't always strictly go by what is written on the sheets but figure out what works on your instrument.


<Added>

With PEDDLE I obviously meant PEDAL.

I'm so thick sometimes it's not funny anymore.

Thank you everyone for your replies!

Yes, I do have three pedals on my piano, so I'm sure (I hope) that this will be the solution. I wasn't sure, because I'm living in a different city from home at the moment, and only have a small keyboard with no pedals to experiment with.

Once again, thanks for helping me out I can't wait to get back at this piece once I go home, and see what I can do with it!