What Does the Middle Pedal Do? (MIRACLE IN A BOX Sostenuto Demo)

[RastaGirl331]

Great vid thanks! with uprights you can see what the middle pedal does by just looking into the top, but I couldn't figure it out with a grand! so Thank you! Also, love the haircut and the shoes, very classy ;)

[thedirtymeatball]

yellow funny haircut and bowling shoes!!! lmao

[ROMANTICLOVE09]

I always wondered how and why that pedal is used. Thanks for the educational lesson! Great playin, too!! Piano sounds flawless!!

[mikeb1444]

His demo of the sostenuto pedal, before he played the the george gershwin tune is really a good demo now that I watched this video again.

[tdskate]

Awesome! That little one-hand-demo is great for learning to work with the sustenuto pedal !

[Cyrix166]

What a goofy mother fucker

[nonagona3]

Finally found the song! It's Swanee by George Gershwin

[orangeoranges11]

@nonagona3 thank you SO much for finding that! :D

[nonagona3]

Yes what is that song? I can't seem to find it anywhere else :(

[orangeoranges11]

What's the song at the end? It's awesome! :3

[StarsAreForStaring]

*LIKE*

[chak1o1star]

Thank you SO much for explaining the middle pedal, it's been bothering me for a very long time...

[JakaAce]

/!\ This is only available for grand piano /!\

[Keeper1st]

@JakaAce Yamaha uprights also have a working sostenuto. Somehow they managed to figure out how to do it in an upright!

[mikeb1444]

@Keeper1st

Is that for the acoustic ones, or the digital ones that look like uprights.

[Keeper1st]

@mikeb1444 Their acoustic uprights. I would hope that the digital ones, if they had a middle pedal, would also emulate a proper sostenuto. I don't recall seeing a digital piano with three pedals, but it's been a while since I've seen a digital piano.

[mikeb1444]

@Keeper1st

I've been looking for a Piano with a sostenuto since my 1950's Story and Clark console doesn't have one. I swore to myself I'd never own a digital one though.... By the way. How's Tom doing?

[Keeper1st]

@mikeb1444 Ah, well then at least you know that the Yamahas have one. I think I heard that new Steinway uprights do now also, but I've never seen one. I can vouch for the Yamahas though as I have played around with the sostenuto on a couple of them. Tom's doing OK I guess. Saw him a month ago. He turned 40 a little over a week ago. Years ago he had said something about the world coming to end if that ever happened, but somehow we're still here...

[mikeb1444]

@Keeper1st

Hmmm. Now if the una corda works, I just might be getting a piano for the holidays :)

Thanks for the reply!

[Keeper1st]

@mikeb1444 Hmm, I can't remember if the soft pedal works properly or is a typical upright action of just moving closer to the strings. I'd think if they managed to make a sostenuto system work on their upright, they should have been able to make the left pedal work properly too.

[nousernamewhatsoever]

How come that in my piano the middle pedal only dampens the sound?doesn't all pianos have the sostenuto pedal?

[dberry02jr]

Wow! This video was incredibly useful! Thanks a lot for the upload!

@nousernamewhatsoever

Wiki says, "On other uprights, the middle pedal is a practice pedal (with a locking option) which makes the sound extremely quiet beyond the standard soft pedal. This is often achieved by dropping a felt cloth between the hammers and the strings when the practice pedal is depressed."

So your piano has a different middle petal. Yours is not a true sostenuto petal.

[jfandris]

Played the piano 70 years and never knew this! Thanks.

[Podnos00]

Could you make a video,where will be showed,how to use sustain pedal?

[Wombat1420]

Thank you so much for posting this! This is exactly what I was looking for, and your demonstration was great!

[theironfreak]

This is IMPRESSIVE.

[trishafisha]

This film is playing at the California Independent Film Festival in Orinda, CA, on Saturday, April 23, 2010, 11:00am. It's been nominated for Best Documentary at this film festival, and in fact, won the Audience Choice Award for Best Short Film at the San Luis Obispo film festival in March.

[deltaq84]

wow thanks a lot!

[haakonsb]

what is the name of the piece he is playing?

[bsgs98]

@haakonsb He's playing George Gershwin's "Swanee"

[haakonsb]

thanks! I think it is great. Wish my piano had a Sostenuto pedal so I could learn it! My midle pedal only dampens the sound. Love Gershwins piano concerto by the way!

[haakonsb]

what is the name of the piece he is playing?

[mrmikerotch]

...and the one on the left is the clutch.

[noMartennoparty]

nice shoes!!!

[keiran110]

not the best toupè but great video and pretty nice playing

[Keeper1st]

@keiran110 Definitely not the best toupée, since it's not a toupée.

[RWBHere]

A picture paints a thousand words - and a video is a gallery of pictures.

Thank-you for posting this one.

[coutureorganist]

well done!!

[didzhus]

Latvian composer Lūcija Garūta has discovered 4 properties for sostenuto pedal or as she has called that - 3rd long-sound pedal.

In my profile you can listen to 2 of that pieces.

If you're interested more you may ask.

[KawhackitaRag]

Great video!

Actually the sostenuto is only found in most grands and very very few uprights. Cheap grands (and many uprights) have a bass sustain pedal that is a "poor man's" sostenuto and isn't nearly as useful. (it does work well in certain "stride piano" situations however).

In some uprights, such as the two here at home, the middle pedal brings down an effect rail to change or modify the tone of the piano. In one, it is felt muffler, in the other, it is a mandolin rail.

[KawhackitaRag]

Of course in some of the cheapest uprights (such as the one in our garage), the middle pedal doesn't do a darn thing, and never did! It was just for show, as an imaginary "selling point".

[KawhackitaRag]

However, the number of piano pedals, and their function, is usually irrelevant if you are picking a piano to buy. (many fine European pianos only have two pedals, anyway)

What is far more important is the quality of the instrument itself, and I highly recommend getting the SECOND EDITION of Art Reblitz's excellent book "Piano Servicing, Tuning, and Rebuilding". Which has a nice tutorial, a few chapters in, on how to tell a good-quality piano from a poor-quality one.

[ciararavenblaze]

hmm, thanks for this video--I've played with the middle pedal before, but never knew how it was supposed to be used.

[Keeper1st]

Ha! I was thinking that we should make a video of Frederick demonstrating his fancy footwork on the piano! Great!