A Study of Pedaling in Piano Performance with a Review of Pedagogy in Iranian Academic Education

Many resources in the field of piano pedagogy have been accumulated and translated in Iran. However, the concept of piano pedaling has been neglected to some extent. In this research, pedaling pedagogy in Iranian tertiary level education is examined and practical solutions to enhance the quality of piano pedagogy are suggested in accordance to the cited research. According to music scholars in Iran, insufficient understanding of pedaling results in the ineffective usage of piano pedals. Sometimes students employ the pedal signs in the edited and original versions of the pieces, yet correct and artistic use of pedals depends on the knowledge of musical styles and ability to hear the complexities that piano pedals can produce in tone and color. In this research, the participant observation approach examines piano pedagogy in Iranian higher education specifically on the usage of the damper pedal. Data gathered from interviews with piano instructors and students from Art University of Tehran, are compared to international master classes, in order to track the positive and negative points on piano pedagogy in Iran. The conclusive analysis of the data reveals that the weakness of pedaling pedagogy in Iran is mainly influenced by two factors. Firstly, the hearing ability of the students is not well developed. This could be due to the fact that the ear training courses at the universities are not well programmed to enhance the ability of hearing the sound of the piano pedal intently. No actual relationship is taken into consideration between the piano performance courses and ear training. In this research using different examples and case studies adopted from Western pedagogic texts we demonstrate the significance of having trained hearing in a proper and artistic pedaling technique. The second issue is that, many pedagogical and analytical texts of pedaling in piano performance have been neglected by translators and those engaged in gathering musical texts. In Western literature there are many sources that discuss a “pianistic” approaches to compositions, in very well-organized study of pedaling technique from the composers’ point of view or from the performer’s experiences. The existence of these sources is not known to many scholars in tertiary education in Iran. Not being familiar with these texts, many students apply incomplete pedaling signs in musical scores for suggestions on using the pedals. In this research, the main ideas of great performers, composers and piano pedagogues, from analysis of piano performance and use of pedals are introduced. Practical solutions on promoting piano pedagogy in Iranian music academies with respect to the use of the damper pedal are suggested. Through this study it will be made clear that a deep knowledge of the stylistic feature of a composer and a mature hearing ability are the essential keys to an artistic usage of the damper pedal.