Pedalboard - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

A pedalboard is a keyboard

Musical keyboard

A musical keyboard is the set of adjacent depressible levers or keys on a musical instrument, particularly the piano. Keyboards typically contain keys for playing the twelve notes of the Western musical scale, with a combination of larger, longer keys and smaller, shorter keys that repeats at the...

played with the feet that is usually used to produce the low-pitched bass line of a piece of music. A pedalboard has long, narrow lever-style keys laid out in the same semitone scalar pattern as a manual keyboard

Musical keyboard

, with longer keys for C, D, E, F, G, A and B, and shorter, higher keys for C#, D#, F#, G# and A#. Training in pedal technique is part of standard organ pedagogy in church music and art music.

Pedalboards are found at the base of the console

Organ console

thumb|right|250px|The console of the [[Wanamaker Organ]] in the Macy's department store in [[Philadelphia]], featuring six manuals and colour-coded stop tabs....

of most pipe organ

Pipe organ

The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurized air through pipes selected via a keyboard. Because each organ pipe produces a single pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called ranks, each of which has a common timbre and volume throughout the keyboard compass...

s, theatre organ

Theatre organ

A theatre organ is a pipe organ originally designed specifically for imitation of an orchestra. New designs have tended to be around some of the sounds and blends unique to the instrument itself....

s, and electronic organ

Electronic organ

An electronic organ is an electronic keyboard instrument which was derived from the harmonium, pipe organ and theatre organ. Originally, it was designed to imitate the sound of pipe organs, theatre organs, band sounds, or orchestral sounds....

s. Standalone pedalboards such as the 1970s-era Moog Taurus

Moog Taurus

The Moog Taurus is a foot-operated analog synthesizer designed and manufactured by Moog Music from 1974 or 1975 to 1981. Commonly called the Taurus I, it has a 13-note organ-style pedal board similar to the pedal keyboard of a spinet organ.-History:...

bass pedals

Bass pedals

Bass pedals are an electronic musical instrument with foot-operated pedal keyboard with a range of one or more octaves. The earliest bass pedals from the 1970s consisted of a pedalboard and analog synthesizer tone generation circuitry packaged together as a unit...

are occasionally used in progressive rock

Progressive rock

Progressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...

and fusion music. In the 21st century, MIDI pedalboard controllers are used with synthesizers, electronic Hammond-style organs

Clonewheel organ

"Clonewheel organ" is a jargon term used to refer to an electronic musical instrument that emulates the sound of the electromechanical tonewheel-based organs formerly manufactured by Hammond. The first generation of clonewheel organs used synthesizer voices, which were not able to accurately...

, and with digital pipe organs. Pedalboards are also used with pedal piano

Pedal piano

The pedal piano is a kind of piano that includes a pedalboard, enabling bass register notes to be played with the feet, as is standard on the organ....

s and with some harpsichord

Harpsichord

A harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It produces sound by plucking a string when a key is pressed.In the narrow sense, "harpsichord" designates only the large wing-shaped instruments in which the strings are perpendicular to the keyboard...

s, clavichord

Clavichord

The clavichord is a European stringed keyboard instrument known from the late Medieval, through the Renaissance, Baroque and Classical eras. Historically, it was widely used as a practice instrument and as an aid to composition, not being loud enough for larger performances. The clavichord produces...

s, and carillon

Carillon

A carillon is a musical instrument that is typically housed in a free-standing bell tower, or the belfry of a church or other municipal building. The instrument consists of at least 23 cast bronze, cup-shaped bells, which are played serially to play a melody, or sounded together to play a chord...

s (church bells).

13th century to 16th century

The first use of pedals on a pipe organ

Pipe organ

grew out of the need to hold bass drone notes, to support the polyphonic musical styles that predominated in the Renaissance. Indeed, the term pedal point

Pedal point

In tonal music, a pedal point is a sustained tone, typically in the bass, during which at least one foreign, i.e., dissonant harmony is sounded in the other parts. A pedal point sometimes functions as a "non-chord tone", placing it in the categories alongside suspensions, retardations, and passing...

, which refers to a prolonged bass tone under changing upper harmonies, derives from the use of the organ pedalboard to hold sustained bass notes. These earliest pedals were wooden stubs nicknamed "mushrooms" which were placed at the height of the feet. These pedals, which used simple pulldowns connected directly to the manual keys, are found in organs dating to the 13th century. The pedals on French organs were composed of short stubs of wood projecting out of the floor which were mounted in pedalboards that could be either flat or tilted. Organists were unable to play anything but simple bass lines or slow-moving plainsong

Plainsong

Plainsong is a body of chants used in the liturgies of the Catholic Church. Though the Eastern Orthodox churches and the Catholic Church did not split until long after the origin of plainchant, Byzantine chants are generally not classified as plainsong.Plainsong is monophonic, consisting of a...

melodies on these short stub-type pedals. Organist E. Power Biggs

E. Power Biggs

Edward George Power Biggs , more familiarly known as E. Power Biggs, was a British-born American concert organist and recording artist.-Biography:...

, in the liner notes for his album Organs of Spain noted that "One can learn to play them, but fluent pedal work is impossible".

There were two approaches used for the accidental

Accidental (music)

In music, an accidental is a note whose pitch is not a member of a scale or mode indicated by the most recently applied key signature. In musical notation, the symbols used to mark such notes, sharps , flats , and naturals , may also be called accidentals...

notes (colloquially referred to as the "black" notes). The first approach can be seen in the 1361 Halberstadt organ, which uses shorter black keys which are placed above the white keys. Other organs positioned the black keys on the same level and depth as the white keys. The first pedal keyboards only had three or four notes. Eventually, organ designers augmented this range by using eight notes, an approach now called a "short octave" keyboard, because it does not include accidental notes such as C#, D#, F#, G#, and A#. The 17th-century north German organ builder Arp Schnitger

Arp Schnitger

Arp Schnitger was a highly influential German organ builder. He was primarily active in Northern Europe, especially the Netherlands and Germany, where a number of his instruments survive to the present day; his organs can also be found as far away as Portugal and Brazil.Notable examples still in...

used an F# and G# in the lowest octave of the manuals and pedal keyboards, but not a C# and D# . From the 16th to 18th centuries, short octave keyboards were also used in the lowest octave of upper manual keyboards.

By the 14th century, organ designers were building separate windchests for the pedal division, to supply the pipes with the large amount of wind that bass notes need to speak. These windchests were often built into tall structures called "organ towers." Until the 15th century, most pedal keyboards only triggered the existing Hauptwerk pipes already used by the upper manual keyboards. Beginning in the 15th century, some organ designers began giving pedal keyboards their own set of pipes and stops. In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the pedal division usually consisted of a few 8' ranks and a single 16' rank. By the early 17th century, pedal divisions became more complex, with a richer variety of pipes and tones. Nevertheless, the pedal division was usually inconsistent from one country to another.

17th century to 18th century

By the beginning of the 17th century, organ designers began to give pedalboards on large organs a larger range, encompassing twenty-eight to thirty notes. As well, German organ designers began to use longer, narrower pedals, with a wider space between the pedals. By this point, most pedals were given a smoother lever-action by including a fulcrum at the back of each pedal. These design changes allowed performers to play more complex, fast-moving pedal lines. This gave rise to the dramatic pedal solos found in German organ works from composers from the Lutheran Organ School, such as J.S. Bach. In Bach's organ music the cantus firmus

Cantus firmus

In music, a cantus firmus is a pre-existing melody forming the basis of a polyphonic composition.The plural of this Latin term is , though the corrupt form canti firmi is also attested...

melody, which is usually a hymn tune

Hymn tune

A hymn tune is the melody of a musical composition to which a hymn text is sung. Musically speaking, a hymn is generally understood to have four-part harmony, a fast harmonic rhythm , and no refrain or chorus....

, is often performed in the pedal, using a reed stop to make it stand out.

Several sources, including an encyclopedia on the organ, claim that the pedalboard design improvements of the 17th century allowed the organist to actuate the pedals either with the toe of the foot or with the heel. However, organist Ton Koopman

Ton Koopman

Ton Koopman is a conductor, organist and harpsichordist.Koopman had a "classical education" and then studied the organ , harpsichord and musicology in Amsterdam...

argues that
"Bach's complete oeuvre [can be played] with the pedal technique of his time, in other words without the use of the heel." Koopman claims that in "Bach's day toe and heel pedalling was not yet known, as is evident from his organ works, in which all the pedal parts can be played with the toe." Interestingly, what evolved as "German" pedal technique in the late eighteenth and early 19th century promoted heel-and-toe pedaling, while the "French" style was predicated on "toe only" pedal technique.

In the 17th century and 18th century, pedalboards were rare in England. A critic for the New York Times in 1895 argued that this may explain why Handel's published organ works are generally lighter-sounding than those of J.S. Bach. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the pedal part of organ music was rarely given its own staff. Instead, the organ part would be put into two staves, which were mostly used for the upper and lower manual parts. When the composer wanted a part to be played with the pedal keyboard, they marked "Pedal", "Ped.", or simply "P". Often these signs were omitted entirely, and the player would have to decide if the range of all the parts or the lowest part was appropriate for the pedal keyboard. This lack of specification is in keeping with many other aspects of Baroque musical performance practice, such as the use of improvised chords by organists and harpsichord players in the figured bass

Figured bass

Figured bass, or thoroughbass, is a kind of integer musical notation used to indicate intervals, chords, and non-chord tones, in relation to a bass note...

tradition and the use of improvised ornaments by solo singers and instrumentalists.

19th century to 20th century

In the late 1820s, the pedalboard was still fairly unfamiliar in the UK. In the organ at the Church of St James at Bermondsey in 1829, "a finger [manual] keyboard was added for those unable to play with their feet." If an organist was performing a piece with a pedal part, "an assistant was needed to play the bottom line of the finger keyboard, offset on the bass side of the console." In 1855 in England, Henry Willis patented a concave design for the pedalboard which also radiated the ends keyboard outward and used longer keys, bringing the end keys closer to the performer. This design became widely used in the UK and in the US in the late 19th century, and by 1903, the American Guild of Organists (AGO) adopted it as their standard.

In the 19th century and early 20th century, the pedal division also underwent changes. The pedal divisions from the Baroque era had tended to include a small number of upper pedal stops, which allowed performers to perform higher-range melodies with the pedalboard. In the 19th century and early 20th century, organ designers removed most of the upper pedal stops, and used pedal divisions which were dominated by 8' and 16' stops. This design change, which coincided with the musical trend for music with a deep, rich bass part, meant that the pedalboard was used mainly for the performance of bass parts.

By the mid-19th century, the pedal part of organ music was increasingly given its own staff, which meant that organ music began being printed in three-stave systems (upper manual, lower manual, and pedal keyboard). Whereas early organ composers left the way that pedal keyboard lines were played to the discretion of the player, in the later 19th century, composers began indicating suggested foot usage.

In addition to indicating whether the left or right foot should be used, symbols indicate whether the toe or heel of the foot should be used. The toe is indicated with a "^" symbol, while the heel is indicated with a "u" or "o" symbol. Symbols below notes call for the left foot, while symbols above notes indicate the right foot.

Swedish organist L. Nilson published a method for the pedal keyboard, the English translation of which was titled A System of Technical Studies in Pedal Playing for the Organ (Schirmer, 1904). Nilson lamented that it "...is a melancholy fact that only very few eminent organists since Bach's time have made it their business to lift pedal-playing out of its primitive confusion..." (page 1 of Preface). He argued that the great organ pedagogues such as Kittel and Abbe Vogler did not make any efforts to improve the "...system of playing on the pedals". Nilson makes one exception from this critique: the organ method of J. Lemmens, who he praises as having reformed pedal playing by introducing "...sound principles of execution" (page 2 of Preface). Nilson's pedal method includes scale and arpeggio studies, polyphonic studies with both feet playing in contrary motion, studies written in parallel octaves, and studies written in thirds.

1990s-2000s

In the 1990s, standalone electronic MIDI controller

MIDI controller

MIDI controller is used in two senses.*In one sense, a controller is hardware or software which generates and transmits MIDI data to MIDI-enabled devices....

pedalboards became widely available on the market. MIDI pedalboards do not produce any tones by themselves, and so they must be connected to a MIDI-compatible electronic keyboard or MIDI sequencer and an amplified loudspeaker to produce musical tones. In the 1990s and 21st century, some churches began using electronic-trigger equipped pedalboards for the 16' and 32' stops. The MIDI information from the electronic pedalboard sensors triggers pipe organ sounds from digital sound modules (e.g., Wicks CM-100, Ahlborn Archive Modules, or Walker Technical sound generation), which are then amplified and fed through loudspeakers.

These MIDI systems can be much less expensive than metal or wooden bass pipes, which are very costly to purchase and install, due to their heavy weight (up to one ton per pipe), large size, and need for large amounts of wind. Another rationale for using MIDI systems is that it may be easier to get a focused sound with a MIDI system, because all of the bass tone emanates from a single speaker or set of speakers. With traditional pipes, it can be difficult to give the pedal division a focused sound, because the large pipes tend to be spread out over the entire organ pipe chest.

This cost-saving measure has been the subject of controversy in the organ scene. Advocates of the use of MIDI pedal divisions argue that a good quality MIDI system will produce a better tone than an inexpensive set of bass pipes with money-saving "shortcuts" such as using stopped pipes and resultant

Resultant (organ)

In pipe organs, a resultant tone is the sound of a combination of organ pipes that allows the listener to perceive a lower pitch.This is done by having two pipes, one pipe of the note being played, and another harmonically related, typically at its fifth, being sounded at the same time...

tones to reduce the number of pipes that are needed. However, critics dislike the way that the use of MIDI pedal divisions blends electronically amplified lower voices with the natural, wind-driven upper ranks. Willi Apel and Peter Williams argue that by definition, an organ must make its sound by air flowing through pipes. Some critics argue that the bass tone from a MIDI pedal division, which comes from an amplified 12" subwoofer

Subwoofer

A subwoofer is a woofer, or a complete loudspeaker, which is dedicated to the reproduction of low-pitched audio frequencies known as the "bass". The typical frequency range for a subwoofer is about 20–200 Hz for consumer products, below 100 Hz for professional live sound, and below...

, is not as "natural" and "open-sounding" as the vibrations from a massive, wind-driven 32-foot pipe.

Keyboards

Pedalboards range in size from 13 notes on small spinet organs designed for in-home use (an octave, conventionally C2

Scientific pitch notation

Scientific pitch notation is one of several methods that name the notes of the standard Western chromatic scale by combining a letter-name, accidentals, and a number identifying the pitch's octave...

-C3) to 32 notes (two and a half octaves, C2-G4) on church or concert organs. Modern pipe organs typically have 30- or 32-note pedalboards, while some electronic organs and many older pipe organs have 25-note pedalboards.

Besides the number of pedals, the two main identifying aspects of a pedalboard are: (1) whether all the pedals are at the same height relative to the floor ["flat"], or whether the pedals in the middle are lower than those on the outer edges, forming a curved-in shape ["concave"], and (2) whether all the pedals are completely parallel to each other ["parallel"], or whether the pedals are closer together at the far end than at the end closest to the organ console ["radiating"]. Specifications vary by country, organ builder, era, and individual tastes.

Exact design specifications for pedalboards are published in Great Britain

Great Britain

Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

by the RCO

Royal College of Organists

The Royal College of Organists or RCO, is a charity and membership organisation based in the United Kingdom, but with members around the world...

, in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

by the AGO

American Guild of Organists

The American Guild of Organists, or AGO, is a national organization of academic, church, and concert organists in the U.S., headquartered in The Interchurch Center in New York City. It was founded in 1896 as both an educational and service organization...

(which requires a design similar to the RCO's), and in Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

by the BDO

Bund Deutscher Orgelbaumeister

The BDO , established in 1895, is a professional association of organ builders and related businesses located in Germany. Its membership currently includes over one hundred German workshops....

(which allows both 30- and 32-note pedalboards, of both concave/radiating and concave/parallel varieties).

Pedal division

In an organ with more than one keyboard, the stops and the ranks that the stops control are separated into different divisions, in which the ranks of pipes are grouped together so that they will make a "focused" or coherent sound. The pedal division, which is played from the pedal keyboard, usually includes more stops of 16' pitch. The sound of the pedal division is generally voiced so that the pedal division will complement the sound of the Great division. Common 16' stops found in the pedal division include the 16' Bourdon, the 16' Principal, and the 16' Trombone. Eight foot stops include the 8' Open Diapason. Pedal divisions may also include higher-register stops, such as the 4' Choral Bass or various mixtures. When pedal parts are performed, a 16' stop is usually paired with an 8' one to provide more definition. For pedal parts that need accentuation, such as the Cantus Firmus melody in a 17th century organ piece, many organs have a nasal-sounding reed stop in the pedal division, or a 4' Principal designated on the stop knob as "Choralbass".

A small number of pedalboards have a pedal divide system which enables the organist to split the pedal board at its mid-point. With this system, an organist can play a melody with the right foot and a bass part with the left foot.

Controls

In some organs, a wooden panel called a "kickboard" or "kneeboard" is installed above the pedalboard, between the pedals and the lowest manual keyboard. Expression pedals, coupler controls and toe studs (to activate stops or stop combinations) may be located on or set into the kickboard. Expression pedals are used to open and close shades or shutters that enclose the pipes of a given division. Combination pistons are used to make rapid stop changes from the console on organs with electric stop action. Toe studs are pistons that can be operated by the feet which change either the pedal stops or the entire organ.

In some organs, a "pedalboard check" mechanism is used as a safety catch, to shut off the pedalboard keys when it is engaged. The mechanism prevents the pedalboard notes from being accidentally sounded during a part of a performance which is only written for the upper manuals.

Repertoire

The works of Dutch

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

composer

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

, organist

Organist

An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ. An organist may play solo organ works, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumental soloists...

, and pedagogue Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck

Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck

Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck was a Dutch composer, organist, and pedagogue whose work straddled the end of the Renaissance and beginning of the Baroque eras. He was among the first major keyboard composers of Europe, and his work as a teacher helped establish the north German organ...

(1562–1621) contain the earliest example of an independent part for the pedal, rather than a sustained bass drone. His work straddled the end of the Renaissance

Renaissance music

Renaissance music is European music written during the Renaissance. Defining the beginning of the musical era is difficult, given that its defining characteristics were adopted only gradually; musicologists have placed its beginnings from as early as 1300 to as late as the 1470s.Literally meaning...

and beginning of the Baroque

Baroque music

Baroque music describes a style of Western Classical music approximately extending from 1600 to 1760. This era follows the Renaissance and was followed in turn by the Classical era...

eras, and he helped establish the north German organ tradition

German organ schools

The 17th century organ composers of Germany can be divided into two primary schools: the north German school and the south German school...

.

Dieterich Buxtehude

Dieterich Buxtehude

Dieterich Buxtehude was a German-Danish organist and composer of the Baroque period. His organ works represent a central part of the standard organ repertoire and are frequently performed at recitals and in church services...

(1637–1707), who was the most renowned composer of his time, was famous for his "virtuosity and innovation at the pedal board." The young Johann Sebastian Bach was influenced by Buxtehude, who used the pedal board "as a full-fledged keyboard and devot[ed] virtuoso passages to it." J.S. Bach used the pedal to perform the melody in works such as his setting of the Christmas hymn, In Dulci Jubilo

In Dulci Jubilo

In dulci jubilo is a traditional Christmas carol. In its original setting, the carol is a macaronic text of German and Latin dating from the Middle Ages. Subsequent translations into English, such as J.M...

, in which the main theme in the tenor voice is played in the pedal on a higher-pitched stop. Bach also wrote compositions that use the pedal for dramatic virtuoso displays of scales and figurated passage-work in preludes, toccatas, fantasias and fugues.

There are a small number of organ compositions that are written solely for the pedal keyboard. English organist and composer George Thalben-Ball

George Thalben-Ball

Sir George Thomas Thalben-Ball CBE was an organist and composer who, though originally from Australia, spent most of his life in Britain....

(1896–1987) wrote a piece entitled “Variations on a Theme by Paganini” for pedal keyboard. Based on Paganini's “Caprice No. 24”, a virtuoso work for solo violin, it includes pedal glissandi, leaps from one end of the pedalboard to the other, and four-note chords.

Firmin Swinnen

Firmin Swinnen

Firmin Swinnen was a Belgian theater organist who was noted for his organ improvisations during silent films in New York City.-Career:...

(1885–1972) was a Belgian organist who became famous in the US in the 1920s for his theater organ improvisations during silent film

Silent film

A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...

s. Swinnen wrote a pedal cadenza for an arrangement of Widor's

Charles-Marie Widor

Charles-Marie Jean Albert Widor was a French organist, composer and teacher.-Life:Widor was born in Lyon, to a family of organ builders, and initially studied music there with his father, François-Charles Widor, titular organist of Saint-François-de-Sales from 1838 to 1889...

Fifth Symphony
Symphony for Organ No. 5 (Widor)
The Symphony for Organ No. 5 in F minor, Op. 42, No. 1, was composed by Charles-Marie Widor in 1879. It lasts for about thirty-five minutes. Its Toccata is the best known of all of Widor's compositions.-Structure:The piece has five movements:# Allegro vivace...

. The cadenza was published separately by The American Organist. The publisher promoted the cadenza it as the "most daring, the most musical Pedal Cadenza obtainable"; this praise is corroborated by reviewers who were at the performance, who remarked at the complex footwork required by the work. The symphony was performed 29 times during the week of its premiere, to "...literally screaming audiences...who had never seen such a sight as an organist up on a lift [platform] in the spotlight playing with his feet alone".

Although the pedalboard is most frequently used for the bass part, composers from the 17th century to the present have often used it for higher parts as well. In his serene Le Banquet Céleste Olivier Messiaen

Olivier Messiaen

Olivier Messiaen was a French composer, organist and ornithologist, one of the major composers of the 20th century. His music is rhythmically complex ; harmonically and melodically it is based on modes of limited transposition, which he abstracted from his early compositions and improvisations...

places the tune, registered for 4' flute (and higher mutation ranks), in the pedals.

From the early 20th century composers have increasingly demanded an advanced pedal technique at the organ. Performers display their virtuosity in such works as Wilhelm Middelschulte

Wilhelm Middelschulte

Wilhelm Middelschulte was a German organist and composer who resided in America for most of his career.-Life:...

's Perpetuum mobile, Leo Sowerby

Leo Sowerby

Leo Sowerby , American composer and church musician, was the winner of the Pulitzer Prize for music in 1946, and was often called the “Dean of American church music” in the early to mid 20th century.-Biography:...

's Pageant (1931), and Jeanne Demessieux

Jeanne Demessieux

Jeanne Marie-Madeleine Demessieux , was a French organist, pianist, composer, and pedagogue.-Biography:...

's Six études, Op. 5 (1944), which recall the dramatic organ pedal solos of the Baroque era.

Pedal harpsichord

Pedal keyboards were developed for the clavichord

Clavichord

and harpsichord

Harpsichord

s during the Baroque era so that organists could practise the pedal parts of their organ repertoire when they had no-one available to work the bellows

Bellows

A bellows is a device for delivering pressurized air in a controlled quantity to a controlled location.Basically, a bellows is a deformable container which has an outlet nozzle. When the volume of the bellows is decreased, the air escapes through the outlet...

for a church organ or, in the wintertime, to avoid having to practice on a church organ in an unheated church. Johann Sebastian Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...

owned a pedal harpsichord and his organ trio sonatas BWV 525-530, Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor BWV 582, Toccata and Fugue in D minor BWV 565, and other works sound well when played on the instrument.

Pedal piano

The pedal piano

Pedal piano

The pedal piano is a kind of piano that includes a pedalboard, enabling bass register notes to be played with the feet, as is standard on the organ....

(or pedalier piano) is a kind of piano

Piano

The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...

that includes a pedalboard There are two types of pedal piano: the pedal board may be an integral part of the instrument, using the same strings and mechanism as the manual keyboard, or, less frequently, it may consist of two independent pianos (each with its separate mechanics and strings) which are placed one above the other, a regular piano played by the hands and a bass-register piano played by the feet. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...

owned a fortepiano

Fortepiano

Fortepiano designates the early version of the piano, from its invention by the Italian instrument maker Bartolomeo Cristofori around 1700 up to the early 19th century. It was the instrument for which Haydn, Mozart, and the early Beethoven wrote their piano music...

with independent pedals, built for him in 1785

1785 in music

-Events:*Composer Supply Belcher settles in Maine.*Violinist Regina Strinasacchi marries Johann Conrad Schlick, cellist & konzertmeister of the Gotha ducal band.*Joseph Haydn premieres the first of his Paris symphonies on commission from Count d'Ogny...

. Robert Schumann

Robert Schumann

Robert Schumann, sometimes known as Robert Alexander Schumann, was a German composer, aesthete and influential music critic. He is regarded as one of the greatest and most representative composers of the Romantic era....

had an upright pedal piano; his pedal keyboard had 29 notes. In the 21st century, pedal pianos are made in the Borgato workshop in Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

. The bass pedalboard has 37 notes (rather than the standard 30 or 32 on an organ).

Carillon

Some large carillon systems for playing church bells include a pedalboard for playing the lowest-pitched bells. Carillon pedal keys activate a pull-down coupler which visibly moves the keys of the manual clavier and heavy clappers for the largest bells. These keys resemble the "button keys" of very early organs, and are played only by the player's toes. Because this non-legato technique involves no sliding, shoes with leather soles are not required.

Jazz organ

After jazz organist Jimmy Smith

Jimmy Smith (musician)

Jimmy Smith was a jazz musician whose performances on the Hammond B-3 electric organ helped to popularize this instrument...

popularized the Hammond organ

Hammond organ

The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond in 1934 and manufactured by the Hammond Organ Company. While the Hammond organ was originally sold to churches as a lower-cost alternative to the wind-driven pipe organ, in the 1960s and 1970s it became a standard keyboard...

in jazz in the 1950s, many jazz pianists "... who thought that getting organ-ized would be a snap ..." realized that the Hammond "... B-3 required not only a strong left hand, but studied coordination on the foot pedals to create the strong and solid "jazz bass" feel." Jazz organists from more recent decades typically perform the bass line with their left hand on one of the keyboards, rather than by using the pedalboard. Organists who play the bassline on the lower manual may do short taps on the bass pedals – often on the tonic

Tonic (music)

In music, the tonic is the first scale degree of the diatonic scale and the tonal center or final resolution tone. The triad formed on the tonic note, the tonic chord, is thus the most significant chord...

of a tune's key and in the lowest register of the pedalboard – to simulate the low, resonant sound of a plucked upright bass string.

In popular music, the pedaling style may be more varied and idiosyncratic, in part because jazz or pop organists may be self-taught. As well, the pedaling styles may differ due to the design of electromechanical organs and spinet organs, many of which have shorter pedalboards that are designed to be played primarily with the left foot, so that the right foot can control a volume (swell) pedal.

Rock and Fusion

In the 1970s, some progressive rock

Progressive rock

groups such as Yes

Yes (band)

Yes are an English rock band who achieved worldwide success with their progressive, art, and symphonic style of rock music. Regarded as one of the pioneers of the progressive genre, Yes are known for their lengthy songs, mystical lyrics, elaborate album art, and live stage sets...

, Pink Floyd

Pink Floyd

Pink Floyd were an English rock band that achieved worldwide success with their progressive and psychedelic rock music. Their work is marked by the use of philosophical lyrics, sonic experimentation, innovative album art, and elaborate live shows. Pink Floyd are one of the most commercially...

, Genesis

Genesis (band)

Genesis are an English rock band that formed in 1967. The band currently comprises the longest-tenured members Tony Banks , Mike Rutherford and Phil Collins . Past members Peter Gabriel , Steve Hackett and Anthony Phillips , also played major roles in the band in its early years...

, Atomic Rooster

Atomic Rooster

Atomic Rooster were an English progressive rock band, composed of former members of the The Crazy World of Arthur Brown. Throughout their history, keyboardist Vincent Crane was the only constant member, and wrote the majority of their material. Their history is defined by two periods, in the early...

and Rush

Rush (band)

Rush is a Canadian rock band formed in August 1968, in the Willowdale neighbourhood of Toronto, Ontario. The band is composed of bassist, keyboardist, and lead vocalist Geddy Lee, guitarist Alex Lifeson, and drummer and lyricist Neil Peart...

used standalone Moog Taurus

Moog Taurus

bass pedalboards. Other groups, such as Led Zeppelin

Led Zeppelin

Led Zeppelin were an English rock band, active in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s. Formed in 1968, they consisted of guitarist Jimmy Page, singer Robert Plant, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham...

and Van Der Graaf Generator

Van der Graaf Generator

Van der Graaf Generator are an English progressive rock band, formed in 1967 in Manchester. They were the first act signed to Charisma Records. The band achieved considerable success in Italy during the 1970s...

used the bass pedals of the Hammond Organ

Hammond organ

in place of a bass guitar for several of their recordings, and for live performances.

Other users included metal and hard rock bands such as Yngwie Malmsteen, Styx

Styx (band)

Styx is an American rock band that became famous for its albums from the late 1970s and early 1980s. The Chicago band is known for melding the style of prog-rock with the power of hard rock guitar, strong ballads, and elements of American musical theater....

, and Francis Buchholz

Francis Buchholz

Francis Buchholz is a German bassist best known as a member of the rock/hard rock band, the Scorpions....

of the Scorpions

Scorpions (band)

Scorpions are a heavy metal/hard rock band from Hannover, Germany, formed in 1965 by guitarist Rudolf Schenker, who is the band's only constant member. They are known for their 1980s rock anthem "Rock You Like a Hurricane" and many singles, such as "No One Like You", "Send Me an Angel", "Still...

, and Justin Harris of Menomena

Menomena

Menomena are an indie rock band from Portland, Oregon, United States; currently made up of Justin Harris, Danny Seim and more recently Joe Haege of 31Knots and Tu Fawning...

. Ex-Genesis guitarist Steve Hackett

Steve Hackett

Stephen Richard Hackett is a British singer-songwriter and guitarist. He gained prominence as a member of the British progressive rock group Genesis, which he joined in 1970 and left in 1977 to pursue a solo career...

had a set mounted waist high which his brother, John Hackett

John Hackett (musician)

John Hackett is a British flautist, the younger brother of guitarist Steve Hackett. Although his primary instrument is the flute, he also plays guitar, bass and keyboards...

, used to play with his hands for the intro of Clocks - The Angel Of Mons from the album Spectral Mornings

Spectral Mornings

Spectral Mornings is the third release and the second post-Genesis album by guitarist Steve Hackett. This is also the first recording to feature Hackett's first true touring band consisting of his brother John Hackett on flute, guitar and bass pedals, long-time collaborator keyboardist Nick Magnus,...

. Adam Jones

Adam Jones (musician)

Adam Thomas Jones is a three time Grammy Award-winning Welsh-American musician and visual artist, best known for his position as the guitarist for Grammy-Award winning band Tool. Jones has been rated the 75th Greatest Guitarist of all time by the Rolling Stone and placed 9th in Guitar World's Top...

of Tool

Tool (band)

Tool is an American rock band from Los Angeles, California. Formed in 1990, the group's line-up has included drummer Danny Carey, guitarist Adam Jones, and vocalist Maynard James Keenan. Since 1995, Justin Chancellor has been the band's bassist, replacing their original bassist Paul D'Amour...

uses the Moog Taurus along with an Access Virus

Access Virus

The Access Virus is a virtual analog synthesizer made by the German company Access Music GmbH. It was first produced in 1997 and has since been upgraded frequently, with the company releasing new models about every two years. Early models include the Virus A, Virus B, and Virus C series, each...

B synth to trigger live effects. The keyboardist for the rock group Emerson, Lake & Palmer

Emerson, Lake & Palmer

Emerson, Lake & Palmer, also known as ELP, are an English progressive rock supergroup. They found success in the 1970s and sold over forty million albums and headlined large stadium concerts. The band consists of Keith Emerson , Greg Lake and Carl Palmer...

took this idea to its logical conclusion by performing all of the first movement, and part of the second of The Three Fates on the organ of Royal Festival Hall

Royal Festival Hall

The Royal Festival Hall is a 2,900-seat concert, dance and talks venue within Southbank Centre in London. It is situated on the South Bank of the River Thames, not far from Hungerford Bridge. It is a Grade I listed building - the first post-war building to become so protected...

in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

.

As well, some pop groups (e.g., The Police

The Police

The Police were an English rock band formed in London in 1977. For the vast majority of their history, the band consisted of Sting , Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland...

, Muse

Muse (band)

Muse are an English alternative rock band from Teignmouth, Devon, formed in 1994. The band consists of school friends Matthew Bellamy , Christopher Wolstenholme and Dominic Howard...

, U2

U2 are an Irish rock band from Dublin. Formed in 1976, the group consists of Bono , The Edge , Adam Clayton , and Larry Mullen, Jr. . U2's early sound was rooted in post-punk but eventually grew to incorporate influences from many genres of popular music...

) and fusion bands have used bass pedalboards to produce sounds in the bass range. They are most commonly used by keyboard players as an adjunct to keyboards, but can be played in combination with other instruments (e.g., by the bass guitar or electric guitar player), or by themselves.

Standalone pedalboards usually have a 13-note range and short pedals, which limits the types of basslines which can be performed to fairly simple passages. If the group's bass guitarist or electric guitarist is playing the pedalboard from a standing position, they could only use one foot at a time to play, which would further limit the types of passages which could be performed. The BASYN analog bass synthesizer is a 2 VCO

Voltage-controlled oscillator

A voltage-controlled oscillator or VCO is an electronic oscillator designed to be controlled in oscillation frequency by a voltage input. The frequency of oscillation is varied by the applied DC voltage, while modulating signals may also be fed into the VCO to cause frequency modulation or phase...

analog synthesizer

Analog synthesizer

An analog or analogue synthesizer is a synthesizer that uses analog circuits and analog computer techniques to generate sound electronically. The earliest analog synthesizers in the 1920s and 1930s such as the Trautonium were built with a variety of vacuum-tube and electro-mechanical technologies...

which uses a 13-note "button board". Instead of using organ pedalboard-style pedals, the player depresses momentary pushbutton switches. Another variant used in rock bands is a bass pedalboard in which the keyboard is laid out as a tabulature representation of part of the four strings of an electric bass guitar

Bass guitar

The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....

MIDI and synthesizer pedalboards

In the 1990s, standalone electronic MIDI controller

MIDI controller

MIDI controller is used in two senses.*In one sense, a controller is hardware or software which generates and transmits MIDI data to MIDI-enabled devices....

pedalboards became widely available. Unlike the Moog Taurus pedalboards, MIDI pedalboards do not produce any tones by themselves; they must be connected to a MIDI-compatible electronic keyboard or MIDI sequencer to produce musical tones. In jazz organ trio

Organ trio

An organ trio, in a jazz context, is a group of three jazz musicians, typically consisting of a Hammond organ player, a drummer, and either a jazz guitarist or a saxophone player. In some cases the saxophonist will join a trio which consists of an organist, guitarist, and drummer, making it a quartet...

s, a keyboardist using this type of pedalboard will usually connect it to a MIDI-compatible electronic Hammond organ-style keyboard

Clonewheel organ

. On modern electronic synthesizers such as the Yamaha

Yamaha

Yamaha may refer to:* Yamaha Corporation, a Japanese company with a wide range of products and services** Yamaha Motor Company, a Japanese motorized vehicle-producing company...

Electone

Electone is the trademark used for electronic organs produced by Yamaha.-History:After Hammond pioneered the electronic organ in the 1930s, other manufacturers began to market their own versions of the instrument...

, the pedals are not limited to traditional bass notes but may instead produce many different types of sounds, including high-register tones. MIDI pedalboards offer a range of features, depending on the price. Some MIDI pedalboards contain velocity-sensitive triggers, which allows a performer to use dynamics in their performance. MIDI pedalboards such as the 13-note Roland PK-5 include a row of MIDI toe switches above the pedal keyboard, to allow the performer to select preset tones or channels. Larger 25-note Roland pedalboards also include an expression pedal for controlling the volume or other parameters.

Some MIDI pedalboards are designed for the church pipe organ market, which means that they use AGO specifications such as a 32-note range. Most pipe organ-style MIDI pedalboards are too unwieldy for transportation, so they are typically installed under the upper manuals. However, a German company makes a MIDI pedalboard which has a hinge in the middle and wheels on the underside, which allows it to be moved more easily. Since AGO-specification MIDI pedalboards are often priced in between $1000 and $3000 USD, some amateur home organists make DIY MIDI pedalboards by retrofitting an old pedalboard with MIDI. Due to the popularity of theater organs and Hammond organ

Hammond organ

s during the 1950s and 1960s, there are many organ parts on the market, including pedalboards (often with less than 32 notes, such as 20 or 25 notes) which cost under $300 USD. After the pedalboard is cleaned up and the glass reed switch

Reed switch

The reed switch is an electrical switch operated by an applied magnetic field. It was invented at Bell Telephone Laboratories in 1936 by W. B. Ellwood. It consists of a pair of contacts on ferrous metal reeds in a hermetically sealed glass envelope...

es are repaired or replaced, the pedal contacts are soldered into a keyboard matrix circuit

Keyboard matrix (music)

Most electronic keyboards used in synthesizers, electronic organs, and digital pianos use a keyboard matrix circuit to connect the switches for each key. In this matrix circuit, the rows and columns are made up of wiring...

-equipped MIDI encoder, which can then be connected to the MIDI input of a digital sound module to create a bass organ tone.

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