Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner Denis Zhdanov video on pedalling

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1v...-46v7NsAeaK5sAUM0FTaAnu_xzVp73LhemGS7m0Q

He is a sensationally good professional pianist and IMO also a sensationally good teacher. He has many instructional videos on his YouTube site.

His website:
http://deniszhdanov.com/

I first heard him live as around a 16 year old playing Messiaen's Regards No.10 in a master class at the International Keyboard Festival in NYC.

Wow! I agree this is a sensationally good tutorial.
Thanks, much 😺

That was excellent! Pianoloverus, thank you for recommending this. I’m going to check out his channel.

Thanks, pl; there is much to appreciate in this video, not only in the quality of the instruction but also in the manner of presentation.

Regards,

Nice find, thank you.

I'm not familiar with the concept of direct pedaling. I don't see much of a difference between the direct and the delayed pedaling. To me the direct pedaling looks delayed as well, only it seems that the delay is shorter, is that correct? It's not as if I would play the first note with the pedal already lifted, right?

The video is really good, thank you for posting. There are different terminology used. Often times the direct pedaling is called rythmic pedaling and the delayed one syncopated or legato pedaling. The main difference and i think the video does explain it but maybe not fully is that there are 2 parameters. The first one is when the pedal is released and the second one is when it is then pressed again. In the direct/rythmic case it is assumed that the previous harmony is completely damped when the pedal is actionned. So if the pedal was on in the previous bar, it would have to be released prior to using it again on the next bar. Depending how soon the pedal is released creates a more or less audible break in the sound, which is perfectly acceptable for some cases.

With some practice one can connect the 2 bars quite closely by releasing and pushing the pedal relatively quickly. In the case of syncopated pedaling, the pedal stays on, and this let the 2 harmonies to slighly overlap but it requires the dampers to be very efficient otherwise there is some blurring that will occurr.

One subject that i think is probably not really relevant is when the pedal was invented. Prior to having a pedal, the fortepiano used by Mozart in the 1880s had already knee levers that would allow the dampers to be raised. And i think the whole discussion about using or not the pedal when playing baroque music at the piano is biaised by the fact that the modern piano does not sound at all like an harpsichord or a fortepiano, so the pedal is just one other difference. In particular the damping on these old instruments was much less efficient, thus Perahia is quite right when he points out that the music should not sound dry and therefore whether by a reasonable amount of pedal or with the fingers, one needs to compensate for the very effective damping of modern pianos. But even a legato played both on piano and harpsichord or fortepiano would anyway sound very different. So the question of auhenticity does not make a lot of sense as long as one respect the style by avoiding to play Mozart like Chopin.

Thank-you - very useful!

Here's another good instructional video on playing very softly I found on his YT page:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnHrRfjSYjY

Here is the link to his YT page with more instructional videos and solo/concerto performances:
https://www.youtube.com/c/DenZhdanovPianist/videos

Denis is very cogent and appears to be very smart as well.

There are a few minor quibbles...

1) He needs to emphasize that pedaling is as much about the foot as it is about the ear. He doesn't place nearly enough attention on adjusting the pedal for the difference in room acoustics, instrument, and other factors. He says something about rejecting the written pedal markings in the score, but he doesn't go on to explain _how_ to make the changes.

2) The pedal addition in the Clementi Sonatina example is totally unnecessary. It makes more sense if he would advocate pedaling the slow movements of those sonatinas.

3) He advocates pedaling by changing harmonies. That relies more on the theory and analysis instead of the ear. There are times when "blurry" pedal is actually acceptable, depending on how you voice the melody. In fact, the way he pedals the (easier) Chopin C minor Nocturne is much too choppy and takes away the sustaining bass line.

4) Sidokar beat me to it. The entire "historical reasons" for pedaling is basically one man's opinion vs. another, and not really germane to the discussion. It's the weakest part of the video.

According to this lady, direct pedalling means pressing the pedal at the same time as pressing the key, and is done to accentuate the note:
https://www.pianocareer.com/piano-pedal/piano-pedals-art/

I enjoyed this video, thanks for posting.

Question: he says you should be able to rest your foot on the pedal without it moving. Is this only applicable to a grand piano, or uprights too?

I have an upright (new last December). When I rest my foot on the pedal, it goes down maybe an inch. It's not causing the notes to sustain at that position, but I guess it's 'engaging' just enough that I can hear a slight change in the tone.

I don't want to overthink this too much, but I've never really gotten comfortable with using the sustain pedal on this piano and I wonder if an adjustment might help. Are there any 'typical' guidelines for setting up the the travel distance (when it engages) and tension, or is it just based on personal preference? Is the tension even something I can adjust, or would it require a different spring?

Hi JB
Why don’t you post this on the tech forum?

Oops...I had done a quick search yesterday and didn't find what I was looking for, but I used different terms just now and found some similar discussions. Move along...nothing to see here.

Another Zhdanov video on pedaling This one is MUCH more advanced. I have occasionally used the first technique he discusses, mostly at the very beginning of a piece.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skW...lwXXHpqO3GHUh4xaoO1fFaLsd7Ff4pLXKTZdeK9w

Really interesting and helpful. Thanks.