Editing Pedal keyboard (section)

===17th century to 18th century===
[[File:Zeil Kirche Chororgel Spieltisch.jpg|thumb|left|This 1609 organ shows the short, button-style pedals of early pedal setups]]
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 North German organ school, such as [[Dieterich Buxtehude]], [[Johann Adam Reincken]] and [[J.S. Bach]]. In Bach's organ music the [[cantus firmus]] melody, which is usually a [[hymn tune]], 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.<ref name=autogenerated1 /> However, organist [[Ton Koopman]] 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."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tonkoopman.nl/vol12organ.htm|title=With Heart and Mind - Ton Koopman|date=1 October 2006|access-date=24 April 2018|url-status=bot: unknown|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061001120849/http://www.tonkoopman.nl/vol12organ.htm|archive-date=1 October 2006}}</ref> What evolved as the "German" pedal technique in the late 18th and early 19th century promoted heel-and-toe pedaling, while the "French" style was predicated on the "toe only" pedal technique.
[[File:OrganumFollis.jpg|thumb|300px|This 1776 diagram depicts the setup of the manuals and pedal keyboard]]
In the 17th and 18th centuries, 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.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1895/05/26/102458626.pdf | work=The New York Times | title=The Organ in Bach's Time | date=1895-05-26}}</ref> 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 played with the pedal keyboard, they marked ''Pedal'', ''Ped.'', or simply ''P''. Often, composers omitted these signs, and player had to decide if the range of all the parts or the lowest part was appropriate for the pedal keyboard.<ref name="www-scf.usc.edu">{{cite web |url=http://www-scf.usc.edu/~eunjeonp/contents%204.htm |title=Technique |access-date=2008-09-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080708223000/http://www-scf.usc.edu/~eunjeonp/contents%204.htm |archive-date=2008-07-08 }}</ref> 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]] tradition and the use of improvised ornaments by solo singers and instrumentalists.