Editing Pedal keyboard (section)

==Design==

===Keyboards===

Pedalboards range in size from 13 notes on small spinet organs designed for in-home use (an octave, conventionally [[Scientific pitch notation|C<sub>2</sub>]]–C<sub>3</sub>) to 42 notes (three and a half octaves, G<sub>1</sub>–C<sub>5</sub>) 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:
#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
#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]] by the [[Royal College of Organists|RCO]], in the [[United States]] by the [[American Guild of Organists|AGO]] (which requires a design similar to the RCO's), and in [[Germany]] by the [[Bund Deutscher Orgelbaumeister|BDO]] (which allows both 30- and 32-note pedalboards, of both concave/radiating and concave/parallel varieties).

<gallery>
Image:Pedalierago.jpg|AGO-spec.: concave/radiating
Image:Pedalierbdo1.jpg|BDO-spec.: concave/parallel
Image:Pedalierbdo2.jpg|BDO-spec.: concave/radiating
Image:Bdopedalrear.JPG|30-note BDO Standard (concave/parallel) pedalboard.
Image:Bdopedalabove.JPG|30-note BDO Standard (concave/parallel) pedalboard.
Image:Bdopedalsideangle.JPG|30-note BDO Standard (concave/parallel) pedalboard.
Image:mypedalboard.jpg|25-note flat/radiating pedalboard on an electro-mechanical Wurlitzer organ.
File:VarnaOrganPedal.JPG|A different style of pedalboard, as used in a Jens Steinhoff organ in Varna, Bulgaria
File:St James the Great St Kilda East Joscelyne Organ Pedal Board.jpg| An unusual octave arrangement of G2-G3 dating from the 1860s by Samuel Joscelyne 
</gallery>

===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 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 complements 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 few pedalboards have a pedal divide system that lets the organist split the pedalboard at its midpoint. With this system, an organist can play a melody with the right foot and a bass part with the left.{{citation needed|date=April 2013}} The divided pedal is a type of coupler. It allows the sounds played on the pedals to be split, so the lower octave (principally that of the left foot) plays stops from the pedal division while the upper half (played by the right foot), plays stops from one of the manual divisions. The choice of manual is at the discretion of the performer, as is the 'split point' of the system.

The system can be found on the organs of [[Gloucester Cathedral]], having been added by [[Nicholson & Co Ltd|Nicholson & Co (Worcester) Ltd]]/[[David_Briggs_(English_musician)|David Briggs]] and [[Truro Cathedral]], having been added by [[Mander Organs]]/[[David_Briggs_(English_musician)|David Briggs]], as well as on the new nave console of [[Ripon Cathedral]].

===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 serves as a safety catch, to shut off the pedalboard keys. The mechanism prevents accidental foot contact with the pedalboard from sounding notes in a section written only for the upper manuals.
[[File:Pedalierdorgue2.jpg|thumb|This photo of a BDO pedalboard shows the variety of other controls that are positioned near the pedalboard, including foot pistons and expression pedals.]]

===Repertoire===

The works of  [[Netherlands|Dutch]] [[composer]], [[organist]], and [[pedagogue]]  [[Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck]] (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 music|Renaissance]] and beginning of the [[Baroque music|Baroque]] eras, and he helped establish the [[German organ schools|north German organ tradition]].

[[Dieterich Buxtehude]] (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."{{citation needed|date=April 2013}} [[J.S. Bach]] used the pedal to perform the melody in works such as his setting of the Christmas hymn, [[In Dulci Jubilo]], 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]] (1896–1987) wrote a piece entitled “Variations on a Theme by Paganini” for pedal keyboard. Based on [[Paganini]]'s “[[Caprice No. 24 (Paganini)|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.<ref>
{{cite web
 | url=http://www.sandiego.com/option,com_sdca/target,987cf78c-1c94-413c-ac39-c2847939cb95/
 | title=Olivier Latry Performs on the Spreckels Organ
 | date=2007-07-24
 | access-date=2008-05-24
}}</ref>

[[Firmin Swinnen]] (1885–1972) was a Belgian organist who became famous in the US in the 1920s for his [[theater organ]] improvisations during [[silent film]]s. Swinnen wrote a pedal cadenza for an arrangement of [[Charles-Marie Widor|Widor's]] ''[[Symphony for Organ No. 5 (Widor)|Fifth Symphony]]''. 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.{{citation needed|date=April 2013}} 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".<ref>Rollin Smith. ''Stokowski and the Organ''. Pendragon Press, 2004.</ref>

After injuring his left arm in 2008, the principal organist for the [[Mormon_Tabernacle_Choir|Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square]] ([[Richard Elliott (organist)|Richard Elliott]]) prepared an arrangement of “Go Tell It On the Mountain” which begins with an entire verse played solely on the pedalboard to accommodate his then-injured arm. As his arm healed he added additional verses with the most demanding notes played with his right hand. <ref>
{{cite web
 | url= https://www.thetabernaclechoir.org/articles/richard-elliott-pedals-over-one-million-youtube-views.html
 | title= Richard Elliott Pedals to Nearly 1.5 Million YouTube Views!
 | date=2017-03-03
 | access-date=2019-11-09
}}</ref> The [https://youtube.com/watch?v=m_HdrywerGE&feature=youtu.be  video of his unusual performance] has garnered millions of views on YouTube.

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]] 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]]'s ''Perpetuum mobile'', [[Leo Sowerby]]'s ''Pageant'' (1931), and [[Jeanne Demessieux]]'s ''Six études'', Op. 5 (1944), which recall the dramatic organ pedal solos of the Baroque era.

===Use on instruments other than organs===

====Pedal harpsichord and clavichord====
[[File:Peter Watchorn pedal harpsichord.jpg|thumb|left|[[Peter Watchorn]] plays a pedal harpsichord by Hubbard & Broekman, Boston, 1990]]
Pedal keyboards were developed for the [[clavichord]] and [[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]] for a church organ or, in the wintertime, to avoid having to practice on a church organ in an unheated [[Church (building)|church]]. [[Johann Sebastian Bach]] owned a pedal harpsichord and his organ trio sonatas BWV 525–530, [[BWV 582|Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor BWV 582]], [[BWV 565|Toccata and Fugue in D minor BWV 565]], and other works sound well when played on the instrument.

====Pedal piano====
[[Image:Pedal Piano 3.JPG|thumb|150px|An upright pedal piano]]
The [[pedal piano]] (or pedalier piano)<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.loguerhythm.com/Images.htm |title=''Images'' notes |access-date=2008-01-24 |author=Logue, Karl |year=1997 |work=Logue Rhythm Productions |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070622200646/http://www.loguerhythm.com/Images.htm |archive-date=2007-06-22 }}</ref> is a kind of [[piano]] that includes a pedalboard<ref>{{cite book |last=Belt |first=Philip |title=The Piano |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0X3FoI_Z6cQC |year=1997 |publisher=W. W. Norton & Company |location=[[New York City]] |isbn=0-393-30518-X |page=150 }}</ref>

There are two types of pedal piano:
* A pedal board integrated with a manual piano instrument, using the same strings and mechanism as the manual keyboard
* An independent, pedal played piano with its own mechanics and strings, placed below a regular piano
[[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart]] owned a [[fortepiano]] with independent pedals, built for him in [[1785 in music|1785]].  [[Robert Schumann]] had an upright pedal piano with 29 notes. In the 21st century, pedal pianos, the [[Doppio Borgato]] are made in the [[Luigi Borgato|Borgato]] workshop in [[Italy]]. The bass pedalboard has 37 notes, A0 to A3 (rather than the standard 30 or 32 on an organ).

====Carillon====
Some large carillon systems for playing church bells include a pedalboard for the lowest-pitched bells. Carillon pedal keys activate a pull-down coupler that visibly moves the keys of the manual clavier and heavy clappers for the largest bells.  These keys resemble the "button keys" of early organs, and are played by the player's toes.  Because this non-legato technique involves no sliding, shoes with leather soles are not required.
[[Image:CarillonKeyboardPlummerBldg.JPG|thumb|left|100px|[[Carillon]] keyboard for playing church bells; the pedals play the lowest-pitched bells.]]