DE Pedal aufheben piano technique advanced Support my free tools
How is Pedal aufheben played?
Lift the currently depressed right-hand damper pedal at the indicated moment. The returning dampers stop strings whose keys are no longer held, while strings attached to keys still depressed remain free. Treat this as a precise pedal-state change: it may clear accumulated resonance before a new harmony, but it does not by itself prescribe a pause, accent, staccato touch or a passage played permanently without pedal. A following Ped. mark or pedal-line descent can immediately begin a new depression.
How does Pedal aufheben sound?
The accumulated resonance is cut off and the sound becomes clean again, clearing the way for the next harmony.
In context
Pedal aufheben is the German verbal instruction to release an engaged damper pedal. Traditional asterisks and modern pedal-line changes can encode that action graphically, but they are symbols rather than text abbreviations of the complete phrase. The constructed Ped. aufh. form did not receive three independent direct expansions, so the headword remains written out.
Equivalent terms
- DA løft pedalen
- DA slip pedalen