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Teachers’ |
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My pupils and I have been enjoying using the PED. The youngest one who is five spent an enjoyable 5 minutes last week listening to how long a note would continue to be audible if held on only by the pedal; then she tried playing the initial note more loudly, then a cluster. All this is obviously good for aural sensitivity. Before I teach the major scale, we do the chromatic and whole tone scale, to accustome pupils' ears to those intervals. They discovered that the whole tone scale sounded effective with the pedal hald down, and some of them made some impressionistic pieces from this. I gave my 8 and 9 year olds a piece called 'Water Lilies' from 'Just Imagine' which uses a kind of pentatonic scale and is effective with the pedal held down for 2 or 4 bars at a time, I let them decide how many bars to retain under the pedal. All the pupils have been able to use the pedal for the chord exercises in Dozen a Day and then realise which sets of notes do, or don't sound good together, then find out why. All in all, a good half term! |
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I am very impressed by the design and construction of the unit. |
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I certainly think the footrest is a great idea and it feels as if I had always had it. The pedalling book also should be a great asset. |
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I used to have an ugly assortment of phone books next to my beautiful grand piano. They were used under my small students' feet, so they could sit properly and support themselves when they played. But I couldn't figure out how to help them sit properly and still use the pedal. The method books I use introduce the pedal way before any of my students are big enough to play the pedal and maintain a proper sitting position and hand position. I searched the United States to find a device that would help me overcome this problem and couldn't find one. Finally, I discovered the A-Leg-Gro PED on the internet! Around that time, I also discovered a company in the U.S. that imported a device from Taiwan. It was cheaper so I ordered it only to find that it didn't go any lower than 7 inches. It was worthless for my 8-10 year olds who really needed to be using the pedal, but still couldn't reach. So, I spent a bit more money and got an A-Leg Gro PED. I even found five other piano teachers to go in with me so we could get a discount. They are all very grateful to me for finding this wonderful contraption and I am thrilled as well! My students love it that they can use the pedal without having to contort themselves. |
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.... it arrived on Saturday, and I get to try it out on my first student in a half hour. I'm so excited--it works beautifully. |