Pedal tones (or pedals) are special low notes in the harmonic series of

brass instrument A brass instrument is a musical instrument that produces sound by Sympathetic resonance, sympathetic vibration of air in a tubular resonator in sympathy with the vibration of the player's lips. The term ''labrosone'', from Latin elements meani ...

s. A pedal tone has the pitch of its harmonic series'

fundamental tone The fundamental frequency, often referred to simply as the ''fundamental'' (abbreviated as 0 or 1 ), is defined as the lowest frequency of a periodic waveform. In music, the fundamental is the musical pitch of a note that is perceived as the lo ...

. Its name comes from the foot

pedal keyboard A pedalboard (also called a pedal keyboard, pedal clavier, or, with electronic instruments, a bass pedalboard) is a musical keyboard, keyboard played with the feet that is usually used to produce the low-pitched bass line of a piece of music. A p ...

pedals of a

pipe organ The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurised air (called ''wind'') through the organ pipes selected from a Musical keyboard, keyboard. Because each pipe produces a single tone and pitch, the pipes are provide ...

, which are used to play 16' and 32' sub-bass notes by pressing the pedals with the player's feet. Brasses with a

bell A bell /ˈbɛl/ () is a directly struck idiophone percussion instrument. Most bells have the shape of a hollow cup that when struck vibrates in a single strong strike tone, with its sides forming an efficient resonator. The strike may be m ...

do not naturally vibrate at this frequency. A closed cylinder vibrates at only the odd members of its harmonic series. This set of pitches is too sparse to be musically useful for brass instruments; therefore, the bells and mouthpieces of brasses are crafted to adjust these pitches. The bell significantly raises all pitches in the series, particularly on the low end, while the mouthpiece lowers the higher harmonics, limiting the amount to which higher harmonics are raised by the bell. The resulting compressed set of pitches resembles a new harmonic series that includes the even members. This new series is similar to that of a stopped conical tube, with the exception of the fundamental, which is no longer incorporated in the harmonic series. The original fundamental resonance is not raised all the way to the new fundamental pitch, and is not used in playing. The new fundamental can be played, however, as a pedal tone. The higher resonances of the new series help the lips vibrate at the fundamental frequency and allow the pitch to sound. The resulting tone relies heavily on

overtone An overtone is any resonant frequency above the fundamental frequency of a sound. (An overtone may or may not be a harmonic) In other words, overtones are all pitches higher than the lowest pitch within an individual sound; the fundamental i ...

s for its perception, but in the hands of a skilled player, pedal tones can be controlled and can sound characteristic to the instrument. On

trombone The trombone (, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's lips vibrate inside a mouthpiece, causing the Standing wave, air c ...

, pedal B1 is frequently seen in commercial scoring but much less often in symphonic music. Notes below B are called for only rarely as they "become increasingly difficult to produce and insecure in quality" with A1 or G1 being the bottom limit for most trombonists.Kennan and Grantham (2002). ''The Technique of Orchestration'', p.148-149. . Pedal tones are called for occasionally in advanced brass repertoire, particularly in that of the

and especially the

bass trombone The bass trombone (, ) is the bass instrument in the trombone family of brass instruments. Modern instruments are pitched in the same B♭ as the tenor trombone but with a larger bore, bell and mouthpiece to facilitate low register playing, and u ...

. Although not frequently used, pedal tones can often be played on a

didgeridoo The didgeridoo (;()), also spelt didjeridu, among other variants, is a wind instrument, played with vibrating lips to produce a continuous Drone (music), drone while using a special breathing technique called circular breathing. The didgerido ...

References

* Nave, C.R
Brass acoustics
accessed 2007-07-04 * Wolfe, Joe

accessed 2007-07-04

Sources

{{Range (music) Brass instruments Bass (sound) Organs (music)