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 vibration of air in a tubular resonator in sympathy with the vibration of the player's lips. Brass instruments are also called labrosones or labrophones, from Latin a ...

s. A pedal tone has the pitch of its harmonic series' fundamental tone. 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 keyboard played with the feet that is usually used to produce the low-pitched bass line of a piece of music. A pedalboard has lo ...

pedals of a

pipe organ The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurized air (called ''wind'') through the organ pipes selected from a keyboard. Because each pipe produces a single pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called ''ranks' ...

, 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 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 made by an inte ...

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 (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate ...

, 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 (german: Bassposaune, it, trombone basso) 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 ...

. 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 didgeridoo wa ...

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)