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The piano or organ pedal (the same word in English and German scores); on organ, a pedalboard played with the feet.
On piano, the sustaining pedal is usually shown by Ped. with a release sign, or by a bracket line below the staff; with pedal appears as words. On organ, Pedal labels the pedalboard line or its registration.
Abbreviations: Ped.
Pedal markings shape the resonance of the piano and the bass of the organ. Mark piano pedalling where harmony or texture depends on it, and leave routine changes to the player. On organ, write the pedal part on its own staff and give its registration when the colour matters.
Holst, The Planets, “Neptune, the Mystic”, organ, m. 45: “Pedal” is printed with “32 & 16 ft.” at ppp, giving the line to the pedalboard on its thirty-two- and sixteen-foot stops.
Pedal is one of 1755 terms in the Gradus musical dictionary: the words, abbreviations and instrument names that appear in printed scores, plus the vocabulary composers use to talk about them.
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