Lateral pedal extender?

ShiroKuro

I have seen pedal extenders that allow someone (usually a child) to pedal when they can’t reach the actual pedals. I’ve never seen a lateral version that would allow someone to pedal the damper pedal with the left foot without sliding over, or twisting or crossing the legs.

I googled and didn’t find anything that seemed like it would work, everything I found is to use the right foot on the right pedal but just raise it up. I didn’t see anything that would be designed for someone who couldn’t use their right foot at all.

Has anyone else ever seen anything like that? Or would we have to build one?

Why? I’m having a problem with my right foot/leg. Hopefully I won’t have to have surgery (I’m having an mri on Monday) but if I do, I probably wouldn’t be able to use my right leg at the piano, potentially for as long as three months. So I’m kind of doom-googling 😅 and was wondering about pedaling.

The thought of twisting myself to get my left foot on the right pedal is definitely not appealing. I might be able to pull it off for one piece, but not for daily practice for three months. I can only imagine what that would do to my posture, for one thing. Maybe I’m overthinking and it would actually be a nonissue… but anyway, that’s why I started this thread.

rogerch

ShiroKuro If you can't find a solution, I suggest embracing no pedaling practice while you recover. I know that I am overly reliant on the sustain pedal and every so often I force myself not to use it and I find that improves my playing.

When I broke my left clavicle I played with only my right hand for about a month. That was an interesting challenge! Along with right hand improvising I tried to play Bach WTC1 Prelude in C. I experimented with the sostenuto pedal to see if I could get it to sound right. Of course once I could use my left hand again I abandoned the experiment!

iternabe

It will be trivial if you can find a slab digital piano and don’t mind practicing on it for 3 months, because the pedal can be placed anywhere you desire.

I once drove long distance in an old car with no cruise control that my right leg got so tired I had to using left foot on gas pedal periodically. It helped the right leg, but stressed my lower back.

ShiroKuro

iternabe slab digital piano

That is an option I hadn’t thought of. Thank you!!

Although it might be a little more than I want to spend in terms of money. That’s probably the main drawback to this solution. Especially since I really don’t like playing digitals, and at the price point I’d be considering, it would definitely be a low end one.

Having said that, it’s definitely preferable to not being able to play, or only being able to play pedal-less for three months!

rogerch

Here's another idea: slide to the right and play everything an octave higher

twocats

Oh no, I hope your leg is ok!

rogerch Here's another idea: slide to the right and play everything an octave higher

This is what I was going to suggest! Slide over and pedal with your left foot.

My RH pinky tendon is hurting again so yesterday I decided to play all my octaves without playing the actual pinky and to stop bringing out the melody when I practice. I made the left hand pretty loud and actually I think practicing in a different way may solidify my learning in my brain better. But I think I should give my pinky a break from effortful lateral stretching for a while, like a few months. A few weeks wasn't enough before.

It's possible that learning how to pedal with your left foot will activate new parts of your brain! But I really hope your leg is ok.

rsl12

rogerch Here's another idea: slide to the right and play everything an octave higher

In an episode of NPR Jazz Piano (Hiromi), Marian McPartland says that she learned to pedal with her left foot because she saw Duke Ellington do it on TV, so he could turn towards the audience/cameras better. But I tried to find an example of Duke doing this on YouTube and came up empty.

But the theory is sound @ShiroKuro, if only you wanted to show your face!

ShiroKuro

@rogerch and @twocats those are great suggestions, thank you! I had thought that if I truly can't pedal, I would just spend three months on Bach. 🙂 I haven't really played any Bach since I worked on some Inventions more than 10 years ago, but I remember really enjoying them. So that wouldn't be the end of the world.

@twocats hopefully I won't have to have surgery, I'll know more next week after the mri. I have a bone deformity in my foot that the doc thinks was always there but didn't bother me before. But now it is suddenly giving me a lot of problems (i.e. pain). I can currently only walk with a very pronounced limp. (I was limping the whole time I was in Japan, since it was mostly a work trip, it was rather embarrassing!) One of the goals of the mri is to see if there's anything else going on (a torn ligament or something) and to see if I'm a candidate for a cortisone shot or some other non-surgical treatment that might help. 🤞 It doesn't bother me at all when I play piano, pedaling incurs zero pain thankfully. It's just that if I have to have surgery, the recovery time is super long and I wouldn't be able to pedal (or move my ankle or walk or bear weight on my right leg or any of that stuff) for pretty much the whole time. So piano is not only reason I want to avoid surgery of course! But as I said, I was doom-googling and couldn't find a lateral pedal extender.

Also @twocats I'm really sorry to hear your pinkie is still giving you trouble. Have you seen a doc about it?

twocats

ShiroKuro I'm really sorry to hear your pinkie is still giving you trouble. Have you seen a doc about it?

I haven't but it's clearly overuse, because it gets better when I take a break and it's certain movements that trigger it. When I reach out my pinky and then extert force (basically bringing out the melody in octaves or other stretched positions) it gets unhappy. I just looked and the internet says 12-16 weeks so I should really go easy on it. I can still continue to learn my repertoire but not bring out the melody and just fake my octaves for now.

ShiroKuro It's just that if I have to surgery, the recovery time is super long

I hope whatever happens that you can get to the bottom of it! And fingers crossed for no surgery.

ShiroKuro

rsl12 if only you wanted to show your face!

Which I don't! 😃 😃 😃

twocats 12-16 weeks so I should really go easy on it.

Ahh, that makes sense. And yes, giving it proper rest time is really important! But also probably the hardest thing for someone like you, working on such challenging pieces with so many compelling musical activities to participate in!

twocats I hope whatever happens that you can get to the bottom of it! And fingers crossed for no surgery.

thank you!!!

ShiroKuro

rsl12 NPR Jazz Piano (Hiromi), Marian McPartland

wait, with Hiromi Uehara?? I should try to find that episode. Besides the fact that Marian McPartland is awesome, I love Uehara Hiromi, she's one of my favorite pianists!!!

rsl12

ShiroKuro Which I don't!

For recital recordings you could do the Duke Ellington stance but put the camera on the other side. Then everyone would wonder why you are so deliberately turning your back to the camera as you play!

rsl12

Here you go! it's a fun episode.

ShiroKuro

rsl12 Yay!!!!!!!! thank you!!!!

ShiroKuro

rsl12 that's hysterical!!!!!! 😃

rogerch

Best wishes for speedy and full recovery @ShiroKuro and @twocats !

ShiroKuro

By the way, I tried to pedal with my left foot yesterday, while sitting in my normal spot (not sliding down). I think if I had a cast or boot on, I wouldn’t be able to do it. But also if I had a cast, I probably wouldn’t be able to sit in that spot, I’d have to shift to the right to get clearance for my foot/leg. And probably I couldn’t sit at an upright?

Anyway, it was kind of uncomfortable to sit like that. But ironically, I thought that I could adjust to left-foot pedaling fairly quickly because I already use my left foot for page turning. (Though that might be overly optimistic…)

But more than anything else, what I really thought was, I sure hope I don’t have to do this! MRI is tomorrow…

L-M

This is a really interesting question, most pedal extenders are designed for height or reach, not for foot-side substitution. I agree this kind of accessibility need deserves more attention.

zrstr

A digital piano rental might be an option? I'm not a frequent poster here. I remember reading a discussion on one of these piano forums - either Pianoclack, Pianoworld, or possibly here - of a member looking for digital piano rental options while accompanying a family member in recovery in a hospital for several weeks or months, but unfortunately can't find that thread. I don't know if there are any national chains or somewhere near you, but looking really quickly, it looks like somewhere in the neighborhood of $30 - $50 /mo for a basic slab digital piano might be possible?

iternabe

Or borrow a DP from a friend?

Also check your local used market. A quick search on Facebook Marketplace near me shows half a dozen slab DP at ~$500 price range. You can probably buy one, play it for 3 months, then sell it for not much loss if at all.