Pedal Tones, what are they???

Hey, I was reading this online booklet I found on the web and came across a term used which I havn't been able to understand the context in which it was used. Here is the section from the book I'm talking about (Ive coloured the section that im unsure about):

"" While the specifics determining what will be perceived as foreground or background in a particular case can occasionally get complex, usually they are quite easy to define. As a general guide, all other things being equal, the ear follows as foreground:

That's bullshit (what wikipedia says), pedal tones are the held notes over which the theme lies. m.155 ff means measure 115 and the following measures.

Well, to my knowledge, the term came about from organ playing.

The organist would play the 'pedal tones' with his feet, on the pedals. A pedal tone is one note repeated constantly while the chords or melody are played above it (or it may change with the chords, I'm not sure)

It certainly isn't limited to brass playing. It can be used in any type of music from the symphony to heavy metal (one of Iron Maiden's song uses a pedal tone through most of the piece, can't remember the name now)

What the article should have said, was pedal point which is the technique of holding a low drone benieth a moving line. the term pedal tones in its modern conatation, in brass instruments, is the playing of extreemely low notes(realative to the range of the particular brass instrument).

Oh well... I didn't know the English expression. In German it's called Pedalton, so I thought it could be pedal note in English.

In fact, if you want to be very picky, a pedal tone can in fact be in any register, as long as it's held while the other voices move, in general over a changing harmony (in which the pedal tone is sometimes 'dissonant').

There are three types:

p

Thx alot for the replies, just to make sure I understand, here is an example of a pedal tone that I've thought of: Every time I've heard someone play the Bagpipes you can here a low kind of drone the whole way through while the main melody is played. Is this a pedal tone? And in this case more pacificly a p

In essence, the bagpipe drone is the kind of pedal tone you categorized it as being. Although in general, a pedal tone is not there for the entire duration of the music, but for a number of bars only (eg. only during the Coda). So with bagpipes, the word 'drone' would be better ;)

And yes, 'measure' is synonymous with 'bar'.

Incidentally, in my composition module, we're discussing harmonic development, and at the moment, the more specific effects that pedal tones have on tonality - specifically, the way they obscure it. It's very interesting.

Well, in Swedish I heard my teacher talk of something called "bordun ton", maybe it's just called bordun tone in english, but it's probably the same thing as pedal tone if I'm not wrong. He called long constant notes bordun tones so it's probably the same as pedal tones. Not that it has much to do with your question, but I figured I could add it in anyways :P

Chris, that actually sounds like a really fascinating argument. Please share any conclusions and interesting debates you get to if you can; I'd be curious to hear about them! :P

[quote name='Erik

For clarification, the pedal tone that wikipedia informed you of is not the pedal tone you want. You are looking at a pedal point, which, as other posters have informed you of, is a sustained tone over which other chords are played. In a typical sonata form, a pedal tone is used to establish te dominant triad just prior to the recapitulation. It is used to build suspense and tension.

The pedal tone that wikipedia mentioned is a set of very low tones on a brass instrument. Now, I play tuba, so naturally, I know all about these. My tuba is a CC contrabass tuba, meaning that the fundamental pitch is a C, the fourth note on an 88-key piano. It is commonly referred to as pedal C. There are a set of notes around that note which are called pedal tones. I went to a tuba convention recently in which I played an F bass tuba, for which the fundamental is the fourth ledger line F below the bass clef staff. This pitch vibrates at somewhere in the 40-50 hz range. However, I managed to play lower than that, a phenomenon which I believe woodwinds refer to as undertones. I actually achieved a double pedal F, the space below the seventh ledger line below the bass clef staff, which vibrates at about 22 hz, and is a half step higher than the lowest pitch audible to humans as a pitch rather than individual beats. I also played every note chromatically between the two pitches, and I beat out the contrabassoon as the lowest pitched instrument. Anyway, I digress. A brass pedal tone simply refers to the fundamental pitch of the instrument and the lowest tones surrounding it.