sustaining pedal

British  

noun

1. music a foot-operated lever on a piano, usually the right one of two, that keeps the dampers raised from the strings when keys are released, allowing them to continue to vibrate Compare soft-pedal

---

Example Sentences

Denk’s fingers were clean and precise in the running notes of the early variations and even more bravura in the less legato movements, where he was lighter on the sustaining pedal.

From Washington Post • Jan. 30, 2019

Much of the piece has an unsettled, brooding quality, with scattered piano pitches accumulating over sustaining pedal into dissonant clouds.

From The New Yorker • Aug. 29, 2016

With her precise and restrained use of the sustaining pedal, Ms. Oppens creates a sound in Schubert that is more crisp than the watercolor wash many pianists opt for.

From New York Times • Jun. 29, 2015

If only as a record of Mr. Schiff’s current approach to this inexhaustible work — its lyricism achieved without the use of the sustaining pedal — this recording would be invaluable.

From New York Times • Dec. 20, 2012

Some time afterwards he played some of his music to Wagner, who found it muddled, as if the sustaining pedal was held down all the time—and I have no doubt it was.

From Richard Wagner Composer of Operas by Runciman, John F.