Home Fireplace Damper Basics and Damper Pedal Practice
A fireplace damper my go unnoticed by most homeowners, but it is an integral part of the operation of any home fireplace. An improperly used or malfunctioning fireplace damper can result in an inefficient fireplace – especially when not being used.
The fireplace damper is usually located above the actual fireplace in the throat of the chimney just above the firebox. The function of the damper is to seal the fireplace when not in use. This is important because without a proper seal, heated air from your home will escape right up the chimney. From a home efficiency standpoint, air escaping up the chimney is like throwing money out the window. An open or leaky damper can add hundreds to the cost of heating your home in the winter.
The majority of home fireplace dampers are made of metal. Properly functioning dampers should form a seal which should allow for no air to seep through. As a fireplace ages however, the metal plates that form the damper oftentimes become warped due to the effects of heat and moisture. As the seal worsens, more and more air can escape up the chimney – even if the damper is closed.
If your fireplace is more than 20 years old, it is suggested that you hire a professional to check your damper to determine its efficiency in keeping warm air in and cold air out. If the damper is not operating correctly, a new damper will save money for many years, making the investment pay off handsomely.
Take an old method book on pedaling and look at the pedal symbols at the bottom of each measure. Study the patterns of when the pedal is held down and when the pedal is lifted. Check out the chord changes in the progression. If played correctly, your music will not sound like one long blur!
Having an understanding of the piano pedal mechanism helps too. If you look inside an acoustic piano you will notice that dampers rest on the strings. Whenever a key is pressed while holding down the damper pedals the dampers are lifted from the strings allowing the strings to freely vibrate. This produces the harp-like sounds or sustaining of sounds. It is not to be used to produce an increase in volume as most people believe, but is to sustain the sound being produced until the pedal is released.
Brief Definitions and Uses of the Piano Pedals
Damper pedal: Right pedal used to sustain sound, used to produce harp-like effects.
Sustenuto pedal: Middle pedal used to prolong a sound and allows you to play against it with out the harp-like effect of the damper pedal. For example if you wanted to play a heavy sound in the left hand side of the piano and then play a quick staccato against it in the upper register of the piano. It is best done with this pedal.
Una corda pedal or soft pedal: Located on the left used to produce soft sounds, because the hammers inside the piano only hit one string. Una- One.
Another important reason for not using the pedal initially is that technique improves fastest without the pedal because you can hear exactly what you play without interference from previously played notes. You should be actively controlling the tone, keeping those fingers close to the keys.
I like to use the pedal for Fur Elise with those beautiful broken chords.
Did you know that the pedal was practically non-existent before Mozart’s time? The pedal was basically fully developed by Beethoven’s time, although it was not yet totally accepted as a serious musical tool. So, we have Chopin to thank for the use of the pedal in our piano playing. Chopin used the pedal extensively to inject an additional level of logic into his music and fully exploited all the different ways of pedaling.
The action of a piano feels lighter with the damper pedal down because the foot is holding the dampers off the strings instead of the fingers. I recommend to all my students to first learn a piano piece with out the pedal. That way you’re learning proper timing and just over all being comfortable with the song. Then go ahead and add the pedal where indicated.
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