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Hoots : I must hold the notes? I'm working in a piece and I have a couple of questions I must hold the notes C and Eb the whole time? If I must hold them, what happends at the last chord I must press Eb again? - freshhoot.com

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I must hold the notes?
I'm working in a piece and I have a couple of questions
I must hold the notes C and Eb the whole time?
If I must hold them, what happends at the last chord I must press Eb again?


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This notation indicates a musical intention more than a practical possibility unless your piano has a third 'sostenuto' pedal (but it would capture ALL the notes played on beat 1, so probably not an option). Hold the C. Restrike the Eb. The effect will be imperceptibly different to the literal notation.


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Holding notes by keeping the key depressed is only possible when you have available fingers and manœuvrable space.
Otherwise, hold them with your foot — using the sustain pedal. :)
Sometimes players even use the sustain pedal when fingers are available. The effect on the key you're trying to hold is the same; the only difference is that it causes all keys to be held open at once, and that creates a muddy ringing sound that swallows the individual notes or produces discordances between notes that weren't meant to be in harmony.
You'll lift the pedal as soon as the note ends and sometimes even sooner. In your example, you can't reasonably hold C and Eb without the pedal, or even just C. When the Eb comes around again, you have two options. You can actually strike it again and still get a sound while the string is open, but it'll be less salient since it was already ringing. Or you can lift the pedal and get a nice clean Eb, but lose the C.


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