How to avoid dissonance when moving from Maj7 to Dom7 chord if pedal is needed to be played
I am trying to play the part where Emaj7 is followed by E7-9.
The piece is Poverty "Once upon a time in America".
The right hand plays the highest G# and the left hand plays E (bass), then the left hand plays the two chords. As far as I understand I should use the pedal to make E (bass) sound during the whole measure, because neither of the hands can reach the chords without the pedal use. But this causes dissonance due to Maj7 and Min7 sounding simultaneously. If the pedal is released to avoid dissonance the lowest E will not sound as it is written.
Is it possible to play it exactly as written without dissonance?
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If you don't have the sostenuto pedal forget the prolonged E in the bass. just hold it a dotted quarter , or play the last 3 8ths in the lower staff with the right hand and let dropping the G#
This is an opportunity for the sostenuto pedal to be used. On some pianos, there's a middle pedal that, when pressed, will hold only the notes that are being played at that time. Unlike the damper pedal, which will hold everything played at the time it's pressed.
There are pianos that have three pedals, but the middle one is a practice pedal, which quietens the whole piano down using a felt curtain in between the hammers and the strings. That won't do the same job.
While the sostenuto pedal could be used if present, it's unnecessary here.
The damper pedal is not a binary device: it is not simply either on or off. Finer gradations are possible. You can catch a bass note like this and retain it through harmony changes by partial release. You need to experiment with the instrument to get a feel for this yourself.
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