Posted by Kenneth Sloan on March 09, 2002 at 10:57:44:
Organs have pedals. Tubas don't.
But, tub(a)ists talk constantly of "pedal notes".
Alas, they don't always seem to mean the same thing by "pedal".
So...my question for the day is: what's a pedal note?
To make it concrete, assume you are playing a CC tuba. What notes do you consider "pedal notes"?
Let's use the C 2 ledger lines below the bass clef staff as a reference. I think there's general agreement that "pedal C" is one octave below that (or am I too presumptuous here?) Where is "pedal F"...and so on?
Do the answers change if you are playing a BBb tuba? an Eb? an EEb? an F? a French C? a Bb tenor tuba? a piccolo trumpet?