Pedal grade 1 piano

[Minuethippo]

my son has a grade 1 piano exam soon and we recently discovered the pedal box isn’t exerting enough pressure on a grand piano. The exam will be on a grand piano. When the pedal is pressed down on the box, it lifts up and it doesn’t work. Will he have points deducted in an exam if the pedal doesn’t work properly? He’s far too short to reach the actual pedal and now I’m panicking!

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My son has his grade one today! I don't think any of the pieces use the pedal?

I'm a music teacher OP, and while I don't have specific knowledge of grade 1 piano requirements- like the previous poster I assumed pedal wouldn't be used at this stage? From my own distant memory of childhood piano lessons, I think the pedal was introduced around grade 3. Has his teacher confirmed he definitely has to use it?

You don't use pedal at grade 1. They shouldn't be. In graded exams use of the pedal is scored in the first grades where it's used.

DD has been doing grade 1. One of the pieces on the current ABRSM syllabus requires the sustain pedal. I've no answers for you OP, sorry, but just to say you aren't imagining the pedal requirement,

Yes thank you one of pieces in the new 2025-26 definitely has use of the pedal and unfortunately because he loved the song he picked it and we had a pedal extender so naturally went for it!

Good luck to your son!!

B:2 in the 2025 book definitely has the use of a pedal

That seems really unfair!

To be fair I think it says somewhere, don’t pick a pedal piece if you can’t use it so it is my fault! I might have read that wrong…

So you've got three options. Either get the pedal fixed or choose a different piece and practice like anything to get it ready in time; I suppose the third option, depending on the cost of the pedal, is to use a different piano. Would a cheapie electric piano and pedal (around £300-500 from somewhere like Thomann) be cheaper/quicker/easier than getting the pedal fixed on a grand? Which is most doable for you?

Sorry I clearly didn’t explain this properly. We have a clavinova at home and our pedal extender works perfectly on it. We have a practical exam coming up and I know the exam will be on a grand piano. I’m panicking because just this past week my son has performed at two concerts in two different venues that have had a grand piano and the pedal box hasn’t worked on them. It works on digital and upright pianos. On a grand, as you press down, the pedal box gets lifted and it has very little effect on the grand piano

What does his teacher recommend he do?

Could you borrow a smaller digital like one of the Yamaha ones which has a plug in pedal for the exam and then he could put it on a stool or box to reach it? DD did her exams perfectly happily up to G4 on one of those (actually, we didn’t use the pedal at all until we got an upright digital just after G4 - her teacher just picked pieces that didn’t need a pedal).

Honestly I wouldn't panic too much about this regarding exam marks. From my own experience of entering children for exams (abrsm), the examiner will assume that this is a teacher 'error' and will not penalise the student for it, or if they do it will be a couple of marks that are lost. I personally would persevere with the pieces you've already got prepared and just accept that the pedal will probably not work on the day, and try not to worry about that if your child really likes that piece!

Thank you and yes I think it’ll be fine! I’m sure the pedal won’t be a huge issue. Overthinking it

Abrsm occasionally put pieces on gd1 and gd2 piano requiring pedal eg for a sustained final note. It's ridiculous in my opinion when a significant number of young kids taking these grades can't physically reach the pedal!!

My son took his exam the pedal extender clicked out of position half-way through the piece but thankfully that didn’t affect his overall mark. Phew