BartK Pedaling with the ball of the foot is the standard recommended technique to play the pedal and absolutely does not require you to hold the foot above the pedal.
With all respect, I refuse to accept this rule. I replace this rule with
"Find a resting position foryour foot that does not press the pedal when relaxed, but allows you to press easily with little effort."
With socks, my big toe is in the center of the pedal. And the shaft of the toe touches the tip of the pedal. I can completely relax my foot and the pedal isn't pressed. Still, it is easily to press the pedal. It looks like the toe is pedaling, but actually I am whipping my foot because it is touching the tip of the pedal. Don't get me wrong - I don't pedal by bending my toe. But the ball of my foot isn't touching the pedal, either.
With shoes, the center of my toe is on top of the tip of the pedal. Basically, my foot is further away from the fallboard. If I try the same position as with socks, the pedal is constantly pressed a little bit. To be fair, the note is not yet sustained. But I can't tell for sure, if my foot is really relaxed or if I hold it up a little bit. I bet, with different shoes I will find another "sweet-spot" position. Okay - I have a digital and very likely the springs needs less force than an acoustic.
To make my explanation short: Each foot and each pedal is different - so there can not be a single rule like "the ball of the foot is correct position". Maybe it is true for most acoustic and most feet. But imagine a student has only a digital and his teacher is a true pianist who plays only acoustics. If the teacher tells to pedal with the ball of the foot is the rule, some students with digitals will end up to actively lifting the foot. No doubt, this works and it sounds correct. But I believe (but don't know) this is not the best way to pedal.
