The 3 Pedals of the Piano

In this lesson we're going to talk about the 3 pedals in a typical Grand Piano. Note that for Upright Pianos, the middle pedal works a bit differently.

If you're playing on a digital piano, you only have to worry about the Sustain Pedal, but it doesn't hurt to know more about the other 2 pedals in case you ever play on a grand piano one day.

The Una Corda Pedal (Left Pedal)

Let's first focus on the leftmost pedal. This is called the Una Corda Pedal.

The way this pedal works is that it actually shifts the entire action of the hammers over just a tiny bit, so whereas previously the felt hammers of each key was hitting all 3 of the strings (most notes have 3 strings, while lower notes can have 2 or 1 string), now the felt hammers are only hitting 1 or 2 of the strings.

So Una Corda in Italian literally means "1 string", but of course if you only half-pedal the Una Corda pedal, then it becomes "Duo Corda" because you're hitting 2 strings. Not pressing it at all means you are playing all 3 strings and getting the full sound effect of each key.

This pedal is especially useful for extremely quiet sections, when you want a muted sound and do not want all 3 strings to be hit at once. Mainly used for stylistically purposes and mainly appropriate for specific genres of music like impressionistic or minimalist music.

The Sostenuto Pedal (Middle Pedal)

The middle pedal of a grand piano is probably the least used pedal, and the reason why is because its effect is very subtle.

Sostenuto means "sustained", but in the context of this pedal, it means that when you press this pedal, any note that's playing when this pedal is pressed will keep ringing out, whereas the notes that you play afterwards will not keep ringing (aka "sustaining).

The effect therefore is similar to if you had a finger simply holding the note to keep it ringing, but now you can use this finger to play other notes.

Ultimately, this is a very specialized effect and not really used in 99% of composers sheet music, and to be honest, most audiences besides the most discerning listeners (usually judgmental pianists themselves) wouldn't really notice a pianist using a sostenuto pedal correctly.

Note: On Upright pianos, the middle pedal is typically a "mute" pedal which adds an extra layer of felt to the strings and makes the sound extremely muted, good for practicing in family homes when you don't want to disturb everyone. Of course, some piano manufacturers will make the middle pedal a sostenuto pedal even on an upright piano.

The Sustain Pedal (Right Pedal)

This pedal is also known as the "damper pedal" and it is by far the most important pedal on the piano, used probably 100x more than the una corda pedal and 1000x more than the sostenuto pedal.

Basically what the Sustain Pedal does is that it raises all the "dampers" of each string.

So when you strike a key, what happens is it triggers a hammer mechanism that strikes the string.

For a moment in time, that string is allowed to ring out. But if you let go of the key, the damper quickly falls onto the string, causing the strings to stop ringing and the note therefore ceases.

However, if you hold the note, then the damper does not fall onto the string, therefore allowing the string to keep vibrating.

So when the damper pedal is pressed, notice how all the dampers of the strings are lifted, thereby allowing any note played to be "sustained" and ring indefinitely until the sustain/damper pedal is released.

IMPORTANT NOTE!

The important thing to remember about the sustain pedal is that it really "washes" out the sound, so you have to be careful when playing with the pedal on, as it causes you to lose focus on what notes you are playing correctly vs incorrectly. This "smearing" of notes can easily lead to bad habits, so when practicing, try to use the pedal sparingly, or better yet, not at all.