In this article, we’ll go through the three piano pedals on both upright and grand pianos, and discuss what each one does and when you might use it. Although most piano players instinctively knowow what the right pedal does, the middle and left foot pedals are often misunderstood by a large percentage of beginner students and hobbyist players. Read on to find out more and increase your knowledge of the acoustic piano!
Grand Pianos
Let’s start by looking at a grand piano. The vast majority of grand pianos sold today are equipped with three piano pedals. For the most part, those three pedals have the same function from piano to piano.
What Does the Right Pedal on a Piano Do?
The piano pedal on the right is referred to as the damper pedal or the sustain pedal because when you press this pedal with your right foot, all of the felt dampers raise up and the strings are free to vibrate and sustain as long as those dampers are raised. When single notes are played on a grand piano, as soon as the finger comes off the note, the notes immediately stop ringing. This is because as soon as the key is let go of, the damper comes back down and silences the string. When the damper pedal is engaged, however, all of the strings are free to ring out even after your finger has left the key.
What Does the Middle Pedal on a Piano Do?
The middle pedal on a grand piano is referred to as the sostenuto pedal. Interestingly, very few players actually make use of this pedal because it produces a highly specific effect that is only called for in select classical works. The middle pedal functions by allowing the player to sustain specific notes, with the other notes operating as normal with the dampers depressed. There’s some romantic sheet music that calls for the use of this pedal, along with works by composers such as Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel that make use of this pedal. But for the most part in mainstream piano playing the sostenuto pedal is a seldom-used feature.
What Does the Left Pedal on a Piano Do?
The left pedal on a grand is called the una corda pedal and actually moves the entire keyboard and hammers to the right. When it’s set up correctly, the hammers move enough to the right that the treble hammers only strike two strings instead of three, thereby reducing the total sound output and also changing the timbre slightly. This is probably the most misunderstood of the three pedals, but its use is actually called for fairly often in classical music.
Exceptions
While 99% of new grand pianos sold in 2020 feature the 3 pedals mentioned above, there are some notable exceptions. In some cases, the middle pedal on a grand piano rather than being a sostenuto is referred to as a bass sustain. In this case, instead of the middle pedal operating as a selective sustain pedal, just the bass notes section of dampers are raised when the pedal is pressed, allowing the player to play staccato notes in the treble section over the top. There are a few scenarios where this would be useful, but in general, this is very rare.
A few instruments in the high-end part of the industry also feature a fourth pedal. What that fourth pedal does in most cases is what the left pedal on an upright piano does – it actually shortens the distance that a hammer travels to the string, thus reducing the dynamic range. This essentially gives you two different soft pedals on the piano.
Upright Piano
We’ll shift gears over to upright pianos now and highlight what’s different from a grand piano.
The Right Piano Pedal
The right pedal on an upright piano does exactly the same thing as what the right pedal on a grand piano does – it sustains the sound of the piano, by lifting all of the dampers up. The right pedal is the most commonly used pedal both on grands and uprights because it’s used to extend the limitations of only having 10 fingers since, in theory, you could get all 88 notes ringing at once.
Some piano teachers complain about the use of the right pedal, especially for younger students who aren’t really sure how to use it properly and recommend a couple of years of piano lessons before adding in the right pedal. It’s tough to give a generic answer as to when a student should start incorporating the right pedal, so it’s best to follow your teacher’s advice on that.
The Middle Piano Pedal
The middle pedal on most modern pianos of the upright persuasion is referred to as the practice pedal and activates what’s called a mute rail. When activated, the mute rail lowers a piece of felt between the hammer and the string, so instead of the hammer strikes hitting the strings directly, it hits the extra sheet of felt which absorbs most of the energy. This is a nice feature if you need to practice quietly for whatever reason.
If we go back 30 or 40 years, the middle pedal was actually less common. There were a lot of instruments still being produced with just two pedals, which means that the mute function just simply wasn’t there at all.
In a few rare cases, the middle pedal on an upright piano is a fully functional sostenuto pedal, just like on a grand. This is only found on a handful of instruments and is often available by special order only by manufacturers such as Bechstein, Steinway and Kawai.
The Left Piano Pedal
The left pedal moves all the hammers a few centimeters closer to the strings before the strings are struck, lowering the maximum force and velocity with which the hammers can strike the strings. This is sometimes called a quiet pedal or incorrectly referred to as an una corda (the name on a grand). It is incorrect to refer to it as such, because the hammer doesn’t shift left or right, reducing the number of strings it strikes, and in fact, the same strings are struck, but with less force.
Conclusion
We hope you found this article about piano pedals helpful. If you’re considering a digital piano and wondering what the pedals do in that case, they typically attempt to recreate the 3 pedals of a grand piano. If your digital-only has a single pedal, it will be a damper pedal. Thanks for reading!
