| What do pedals on a piano do? | | | | position closer to the strings. This reduces the |
| The three pedals that have become more or less | | | | volume as the hammers have less distance to |
| standard on the modern piano are the following. | | | | travel, but this does not change tone quality in the |
| From left to right: una corda, sostenuto and | | | | way the una corda pedal does on a grand piano. |
| damper. | | | | However when this pedal is depressed on the |
| The damper pedal (also the sustaining pedal or | | | | vertical, it changes the action creating what is |
| loud pedal) is the most frequently used. It is | | | | called lost motion, that is the jack is now further |
| placed as the rightmost pedal in the group. Every | | | | from the hammer butt, and now has to travel |
| string on the piano, except the top two octaves, | | | | further to engage the hammer. This lost motion |
| is equipped with a damper, which is a padded | | | | changes the touch and feel of the playing action, |
| device that prevents the string from vibrating. | | | | and as a result many pianists never use the soft |
| The damper is raised off the string whenever the | | | | pedal on a vertical. |
| key for that note is pressed. When the damper | | | | Since the grand piano soft pedal simply shifts the |
| pedal is pressed, all the dampers on the piano are | | | | action sideways, it does not change the touch and |
| lifted at once, so that every string can vibrate. | | | | feel of the action, another advantage grand |
| This serves two purposes. First, it assists the | | | | pianos have over vertical pianos. |
| pianist in producing a legato (playing smoothly | | | | The sostenuto pedal (also the middle pedal) keeps |
| connected notes) in passages where no fingering | | | | raised any damper that was raised at the |
| is available to make this otherwise possible. | | | | moment the pedal is depressed. This makes it |
| Second, raising the damper pedal causes all the | | | | possible to sustain some notes (by depressing the |
| strings to vibrate sympathetically with whichever | | | | sostenuto pedal before notes to be sustained are |
| notes are being played, which greatly enriches the | | | | released) while the player's hands are free to play |
| piano's tone. | | | | other notes. This can be useful for musical |
| The una corda pedal (also the soft pedal) is placed | | | | passages with pedal points and other tricky or |
| leftmost in the row of pedals. | | | | impossible situations. |
| On a grand piano this pedal shifts the whole action | | | | The sostenuto pedal was the last of the three |
| to one side, slightly to the right, so that hammers | | | | pedals to be added to the standard piano, and to |
| that normally strike all three of the strings for a | | | | this day, many pianos are not equipped with a |
| note strike only two of them. This softens the | | | | sostenuto pedal. Almost all modern grand pianos |
| note and modifies its tone quality. | | | | have a sostenuto pedal, while nearly all upright |
| On many upright pianos, the pedal operates a | | | | pianos do not. |
| mechanism which moves the hammers' resting | | | | |