Piano Basics · Chapter 8 of 9
The Pedals
Most pianos have two or three pedals at your feet. The right one is the one you’ll use most, and a little of it goes a long way.
Inside an acoustic piano, every string has a damper: a felt pad that rests on the string. When you press a key, its damper lifts and the string can ring. When you let go, the damper drops back and the sound stops. The pedals change what happens next.
Right: the sustain pedal
Also called the damper pedal. It lifts all the dampers at once, so every note you play keeps ringing after you let go of its key, until you lift the pedal. This is the pedal people mean when they just say “the pedal.” Every piano has it.
Left: the soft pedal
It makes the sound softer and gentler. On a grand piano it shifts the keys and hammers slightly to the side, so each hammer strikes fewer of its strings. On most uprights it moves the hammers closer to the strings, so they strike with less force.
Middle: it depends
On a grand piano it is the sostenuto pedal: it keeps ringing only the notes whose keys you are holding down at the moment you press it. On many uprights it is a practice pedal that lowers a strip of felt between the hammers and strings to make the piano much quieter. On other uprights it does something else, or nothing.
Digital pianos imitate these pedals with electronics. Many come with just one pedal, a sustain pedal you plug in. Those with three pedals usually copy a grand piano’s.
Using the sustain pedal
Keep your right heel on the floor and press the pedal with the front of your foot. Press it all the way down and let it come all the way up; it doesn’t need force.
The pedal makes notes blend together. That sounds lovely when the notes belong together, and muddy when they don’t. So pianists usually change the pedal when the harmony changes: play the new notes, lift the pedal, and press it again right away. Try it on the keyboard above: play C E G with the sustain pedal down, then play F A C without lifting it and hear the blur. Then try again, lifting the pedal and pressing it again just after the new notes.
Use it lightly. Learn each piece without the pedal first, so you can hear your fingers clearly. Add the pedal only where the music asks for it.
Pedal marks in music
Music shows the sustain pedal under the bottom staff. The usual signs are Ped. where you press it, and a star-shaped mark where you lift it. Some editions draw a line under the music instead, with a notch where you lift and press again. The soft pedal is marked una corda (“one string”) and released at tre corde (“three strings”).
Remember
- Right pedal: sustain. Notes keep ringing until you lift it.
- Left pedal: soft. Middle pedal: sostenuto on a grand, often a practice pedal on an upright.
- Change the sustain pedal when the harmony changes, and use it lightly.