What Do Piano Pedals Do?

When you first start to learn how to play piano, you’re probably going to mainly focus on getting your fingers used to playing the keys. But as you get better at that skill and play more complex pieces, you’ll eventually begin to use the three pedals at your feet. So what exactly do those piano pedals do? Well, each pedal has a specific function!

The Three Piano Pedals

The Una Corda Pedal

This pedal changes how many strings or what section of the strings are struck in the piano. Located on the left of the three, the Una Corda pedal modifies the volume, timbre, and tone color of notes. For example, pressing it while playing treble notes will cause the hammers to hit two strings instead of three.

The Sostenuto Pedal

This middle pedal holds up the dampers that were raised when the pianist pressed the pedal, allowing a player to sustain a tone without having to sustain the tones themselves. This basically means a pianist can play a chord while pressing the Sostenuto pedal, remove his or her fingers to play other notes, and the original chord will still be resonating.

The Damper Pedal

This pedal, located on the right, works by moving the felt dampers away from the piano strings to allow the produced sound to resonate longer. This is typically the pedal most people are familiar with, even those who don’t play piano, and allows a pianist to sustain a note even after he or she removes his or her fingers from the keys.

Grace Music School offers piano lessons near Plainview and Kings Park to teach proper technique and make you the best piano player possible. For more information or to schedule a lesson, call us at 631-239-6169 (Fort Salonga) or 631-470-9705 (Melville).