Piano Forum

Piano Street Magazine:
The World of Piano Competitions – issue 2 2025

The World of Piano Competitions magazine is a well-established reference for anyone seeking a deeper understanding of today’s international classical piano landscape. In this new issue, Chopin stands at the centre — not merely as the focus of a competition, but as a celebration of a unique musical legacy. Read more

Pages: [1] Go Down

Topic: names of the 3 pedals and their uses (Read 8712 times)

pianoplayjl

PS Silver Member
Sr. Member
Posts: 2076

names of the 3 pedals and their uses

on: February 24, 2012, 09:24:59 AM

I am an 8th grade student and yet still haven't learnt the names of the 3 pedals. I must be really crap in theory after all. I only know the one to the right is called the damper pedal. Someone please help me identify the other two and what they are for. I wonder what the one to the left is for. When I try the left pedal and play a note there really is no difference. What is the left pedal for? Someone help me again.

JL

Logged

Funny? How? How am I funny?

outin

PS Silver Member
Sr. Member
Posts: 8211

Re: names of the 3 pedals and their uses

Reply #1 on: February 24, 2012, 10:16:45 AM

I think you could read the article on Wikipedia for basic information or just google piano pedals for other articles:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piano_pedals

The left pedal (una corda -pedal) softens and changes the sound of the piano by moving the hammers so that they only hit one string instead of all 3. On modern pianos the mechanism can be different though. Depending on the piano the effect may not be very strong.

The middle pedal can have many different functions depending on the piano.