Forte Yes, Pianissimo No

[Glyptodont]

I get used to playing pieces on my 5' 8" grand piano at home.  When I encounter p or pp  notation, I can soften considerably just by touch, and the una corta (soft) pedal will additionally reduce the sound.  So I can play pp at a very low level, almost a whisper.

When I play the same pieces at my lesson, I play a Yamaha upright.  The action feels different--  it is harder to lighten the touch for "piano" effects -- perhaps the touch is "crisper" if that's a valid word here?

Pressing the soft pedal all the way down on this Yamaha really does not soften much.  There is SOME reduction of volume, of course, but not so effective or dramatic as on my grand at home.

To sum this up in plain English, that darn upright does not do pianissimo very well.  It doesn't do forte as well either, because it is a much smaller piano.  So the dynamics are harder to achieve.  If achievable at all.

Is this a trait of the individual pianos, or is it related to one being a grand, the other upright? 

Has anyone else ever experienced this?

[robertp]

I'd be surprised if most hadn't experienced similar.

Uprights have a different mechanism for una corda, which Larry Fine calls a "hokey system". It  definitely makes the touch different (to put it politely).

Could you imagine how much worse it would be if it weren't a Yamaha upright with its (presumably) rather crisp action? Trust me -- I've got a Baldwin studio upright and it drives me crazy. Crazy enough so that it's one of the reasons I'm grand-shopping.

Practically, there is some good to it. Coaxing a good sound out of a piano where the mechanics are stacked against you is a worthwhile exercise. I take lessons on a Steinway grand, the least of which problems are that it's out of tune. I'm not sure the last time it had any voicing or action regulation. But even though I don't regret the "worthwhile exercise" -- I'm going to negotiate with my teacher for lessons elsewhere (there are some choices, luckily), since I've got enough other exercises to do  !

[xvimbi]

For any given instrument, ppp is the softest sound that can be reproducably and accurately produced. fff is the loudest sound. I am neglecting pppp and ffff, and similar here. So, one must work within these limits. The upshot is that pp on one piano is not the same as pp on another one in terms of decibels.

Finally, you should NOT use the una corda pedal to achieve softer sounds. This is not the purpose of the una corda pedal! Any loundness should be achieved solely by the fingers/hand/arm. Granted, the una corda pedal does result in a softer sound, but it's main hallmark is that the sound quality is changed compared to tre corde. I hardly consider anything "cheating" when it comes to playing the piano, but the use of the una corda pedal for playing pp is "cheating" IMO. Well, actually not so much cheating, as actually the wrong thing to do in most cases.

[Brian Lawson, RPT]

FYI in an upright(vertical) when you press the left pedal it pushes all the hammers closer to the string creating lost motion (a delay) between the key at rest and when it engages with with the Action. You exert a certain amount of pressure when you normally play a key, with the pedal depressed and exterting the same  pressure to the key you get the effect of a softer/quieter sound.

[robertp]

Good point, xvimbi! Obviously, any pedal shouldn't be used to compensate for technical inadequacies, real or perceived!

[Axtremus]

Nah... the soft pedal is just another tool in the tool box, using soft pedal is just another technique. Use whatever technique you need to get the sound you want, soft pedal included.

One can practise without soft pedal to build up better pianissimmo control, but when performing (or when preparing for performance) "getting the sound you want" is the goal -- if the soft pedal can help, use it. You're on stage, you do whatever is necessary to sound good, no point shunning this pedal or that pedal.

JMO.

[xvimbi]

Nah... the soft pedal is just another tool in the tool box, using soft pedal is just another technique. Use whatever technique you need to get the sound you want, soft pedal included.

I completely agree. However, I only wanted to point out that pp achieved with the fingers has a different tone quality compared to pp achieved with the help of the una corda pedal. One does not substitute for the other.