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Topic: I know this question is silly but i need an answer  (Read 2402 times)

Offline kghayesh

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I don't know what is the function of the two other pedals in the piano. I know that the pedal to the right is the so called pedal. What are the other two used for?

Offline Axtremus

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Re: I know this question is silly but i need an answer
Reply #1 on: June 03, 2005, 04:14:44 PM
Those two "other" pedals have different functions on different pianos.

In general, on UPRIGHT PIANOS, the left-most pedal lets you play softer that you otherwise would, the middle pedal may operates a strip of felt in between hammers and strings so you play really soft and really muffled (some times it's refered to as the "practise pedal" -- e.g., it's 2 am, every one in the house is asleep, but you feel compelled to play the piano, so you push the middle pedal down, hoping that the muffled sound will be soft enough not to disturb other people in the house). Sometimes, the middle pedal just sustains the bass portion of the piano (that's sometimes referred to as "bass sustain," as oppose to the right-most pedal that sustains the whole range).

Sometimes, the middle-pedal is just there to look pretty with no function whatsoever -- you either trust the piano salesperson to give you the correct info, or you learn how to operate those pedals to verify them yourself, or you get a sufficiently trained pianist to shop with you and verify what all those pedals are really doing.

Good luck. :)

Offline TheHammer

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Re: I know this question is silly but i need an answer
Reply #2 on: June 03, 2005, 07:44:26 PM
Well, the left pedal is often referred to as the "soft-pedal" but indeed it is called the "una corda" pedal (=one string pedal). This pedal shifts the hammers nearer to the keys or shifts them slightly to the right, resulting in 2 effects, depending which piano you are playing :
1. Because the hammers are nearer to the strings, they cannot become so fast, the sound is softer (mostly on up-rights).
2. Because the hammers are shifted they only strike 2 instead of 3 strings, leading to a change in sound colour. This also is because of the fact that now other regions of the felt hit the strings and thus modify the sound quality (this is the una corda pedal in grand pianos).

The middle-pedal is sometimes either a practice pedal or a bass sustain as Axtremus said, but most often it is the so called "sostenuto"-pedal. The pedal will keep the damper of exactly the note lifted you are playing when pressing the pedal. That is sometimes adressed in 20th century music, so you have to play some long notes, but whiles holding these notes you have to do some other stuff in another register. With the sostenuto pedal you can sustain the long notes and play the other passages without blurring them with the (right) damper pedal.
 

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