What are the piano pedals and what do they do?
Even if you are a beginner, by now, you will have noticed those three levers at the bottom of your piano and wondered what they could possibly be about. Don’t be intimidated, while these pedals might still be unfamiliar to you, they are the key to unlocking more sounds on the piano. Whilst not all sheet music might include them, it’s important to learn more about them and understand what they can do for you so that when you advance in your practice, you can easily introduce them as part of your playing.
First of all, the reason why you should care about piano pedals is because of their expressive qualities, and how they can help you enhance your sound. Whether you want to heighten a soft dynamic or draw out the sound of the notes you play, this is the way to do it. Contrary to some misconceptions, these pedals can be found even on digital pianos.
To better understand them, let’s look at what each pedal does (please note that the location of each pedal might change depending on the type of piano you are playing, the ones noted here relate to an acoustic piano):
The sustain pedal (located on the right side) - This pedal’s job is to sustain the sound of the notes you play, bringing more resonance to your piece while also bringing every different sound together. It’s the melting pot of your piano playing, and as you’ll notice by pressing on this pedal while you play a key, the note will keep on resonating even after you have lifted your fingers off.
Use this pedal when you wish to blend chords and notes together, eliminating any abrupt transitions between different passages of the pieces you are playing. The drawback? If you overdo it with the sustain pedal, you risk blending all different sounds so much that they become impossible to tell apart. As such, it’s important that you practice using it so that when you’re playing a piece, you’ll learn to judge whether a passage can benefit from its addition or not.
Note that this pedal is also known as the ‘damper’ pedal and would be a great addition to a piece like Für Elise by Beethoven.
The una corda pedal (located on the left side) - This pedal is key to instantly muffling your sound and is a perfect addition to passages marked as ‘pianissimo’. In fact, this pedal does such a great job at quietening the sound that it’s also known as the ‘soft’ pedal.
However, don’t let this trick you into believing that this pedal will do all the heavy lifting when it comes to playing softer passages. To get the best effect, it’s important to also play the notes softly, as the una corda pedal is just meant to aid the softer sound. Once again, learn to judge the correct amount of times you should use it when playing a piece as overdoing it will make every passage sound the same.
You can try to play around with this pedal when practicing any piece but for example, you will often find suggestions to use it when playing the music of the composer Debussy.
The sostenuto pedal (located in the middle) - Last but not least, let’s look at the sostenuto pedal, and how it can be used to sustain just the notes that you are playing at that exact moment. This makes it quite versatile and good to use even in combination with the other pedals.
The correct way to use it is by pressing it after you play the notes, so this might take some practice to get right and obtain the desired effect. This pedal will do great when playing more advanced pieces by Debussi, for example.
One thing to keep in mind is that you will only unlock the full effect if you press the notes down hard enough, otherwise they will be hard to sustain for longer.
Hopefully, this little intro to piano pedals will encourage you to give them a try as part of your practice and help you understand that they shouldn’t be as intimidating as they might appear at first. Like with anything else related to playing the piano, practice is what will give you the confidence to explore more ways to bring out all the expressiveness of each piece you play.
