Only use the front part of your foot to press down so that you don’t move your entire leg each time which slows down your playing. Your right foot is only used to press down the damper pedal which is the one on the far right. Your left foot plays both the soft pedal and sostenuto pedals which are the far left and middle pedal, respectively.
Pressing any of the pedals lifts the dampers inside the piano. Lifting the dampers allows the strings that are attached to the piano keys to vibrate and make sounds. Pushing a pedal part of the way down only partially lifts the dampers, so the pedal’s effects are diminished.
Depending on the musical notations, depress the damper pedal before, at the same time, or after you play a note. Each difference in timing produces unique sound effects. [3] X Research source The dampers on all the strings are raised when the damper pedal is used, as well as the intended ones. The one set of strings’ vibrations causes sympathetic vibrations with all the other strings and also sustains the notes played until the pedal is released.
The soft pedal manipulates the hammer that strikes the strings that are attached to any key that you play. Different keys have different amounts of strings and using the soft pedal shifts the hammer to strike fewer strings for a more muted sound. You can still play loudly while pressing the soft pedal. Striking keys harder than normal will override the effect of the soft pedal. Don’t use the soft pedal as an excuse not to learn to play softly. You should still be able to control your fingers to play keys quietly without a pedal. [4] X Research source
For example, you can play a bass note and at the same time depress the sostenuto so that you can prolong the bass note while playing staccato soprano keys that are not sustained. You can still use the damper pedal while using the sostenuto. This allows you to give multiple notes different dynamics all at the same time. [6] X Research source
To depress or engage the damper pedal, you will see either “ped. ” in plain or flourished script. Soft pedal markings on a sheet of music appear as “una corda” to tell you to use it and “tre corde” to stop. [8] X Research source The sostenuto isn’t used very often but when a piece of music calls for it, there will be markings that read “sost. ped. ”[9] X Research source When the composer wants you to release a pedal, there will be a symbol that resembles an asterisk (*).
Preliminary pedaling is when you use a pedal before playing a note. This gives off a deep, rich sound because the dampers are taken off the keys before you play a note, so the strings are allowed to vibrate and create sound freely. Use a pedal while simultaneously playing a note to accentuate its sound. When you play notes while holding down the damper pedal, you accumulate volume since the strings are not muted by the dampers, which causes a crescendo that grows louder as it is sustained. Change or disengage and reengage the pedal often to help maintain tonal quality and integrity. Holding down a pedal can muddy up or muddle the sound and harmonies.
