What does the 'pedal mechanism' do on a piano?
The pedal mechanism on a piano is used for expanding upon the ability to express the music that you are playing. In essence, the right pedal, which is the most commonly used pedal, lifts all the dampers off the strings. The dampers are the piece of a piano that stop the strings from vibrating. When you push the damper pedal, it lifts the dampers off the strings and it lets them ring freely. When you are playing a piece using the sustain pedal as you play, the piece is more legato. The middle pedal is called the "sostenuto pedal". It will sustain a cluster of notes that you have played, and once you've played the notes, while you're holding them down, if you push the middle sostenuto pedal down, it will sustain only those notes, and then you can play other notes--that you didn't previously play--staccato, while the other notes are still ringing. This is commonly used in music where a pedal tone is needed, where a pianist will play a bass tone, and then hold that pedal down, and then free up both hands. While that is ringing, they can play something with both hands up toward the top of the piano. But it's used in other forms of music, as well, and in other ways. A lot of people have figured out creative ways to use the sostenuto pedal. The una corda pedal is the far-left pedal. It's called "una corda" because that means 'one chord'. It moves the whole hammer mechanism over just enough to clear one of the multiple strings the hammer is striking to create a different sound, and a slightly more mellow sound and less resonant sound. Usually, the una corda pedal is used to reduce the volume of the piano. If a pianist has to play something quickly at low volume, this helps assist that. Or if they want to play something that is quieter, oftentimes a pianist will use the una corda pedal to help assist in playing quieter.
