I have a couple questions.

I almost feel stupid asking this but, what is the is the middle pedal on a paino called and does it have any special markings down on paper?

I believe it's called the practice pedal. There's probably some way of notating its usage but I assume it's rare that a composer deliberately invokes it during a piece, as it's for practising quietly, not for performances. Then again, nothing would surprise me.

I've actually wondered about that myself....it does have a nice sound eh?!

I've taken my paino apart so that I can see how it all works and it works just like the sutain pedal but only for notes below low D. I want to be able to write somthing that allows me to hold an low ocatave and still play with the sutian pedal for higher notes using both hands. I just wondered if someone knew how to notate it. And Mike I think your thinking of the left one.

As far as I remember, the middle one drops a piece of felt between the hammers and strings, dampening the attack....

...What kind of crazy piano do you have??

...

I believe it's called the practice pedal. There's probably some way of notating its usage but I assume it's rare that a composer deliberately invokes it during a piece, as it's for practising quietly, not for performances. Then again, nothing would surprise me.

I think you're thinking of the left pedal, and it can be used in music. The marking is "una corda" which means on one string (I'm not really sure why they use that in piano music, but whatever sends it out works.) It has a special effect that if used correctly can really work.

The pedal that you're thinking of, ada, is the sostenuto pedal. On some pianos, this pedal requires you to depress the key you wish to play and quickly press the pedal to sustain just those notes. It takes a while to get used to, but it can be very useful.

As how to notate, I'm not completely certain. I always thought that it would be dictated by if the music asked for a long sustained notes that would be too muddy to hold down the sustain pedal. I really need to learn more about the piano.

EDIT: Actually, I remember reading the score to "Sunday in the Park with George" and in Color and Light, it simply stated sostenuto in the piano part. If anyone can shed some light on this I would appreciate it, because it's the main part of piano writing that I don't really even have a light grasp on.

I don't know it was made it in the 1800's, and I just played it. the sostenuto pedal as you called it is definently in the middle.

Maybe mine is just messed up because mine sutains only the notes below low D. I haven't looked closely enough to any others to really know. And I was mistaken it is the early 1900's.

Forgot to add, as you stated, on your piano the pedal only worked for that D down. I just read a little about the history of the sostenuto pedal, and I thought it might be interesting for you to read:

"Back to grand pianos. Located in between the 'soft' and 'sustain' pedals is a handy little gadget that can offer hours of amusement - introduced by Steinway and perfected in 1874, it is known as the sostenuto pedal and enables the pianist to make (within limits) a selection as to the notes he wishes to sustain. In order to ensure success, it can only be used after the keys themselves have been depressed. The process is as follows:

Choose a note or chord that you want to sustain.

Play it.

While the key(s) is(/are) depressed, press down on the sostenuto pedal with your left foot.

Let go of the note(s).

Keep the pedal pressed for as long as you want the note(s) to sustain.

Play any other notes on the piano, which will not sustain."

(from http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A625637)

Maybe the pianos with this trait were made while it was being perfected? But then again, some new pianos are made like that too, so I don't know.

Interesting maybe I just need to search the history painos

Forgot to add, as you stated, on your piano the pedal only worked for that D down. I just read a little about the history of the sostenuto pedal, and I thought it might be interesting for you to read:

"Back to grand pianos. Located in between the 'soft' and 'sustain' pedals is a handy little gadget that can offer hours of amusement - introduced by Steinway and perfected in 1874, it is known as the sostenuto pedal and enables the pianist to make (within limits) a selection as to the notes he wishes to sustain. In order to ensure success, it can only be used after the keys themselves have been depressed. The process is as follows:

Choose a note or chord that you want to sustain.

Play it.

While the key(s) is(/are) depressed, press down on the sostenuto pedal with your left foot.

Let go of the note(s).

Keep the pedal pressed for as long as you want the note(s) to sustain.

Play any other notes on the piano, which will not sustain."

(from http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A625637)

Maybe the pianos with this trait were made while it was being perfected? But then again, some new pianos are made like that too, so I don't know.

You are right. Also, it isn't always marked as to when to apply the sostenuto pedal. When it is marked you will usually see the abbreviation sos. by the note or chord. I myself have only used the pedal in one composition.

It gets kind of crazy when you have to use all three at the same time:P

on upright pianos the middle pedal can be one of two things

1. a "poor man's sostenuto pedal" (whose function on a grand piano is perfectly well described in Calehay's post) which sustains indescriminately the notes below a certain range - generally around the C one octave below middle C. It functions exactly the same way the sustain pedal (right hand pedal) does, except only on the lower two octaves or so of the piano.

2. a studio damper pedal that brings a sheet of felt between the hammers and strings thus muffling the sound. generally, this function for the middle pedal will be found on smaller "studio" pianos, and is slowly falling out of favour with piano manufacturers.

to notate the use of the standard sostenuto pedal one markes the notes that will be sustained and indicates "sost. ped."

be aware that ANY notes played at the time and sustained by the normal sustaining pedal will ALSO be sustained if one is not careful. The use of the sustenuto pedal is best reserved for when one fully grasps the intricacies of piano technique.

I almost feel stupid asking this but, what is the is the middle pedal on a paino called and does it have any special markings down on paper?

Why do you always type paino when you mean piano? Sounds dumb.

Hi Ada... here is the answer in short...

To use the Una corda pedal you just write it so over the passage. What it does is that it strikes only one string on the piano instead of three which makes the piano a bit less harmonic but also reduce the volume (since there is less strings sounding).

The other pedal - the one just stated above - you have to write in white losange (hmmm... what if the english word for losange? Diamond I think) the keys to be depressed before hand and the they will be sustained as long as you hold that pedal even if you articulate the main sustain pedal.

Is that clear for you !? ;)

i dont know i think the middle pedal probably doesnt work in my piano(maybe)

the middle peddle on the upright piano has one of two functions, both of which have been listed in this thread.

the "normal" function is as a pseudo sustain pedal.

the less common one is as a "mute" pedal (with the piece of felt coming down between the hammers and strings)

do not use the middle pedal as you find it on an upright as "standard", either, since the function on a grand is different.

and especially, do not expect to have the muted effect on all pianos - so no matter how nice it might sound on your piano, that's not a normal function of the middle pedal, and there is absolutely no guarantee that wherever your piece is performed the piano will act in the same way.

When you write for piano, you generally write for grand piano, and the pedals are the following:

leftmost -- soft pedal, or una corda, which does exactly what its names suggest. The left pedal shifts the entire keyboard a little bit so that when the hammers strike the strings they are only striking one of the three upper strings (or partially striking the thick, lower strings). It gives the piano an entirely different, softer color, and allows for the playing of extremely soft passages. Some pianists will use the soft pedal in any piece in the classical repertoire in which they need a soft dynamic along with a softer color, even if the u.c. marking is not explicitly written.

sostenuto pedal -- this is the middle pedal which does exactly what the Steinway advertisement above explains.

damper pedal -- the right pedal, the one you normally think of when you think of the piano pedal.

Some upright pianos omit a middle pedal altogether, and the left pedal does one of two things: it may place felt between the hammer and strings to change the color, and this color change is not nearly as pleasing as the una corda change on a grand. Or, it may move the resting position of the hammers closer to the strings, so that all dynamic levels are automatically decreased. (Think physics -- if the hammer has the same acceleration over half the distance, it will be traveling four times slower when it hits the string, and so will sound softer. I think it's four times slower, but don't quote me on it. I'm too lazy to calculate it out right now.)

But since composers don't generally write with upright pianos in mind, all you really need to know are the mechanics of the pedals of the grand, which do not change.

One piece requiring the use of the middle pedal is Debussy's "Sunken Cathedral" prelude. In the attached measures, the C in the bass must be held underneath chords requiring the use of both hands. To play this, you would play the C and put down the middle pedal (before you release it). Then you are free to sus. pedal each of the big chords. One thing to note is that you don't need to re-pedal the middle pedal every time (because its a repeated note).