The Mysterious Middle Pedal of the Piano

The middle pedal on a piano has a mysterious set ofThe left pedal is used to quiet the sound.
functions that vary with the age, model and conditionOn an upright piano, this is done by moving the
of the piano. First, one should understand what all threehammers closer to the strings so that they strike the
pedals do.strings with less force, since force is partially
Some pianos have only two pedals. There are olddependent on the distance from the hammer to the
pianos with this configuration, and there are brand newstring.
models that use only two pedals, so having two pedalsOn a grand piano, the left pedal makes the sound
is no single confirmation of the age of a piano.softer by moving all the hammers slightly to the right.
Regardless of how many pedals there are, the rightSince each hammer strikes three strings, moving it to
pedal has a single function. The right pedal acts tothe right will make the hammer strike only two strings,
sustain all of the keys of the piano.making it 2/3 as loud.
The middle pedal, if there is one, was originally intendedI have only found a functioning middle pedal ("selective
to sustain (see above) only those keys which were" sustain) on a handful of fine instruments.
depressed while the middle pedal was down. Think ofWhile not required to play any music correctly, the
it as a "selective" sustain. All the other keys that aremiddle pedal is called for starting with the music of
not included in the middle pedal continue to be damped,Debussy and Ravel at the beginning of the 1900s. You
that is, not sustained.will also find it in modern classical music, such as Ives
On many pianos, especially those in the current era,and Ruggles.
have a middle pedal which acts as a mute, in which aThink of the middle pedal as an idea that never came
piece of felt is automatically draped across the strings,to fruition, the pinkie toe of the piano, vestigial and
damping and quieting the sound. It is suitable only forforever mysterious to all.
quiet practice.