Day 29: Expression Marks for the Piano
A standard piano has 2 or 3 pedals. The pedal that is used most is the one on the right, known as the sustain pedal
. Its job is to let notes ring out (sustain) even after the piano keys have been released.
The symbol: Ped
or simply P
instructs the player to press the pedal.
This symbol is known as the release pedal
or pedal up
and it instructs the player to let go of it:
This line is an alternative to the release pedal
symbol:
The wedge is where the pedal should be lifted (and so the sustain stopped). With the alternatives in place, the example above might be rewritten like so:
See companion course: Audio Example 29.1
Music is sometimes marked with just one ped.
mark in the beginning. This implies that the composer wants the sustain pedal to be used but the details of when to press and release are left up to the pianist.
The left pedal is the soft pedal
or the una corda
. As the name implies, its job is to soften the overall timbre of the piano. Although performers employ the soft pedal at their own discretion, its use can also be specified with the words una corda
or due corde
.
See companion course: Audio Example 29.2
The release of the pedal is marked with the term tre corde
(three strings) or tutte le corde
(all the strings).
See companion course: Audio Example 29.3
The middle pedal (not found in pianos with only two pedals) is the sostenuto
pedal. The sostenuto pedal mechanism allows the pianist to sustain only the notes that are already depressed when the pedal is engaged. This means that a note or a chord can be sustained while the fingers move on to other notes or chords (that are not sustained).
Pianists often employ this pedal at their own discretion, but modern composers do specify its use. The term sostenuto pedal
or sos. ped.
instructs the player to engage it. And similar to the sustain pedal, it’s released either pedal up symbol, or the wedge of the pedal up line.
