Pedals

There are three pedals on a piano. The pedal on the right is the sustain or damper pedal which lifts the damper from all of the keys so that the tone rings out longer and the strings keep vibrating. The middle pedals is often the bass sustain pedal which only lifts the damper off of the bass strings so that the bass notes continue to ring out. The pedal on the left is the soft pedal. The soft pedal produces a softer sound from the instrument. On grand pianos the soft pedal shifts the entire keyboard so that the hammer only hits one of the strings per key. However, this action isn't possible on an upright piano, so instead the soft pedal moves the hammer closer to the strings so it will not make as much of a sound when struck.