what are the 3 pedals for?

I know the far right one is the sustain/damper pedal, and it seems to be the only one I use. What can the others do, and where would their uses be?

Left pedal - clutch Middle pedal - brakes Right pedal - 'Step on it, Ricco ! They're getting close !'

Actually , what kind (and age) of piano are you thinking of , 'cause the left and middle may have various 'tasks' ?

The one on the left, on a grand, is called the 'una corda' pedal. It shifts the action sideways so that only one string is struck instead of all three, and the other two resonate sympathetically. It makes a softer, ethereal sound. On an upright, the action is also shifted, but inward rather than sideways, so that the hammer stroke is shorter, which also makes the sound softer (but not more ethereal).

The center pedal is the sustenuto. On grands, it engages the keys are are being played at the time, so one or more selected notes can be sustained while new notes are not. This is a wonderful effect used in certain pieces; it's especially handy for pedal points. If a composition calls for the sustenuto and you don't have that pedal, there's no really effective way to fake it. Unless... On some uprights, the middle pedal lifts the dampers on the bass register, so you can play *some* pedal points.

Some digital pianos also have these effects available, if you connect three pedals.

(About the left pedal

The upright piano I grew up near to (but used very little) had this mechanism that would lower a long piece of felt between the hammers and the strings when the left pedal was pressed. This naturally made the sound softer. I don't recall whether the action was also shifted, but my guess would be that it wasn't.

My middle pedal makes nice cheese and onion toasted sandwiches.

Mine has stirrups so I can hook my toes, so when I'm shitfaced, I don't fall off the bench while playing boogie woogie blues. *hic!*

Cheers,

My Kawai upright has the same mecanism : left pedal is unicorda, richt pedal is sustain, and the middle pedal can be locked, putting a vilt between the hammers and the strings to soften the sound. This is done to avoid neighbour troubles when playing in appartments and such. The sound is much softer, but dynamics dissapear, it's allmost impossible to distinguish between loud and soft passages.

On the steinway concert piano i play at school, the middle piano is the sostenuto pedal as described before.