Soft pedal
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The ''''soft pedal'''' (or una corda pedal) is one of the standard pedals on a piano, generally placed leftmost among the pedals. On a grand piano, this pedal shifts the whole action including the keyboard slightly to the right, so that hammers that normally strike all three of the strings for a note strike only two of them. This softens the note and also modifies its tone quality.
The soft pedal was invented by Bartolomeo Cristofori, the inventor of the fortepiano, and thus appeared on the very earliest pianos. In the 18th and early 19th centuries, the soft pedal was more effective than today, since it was possible at that time to use it to strike three, two or even just one string per note—this is the origin of the name "una corda", Italian for "one string". In modern pianos, the strings are spaced too closely to permit a true "una corda" effect — if shifted far enough to strike just one string on one note, the hammers would also hit the string of the next note.
On upright pianos, the soft pedal operates a mechanism which moves the hammers' resting position closer to the strings. Since the hammers have less distance to travel this reduces the speed at which they hit the strings, and hence the volume is reduced, but this does not change tone quality in the way the una corda pedal does on a grand piano.
Digital pianos often additionally use this pedal to modify non-piano sounds such as the organ, guitar, or harmonica in ways appropriate to those instruments' playing techniques. Pitch bends, Leslie speaker speed, vibrato, and so forth can thus be controlled in real-time. The pedal is still sometimes called the soft pedal because of its position, but it may have another name like modulation pedal.
The use of the soft pedal is generally notated with the words una corda or due corde (Italian for one or two strings) to show when the pedal should begin being used, and tre corde or tutte le corde (meaning three strings) for when it should be released. There is discretion for the performer in its use, however, and it can be used when there is no notation, but the performer believes its timbre or quietness is called for by the piece.
