The sustain pedal is not something that only works "all-in" and "all-out". It's not the clutch on your car's transmission. The damper pedal, or sustain pedal (the pedal to the far right) lifts all the dampers from the keys, letting them resonate freely. It is important to pay attention when you use it so that the harmonies remain clear and transparent, varying from case to case according the the style in which you are playing.
[caption id="attachment_234" align="aligncenter" width="374" caption="Notice how there are three different kinds of dampers in this picture of an upright piano's strings."]
[/caption]I have found that, in my experience, the problem with the pedal in young students is not that they use too much. The problem, is that they don't use the pedal enough. If you just stomp all the way down on the pedal and don't ever lift it or clean the sound up, then you are not using the pedal enough. Usually you will find indications in a score that ask you to use one pedal per measure, or changing it with each harmony. Even so, there are many small adjustments you constantly have to make when you play and these you have to do by paying attention to the sound that is actually coming out.
The pedal should be treated as if it were another finger, always active and changing. A static pedal leads to blurry, messy playing. Playing with absolutely no pedal tends to give us a dry sound, with almost no harmonics. When used properly, the pedal is like the piano's lung, it gives life to your sound.
There are two things that one tells the student that sometimes are met with skepticism, specially when their taste is not fully developed and they can't distinguish very well between good and bad tone:
1. The sound a piano makes is richer and fuller when you use the pedal, even if it is just a single note.
2. You can press the pedal half-way, or only a quarter of the way, or really fast (like a vibrato) and it will work in different ways.
These are very easy to prove for yourself.
[caption id="attachment_236" align="alignright" width="144" caption="Notice how the dampers for the notes with three strings can differ. They can be almost completely flat, or have little wedges that fit into between the strings."]
[/caption]Play a loud middle C without pressing the pedal and listen to the result. Notice the quality of the tone, and how long the sound takes to die. Now press the pedal and play the C again. There should be a definite difference. If you don't hear enough of a difference, you can try something else: press down on a C with an octave in the lowest register of the piano. Just enough so that the damper leaves the string, but not hard enough to make sound. Now play a loud middle C while you press those two other keys, and immediately let it go. The keys you are pressing in the lower register should echo with the sound, if the piano is in tune, they should actually sound quite loudly. These keys are vibrating by the phenomenon of sympathetic resonance. When you press the pedal, all of the strings are free to vibrate in sympathy with the sounds you are actually playing. In some pianos, it might even sound as if a sound has an octave below it even if you are only playing one line.
Vibrating pedals and gradations of the pedals can also be explained objectively. Notice that in a piano, not all dampers are shaped in the same way. Some are flat, some hug the string, some are like a wedge that goes between the strings. Also notice that in different registers, you have different kinds of strings and they behave in different ways when they vibrate. Try this: press the pedal only a tiny little bit. Play staccato in the middle register, notice that the notes continue to sound? One reason for this is that the dampers are flat and immediately leave the string. Do the same with keys in the lower register, it should be much more staccato than the higher register. That is because the damper goes in between the strings and does not rest on top of it. Another reason for this is that the string has a wider vibration, so it will hit the damper and stop sooner. Usually, a very light pedal will lift the higher strings, but for the lower strings you need to press the pedal deeper. Now try this: play a note loudly in the middle register and hold it with the pedal instead of your fingers, then very quickly release the pedal and press it all the way down again. The note should have stopped practically immediately. If you try this in the low register, the note will not stop, only diminish slightly in volume. That is because the vibration in the lower string is wider and the strings bigger; a quick tap from the damper won't stop the sound, it needs to actually drop down and rest on the string.
These quick experiments are not something that you can immediately put to practical use, but they do prove those two points about the pedal. A real pedal has many more little quirks than the pedal on an electric keyboard. You can adjust constantly and use half pedals, or quick pedaling to achieve the sound you want. It is important to learn to use the pedal to its full potential and the sooner you start trying, the better.
The above are very basic concepts about the pedal. Remember that "press and release" are things one works as a child. As one gets older usage of the pedal is much more complicated. A good pianists can use very long pedals to play a melody, but it wont sound blurred because of the way he is playing with his fingers. He can use the pedal in ways that would sound terrible with an amateur by balancing correctly dynamics and inner voices with his fingers.
Whole books can be written just about the pedal, and my point is just to open your eyes (and ears) to the possibilities. If all you are doing is pressing the pedal down and lifting it up because it says so on the score, or because your teacher wrote some markings in your music, you are missing out on a lot. You are pretty much still in diapers in regards to pedaling. Actually, whole books have been written about the pedal. Here are a couple of classic guides that are worth reading:
The Art of Piano Pedaling (Rubinstein, Carreño)
The Pianist's Guide to Pedaling (Joseph Banowetz)
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