IT tre corde harp technique common Support my free tools
- Abbreviation
- t.c.
How is tre corde played?
This is a piano pedalling instruction, not a string-bowing term. Lift the left pedal, cancelling una corda; on a grand piano the shifted action returns so each hammer again strikes the note's normal complement of strings and its usual area of felt. The name means 'three strings' and reflects the common trichord arrangement, but not every modern piano note literally has three strings. Tre corde and the equivalent tutte le corde restore the fuller normal colour, which remains until una corda or u.c. is requested again.
How does tre corde sound?
The full, bright, normal piano tone returns after the muted una corda colour.
In context
Gerou and Lusk explicitly pair una corda/u.c. for pressing the left pedal with tre corde/t.c. for the return to normal; Indiana University gives the same u.c.–t.c. cancellation pair, and independent UC Santa Barbara piano research says the full words are most common while both abbreviations are also often used. Henle documents tre corde and tutte le corde as release markings. The form 3 c. appears in Casella’s Ricordi Beethoven edition but remains an editor-specific attestation rather than a general production form.