Pedal usage..

I would like to ask a few questions about the una corda pedal. Since I'm playing Schuberts moment musical #3 in F minor right now, there are a few passages which should be extremely soft, like pp and ppp. But I play them too loud for my liking, and if I try to play it as soft as possible, I tend to miss the notes, like I press those keys, and they don't make a sound. So, can the una corda pedal be used in this case?(the una corda pedal is the leftmost pedal on most pianos) Or should I just keep practicing and get my control perfect?

Note: The piece does not indicate any usage of pedals.

Thanks for the help.

You could. But the important thing to keep in mind is that the una corda pedal should be used as a particular effect, not a tool for playing softly. You use una corda because you want it to sound una corda (which is a great difference on a grand piano; on an upright it makes no difference, though, sadly), not because you want to play softly and can't for technical reasons. You can compare it to a string player's mute. He doesn't put on the mute whenever he plays pianissimo. He uses it where he wants the particular timbral effect of a mute. A pianissimo played tre corde (the opposite of una corda) sounds very different from one played una corda, and you should master this difference so that you can choose what's best for the music.

My favorite is pianissimo BOTH tre corda and una corda.

You could. But the important thing to keep in mind is that the una corda pedal should be used as a particular effect, not a tool for playing softly. You use una corda because you want it to sound una corda (which is a great difference on a grand piano; on an upright it makes no difference, though, sadly), not because you want to play softly and can't for technical reasons. You can compare it to a string player's mute. He doesn't put on the mute whenever he plays pianissimo. He uses it where he wants the particular timbral effect of a mute. A pianissimo played tre corde (the opposite of una corda) sounds very different from one played una corda, and you should master this difference so that you can choose what's best for the music.

Got it. Thanks.