Organ shoes
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Organ shoes are special shoes an organist wears to facilitate playing (or “pedaling”) of an organ pedalboard.
Few shoes are designed specifically for organ playing. However, many types of footwear have characteristics that make them suitable for use as organ shoes, depending on the needs and preferences of the individual organist.
The typical features of an organ shoe are:
- A flexible, lightweight leather or synthetic upper held snugly to the foot by a lace, strap, or ribbon. The material should allow the organist’s feet to glide against each other without sticking together.
- A soft, flexible leather sole that allows the organist to slip her foot easily both up and down a pedal and across pedals. The sole should be thin enough to feel the pedals easily, and it should not extend beyond the sole of her foot.
- A slight heel of about an inch in height, and wide enough so that it cannot become wedged between two pedals.
There are some additional considerations:
- The organ shoes, whatever their type, should be dedicated to pedaling and worn only at the organ to avoid damaging their soles or picking up grit or grime that could scar or stain the pedals.
- Aesthetic concerns may also be important for organists who perform in public; in these cases, the shoes should work nicely with the rest of the organist’s attire. Performers of classical works and church organists usually prefer a muted look, while performers of popular repertoire may choose brighter or more noticeable shoes in order to highlight their pedaling.
Many shoes with some or all of these characteristics may serve well; the choice tends to be rather personal. While some men may wear leather dress shoes, these usually have soles that are too thick and stiff for accurate pedaling. Women’s fashion is more varied than men’s, and this trend extends to organ shoes. Because pedaling is similar in several respects to dance, shoes made for the latter purpose are often especially suitable for the former. Many girls and women play organ in ballet slippers, which some consider to be the perfect organ shoe. They are soft, comfortable, attractive, inexpensive, and readily available in a variety of colors. Being very lightweight, they allow the organist to move her feet quickly, and they have brushed leather soles that are ideal for pedaling. The organist may also choose between split-sole ballet slippers, which allow the greatest possible flexibility short of playing in bare feet (see discussion below), or full-sole ballet slippers, which may improve the shoe's gliding characteristics at the cost of a slight loss of flexibility.
1) soft split-sole ballet slippers, for maximum flexibility;
2) soft full-sole ballet slippers, for improved glide;
3) Capezio character shoes, with heels;
4) Bloch Grecian Sandals, with heels and greater flexibility.
On the other hand, ballet slippers may prove too flexible for some organists who may prefer a somewhat stiffer sole, and they also lack heels, which can be a drawback in classical repertoire. Organists who prefer heels to flats may choose more specialized dance shoes called character shoes (see illustrations). Shoes in this category include Bloch Grecian Sandals and Capezio Teaching Sandals, both of which combine heels with a near-barefoot level of flexibility. Tic-Tac-Toes, a dance shoe manufacturer, also makes lines of organ shoes for both men and women. Other organists may simply use a particularly suitable pair of “street shoes” that they set aside strictly for playing: these can range from casual sandals to formal evening shoes. The common denominator in these cases is a light, comfortable, shoe that hugs the foot and has a thin leather sole.
Many shoes, however, are unsuitable for pedaling. These include sneakers and other rubber-soled shoes; flip-flops, clogs, and any other shoe that fails to hug the heel; platform shoes, “chunky shoes” or any other heavy or inflexible footwear that would slow, or decrease the agility of, the organist’s feet.
Some female organists play in high, stiletto, or kitten heels; this makes proper pedaling difficult and is largely a concession to style at the expense of performance. If the organ in question is an electronic spinet model, however, this presents little or no problem, since the pedalboard of these models is designed to be played primarily with the left toes rather than in classical heel-and-toe fashion. On these instruments, especially, some organists who perform popular repertoire also choose to play in stocking feet or even barefoot in order to be able to feel the pedals and to be as agile on them as possible. Classical organists, on the other hand, who use an elaborate style of two-foot playing on larger pedalboards, tend to discourage playing barefoot or in any footwear that departs significantly from the usual characteristics of an organ shoe. In classical repertoire, organ shoes tend to be viewed as a must.
Insistence on playing in dedicated organ shoes (purpose-built or otherwise) is not, however, universal, even among professional organists and organ teachers, and many organists who normally play in organ shoes will play impromptu demonstrations (for visitors or students) in street shoes. Likewise, organists playing on "straight-flat" pedalboards tend to be more likely to do so in street shoes, even if they use organ shoes on "concave-radiating" pedalboards.
For the sake of common courtesy, visiting organists should, if not playing in dedicated organ shoes, still make an effort to avoid tracking dirt, mud, or grit onto somebody else's pedalboard.
Suppliers of dance shoes that may be suitable for organ playing may be found by performing a web search on brand names such as
[edit] External links
Organ shoe makers:
