SOPP360: With good organ shoes, pedal miracles will happen!
This question was sent sent by Rob, and he writes:\n \nHello Ausra and Vidas,\n\nEnjoyed the story featuring pointed high heel shoes and what Anders said in today\u2019s post about his organ shoes. So, let me share my organ shoes (well, not literally, of course) with you, Anders and all other readers of your posts. \n\nNobody plays the organ wearing gloves, it wouldn\u2019t make sense. Yet, in a way, we do wear \u201cgloves\u201d on our feet. (I remember that Rhoda Scott played her Hammond organ pedals with bare feet). Just as much as we need to feel the manuals in our fingers/hands, we need to feel the pedals in our feet. My organ shoes are supple (i.e. not too thick or sturdy) leather shoes with thin leather soles, almost (but not quite) like moccasins. The soles are \u201cslippery\u201d and without patterns or anything like that. These shoes are a snug fit on my feet so my feet can\u2019t move about in them. They are not too tight by any means. They are round shaped where my toes are and have a normal, round heel (certainly not high heels, haha). These shoes enable me to slide over the pedals and dance when required. In shape, as I said they are round (slightly pointed is also an option) so moving from one black key to the next (adjacent) black can easily be done without getting stuck between black keys and white keys. Heel-to-toe movement is natural and without effort. The thin soles allow me to really feel the pedals, and there is the similarity with fingers feeling the keys on the manuals. In these shoes, my feet know the \u201ctopography\u201d of the pedal board so it is rarely necessary to look down to direct my feet on sight. These, all in all, are the characteristics of my organ shoes. They are now more than 35 years old (my second pair of organ shoes) and I only wear them when playing the organ. I will never ditch these shoes of course (unless my feet change in future or when these shoes fall apart).\n\nHope this helps when folks think about/need to select organ shoes. And so, with good organ shoes, pedal miracles will happen! (to put a little twist on your tagline).\n\nBest to both of you and Merry Christmas,\n\nRob