What's your usual practice footwear?

I tried gloves, but find that I prefer mittens. Blue ones.
James

I tried gloves...

Did you ever tried this :

... to play this : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7GxdGsl27k
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?

I once bought a pair of shoes advertised in an organ magazine. My dad saw them and said they were actually dance shoes! Anyway, they fit very tightly and were hard to get on and off, and I never liked them.

I happened to buy a pair of penny loafers for everyday wear. They had fairly rather pointed toes for a man's shoe and a definite heel step, like dress shoes. The sole was leather instead of being rubberized. This is a very important feature because they allow you to slide about on a key as needed.

Anyway, this turned out to be the best organ shoe I have ever had, and I have taken them off my everyday wear rack!

Try Japanese tabi They are not that expensive and if you have size 9 US or smaller feet they should be available. I tried to order some for my size 11s and it was a disaster.

Pax,

Thomas

I have an old pair of hush-puppies that I wear to practice at home. For church work, I have a much better pair of hush puppies. I find them comfortable both for casual wear and playing.

shoes are too wide and clumsy....leading to mistakes...........
socks are too slippery....leading to mistakes.....
ahh....bare feet.....just right !!

jrz

I have one pair of ordinary shoes that I normally play in and am used to, and for planned practise I wear them.

At the moment I'm frequently finding that I head to the organ to work on the console, and end up relaxing by playing it, and have the 'wrong' shoes on.
My temporary solution is a bit strange and may amuse some, but works well for me! I keep a pair of thick socks (designed for walking boots) by the organ. Then, if I'm there with the wrong shoes on I just slip the thick socks on, and you get the accuracy of socks with a bit more padding!

I "used" to wear OrganMasters, ... until an overzealous guest organist (with larger feet than my size 12's) cut a vertical slice in the backs of them, and apparently hoped that no one would notice. He was long gone after he played that wedding in my church.

Now, I play in socks.

Cheers,

Joe

I always wear my normal day-time men's shoes for practice and performance and don't have an extra pair for the organ, though i'm now considering to use the pair that has a hole at the top for this. I've been using those kind of shoes since I was 15, so compared to my classmates I had overly mature shoes I'm blessed with small feet though, so less chance of hitting those double notes.

I have a pair of handmade shoes (labour is cheap in Peru), copied from pictures of Organmasters. Quite comfortable, but in summer a bit hot. And as many have mentioned, it is just a bit awkward to put them on. So often I hop on the organ bench just with socks and maybe playing manuals only. Only when I plan a real serious pedal session do I put on these shoes - and I do play better (that is less lousy) then. I hardly ever play with heels so socks do work fine for "light duty".

Ernst

When I am at home and practicing something complex, I use my organ shoes. Where I work, they have an obnoxious set of bells that play before all the masses so I don't have the opportunity to play anything fun. As the mass is mostly simple hymn playing and liturgy, I find that I can get away with using sneakers. If I have some time to play a real piece like Franck or Bach after a mass, I slip into my organ shoes. I am also a very short man standing at about 5' 5" so I need the heel to actually play more complex music.

I bought a pair of Organmasters a couple of weeks ago. They are very comfortable and are a big improvement on the slippers I was using, Pedalling is much more comfortable now and because it has some sort of felt sole I can slide if I want. Love them!

Socks!

Socks!

I also changed from (sort of) Organmasters to socks. I feel more, it´s quicker and a lot less tight and warm. But yes, it´s also messier.

Ernst

I might play around casually in socks but for serious practise and for performance I use Organmasters. For instance, I don't feel I can do rapid pedal scales properly in socks.