To be successful in an occupation, one must have the right tools. A carpenter needs properly weighted hammers, sharp saws, a good screwdriver and the skills to use each of those tools. An accountant needs calculators, computer programs and the knowledge to use those tools. The organist also must have the proper tools and the skills and knowledge to use those tools to be successful in her occupation.
The most distinctive tool of the organist's trade is her footwear. You can always tell an organist by her shoes. Rarely does anyone more than four years old wear black patent leather shoes with perky ribbon laces other than an organist. This rather tap-dance shoe look-alike is an organist's favorite pair of shoes! Comfortable, slick leather-soled, inch-high heeled, neatly ribbon-tied through a single eyelet pair of shoes stays at the organ or travels in her briefcase to organ playing destinations.
So, why are patent-leather tie-up, leather-soled shoes such an important tool for the organist? The organist needs the ability to move effortlessly across the pedal board exacting notes that run the gamut from scale wise passages to long held tones and everything in between. For example, in fugal compositions, an organist's feet are called on to play the same fugue subject as the ten fingers of the hands. Thus, nothing should hinder pedal technique.
Comfortable tie-up or buckle shoes are a must for an organist's success. Shoes must fit snugly and stay on the foot-ties and buckles make sure that is going to happen. One cannot execute complicated pedal passages in sloppy slip-on shoes. For maximum success the organist must choose her organ shoes carefully then make sure those shoes are used for nothing else except gliding over the organ pedals. Never should these shoes be worn outside or as casual house shoes.
Well-designed organ shoes have leather-soles that allow the feet to glide over the pedals. Just imagine an organist trying to play the pedal passages of Bach's Fugue in d minor in a pair of rubber-soled athletic shoes. The effort at best would be clumsy and inarticulate.
Organ shoes with inch-high heels give the organist the ability to play scale wise or intervals of a third in a legato manner. Flat-heeled shoes or those with four-inch spike heels simply inhibit the ability of the player. An organist who can use both heel and toe with both feet successfully play complicated repertoire in a more elegant fashion.
Today, just like in everything else, an organist has shoe choices. I have explored several of those choices cautiously venturing away from the traditional black patent leather organ shoe to mildly extravagant pairs. At times my feet have been shod in very classy silver tie-up shoes or in gold dusted shoes in a stunning strap style. Each pair though, is comfortable, tie-up or buckle-up, leather-soled, and has an inch-high heel. These shoes are one of the tools of my organist trade. These "magic shoes" as one of my students calls them, help make an ordinary person someone different, someone special, someone unlike others-an organist!
