ORGAN PEDAL Playing: Is It Better To Play With Organist Shoes Or With Socks?

Church Organ Pedal - Photo: Pixabay

Have you experienced problems playing the organ with organist shoes? Is it easier for you to play with socks on? In this article, I will give you tips and advice on how to overcome this challenge.

It seems to me the following issue is making the difficulty in playing with the shoes the pedals for you.

You are used to playing without shoes. Socks are more sensitive and therefore you might think it is better without shoes but when it comes to playing with heels, you really need shoes.

Although the sole of the organist shoes is not thick but comparing to the socks, you still run into problems feeling the surface of the pedalboard. In other words, when you have to press the pedal, it is actually easier to feel it without the shoes on.

However, organ pedal technique consists of using both toes and heels (at least in modern legato organ school). Therefore, using heels is a lot easier by playing with organist shoes.

Technically speaking, the higher the heel of the shoe, the less motion you have to do from your ankles. I have seen great French ladies organists play impeccably on the pedals with high heels.

Of course, the accuracy comes from correct practice but for most people, the heels should be around 3 centimetres or 1.2 inches.

If you are experiencing problems playing with organist shoes, start practising with your organ shoes on any organ regularly (at home, on your teacher's organ or at church). Don't worry at all about the mistakes. They have to occur since you are not used to playing with shoes.

Be persistent and you will discover gradual improvement over time. When you make a mistake, go back a few measures, correct it and play fluently at least 3 times in a row very slowly. Also, make use of pedal preparation technique which will automate your pedal playing.

By Vidas Pinkevicius By the way, do you want to learn my special powerful techniques which help me to master any piece of organ music up to 10 times faster? If so, download my free Organ Practice Guide. Or if you really want to learn to play any organ composition at sight fluently and without mistakes while working only 15 minutes a day, check out my systematic master course in Organ Sight-Reading. Article Source: EzineArticles

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How to Practice Classical ORGAN MUSIC on the Spinet Electronic Organ With the Short Pedal Board?

Hammond TR-200 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Although much of classical organ music requires the full length of pedal board, not every organist have access to this kind of instrument, either pipe organ or electronic organ. Many people have Spinet electronic organs at home and they have to solve the pedal playing problem because Spinet organ pedal board have only 13 keys (C-c). For organists who practice on various kinds of electronic organs, such as Spinet, adjusting to the short pedal board is a very important question. In this article, I will give you 2 solutions for practicing classical organ music on the Spinet electronic organ with the short pedal board.

In general, it depends on what kind of music you are working on. There is plenty of organ music which was written for manuals only. Obviously, to play such music on the Spinet organ is no problem at all. In addition, a significant part of early organ repertoire was composed with a short pedal board in mind.

For example, Italian organs for many centuries didn't have a full pedal board so anything Italian would work fine on a Spinet organ. The question remains what to do with the classical organ music, like the music of Bach which often requires 27 note pedal board (sometimes even 30)

In general, for music which requires the full compass of pedal board you have only 2 options:

1) To arrange the pedal part so that it will fit the short compass of the Spinet. For example, notes in the pedal part above tenor c would have to be played one octave lower. Sometimes an entire excerpt might be played one octave lower.

If you have to play notes from c sharp up to f in the treble octave, you can lower them by two octaves. In doing so, you may also have to adjust the pedaling. For example, this could mean that using the right foot on the Spinet organ might be complicated so the majority of notes should be played by the left foot.

2) To play as written, imagine the additional pedals, and press the approximate spot on the floor. It is also possible to add a wooden board on the floor of approximate the same height as the Spinet pedals so that you will have the same feeling while playing with your feet. In addition, you can draw the missing pedals on this board so that you will know exactly where to play.

If you want to play classical organ music on the Spinet electronic organ, use the above tips for pedal playing. It is also a good idea from time to time to get access to the real pipe organ. Occasional practice on a full length pedal board will allow you to have the correct feeling for your feet.

By Vidas Pinkevicius By the way, do you want to learn to play the King of Instruments - the pipe organ? If so, download my FREE video guide "How to Master Any Organ Composition" http://www.organduo.lt/organ-tutorial.html in which I will show you my EXACT steps, techniques, and methods that I use to practice, learn and master any piece of organ music. Article Source: EzineArticles

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