Does anyone else have problems playing the piano with shoes on? I've got my Grade 8 exam coming up and have remebered that every time I have an exam I have to try and cope with shoes when using pedals. At home where I doing all my practice I don't wear shoes so am used to using the pedals like that. On the ocassions where I have worn shoes I find it a bit awkward - just seems a bit clumsy and less control of the pedals.
What should I do?
Do you think the examiner wouyld notice or mind if I slipped my shoes off?! Or should I just practice with shoes on?
Thanks for any advice and sorry about the weirdness of this post!!

wow this is weird! i cannot use the pedals without shoes! my feet feel like they will slip off! if ive got my flat trainers on then i prefer that.

not sure if the examiner will mind....but if u do take them off make sure your feel dont smell!!!

Ha Ha Ha Ha

what is so amusing? this is a serious issue that needs raising.

hehe

how about some kind of ballet shoes? they (kind of) look like shoes but hardly feel different to socks. Examiner wouldnt notice (hopefully)

LOL
seriously I don't see why the examiner would mind if you slip your shoes off.

You want to give yourself the best chance - so play as you are used to playing at home. I wouldn't play in shoes if you're not comfortable or used to doing that.

Wear a pair that slips on and off fairly quickly - (rather than a pair with lots of laces or things that need undoing )

Maggie

QUOTE (maggiemay @ Mar 1 2005, 10:03 PM)

Wear a pair that slips on and off fairly quickly - (rather than a pair with lots of laces or things that need undoing )

can you imagine that!

"hang on ,im not ready to play my piece yet, i need to undo my shoe laces!"

Just imagine, if you become a world famous concert pianist, everyone will remember you for playing your pieces with no shoes!

QUOTE (clarinetlover @ Mar 1 2005, 10:07 PM)

QUOTE (maggiemay @ Mar 1 2005, 10:03 PM) Wear a pair that slips on and off fairly quickly  -  (rather than a pair with lots of laces or things that need undoing  :lol: ) can you imagine that! "hang on ,im not ready to play my piece yet, i need to undo my shoe laces!"

Hehehehe.

Interesting point, but I don't see how you can play without shoes. It must hurt your feet.

I cannot see that it matters whether you play in shoes or not as far as the examiner is concerned but I would favour having a soft-soled slipper (or ballet shoe) or something on your feet. Two reasons why.

(a) you will have to walk from the waiting room to the exam room and unless you have easily removed shoes once you get there, you could slightly annoy the examiner if you delay the start sorting out your shoes.

( secondly the hygiene bit is actually important. Quite often we can all get slightly sweaty/unsavoury feet. Fact. Now you might not notice it much, the examiner might not notice it much but the next candidate who enters the room from outside (especially if it's a small, warm room as at the Centre I use) might notice it big time.

All round, I'd say, wear something on your feet that you are comfortable in but affords some protection. Also, remember different pianos can have slightly differently shaped pedals. What you use at home may not be the same as in the exam room so best to be prepared.

Good luck with the exam.

Whoops - don't know how the little guy with sunglasses crept into my last message. It was meant to be second point "b" which obviously translated as something elseas I typed it.

Sorry.......

that happens to me as well sometimes!

QUOTE (neil.clarinet @ Mar 1 2005, 10:13 PM)

Interesting point, but I don't see how you can play without shoes.  It must hurt your feet.

Quite a few people (myself included) need to take their shoes off to play the organ. I find the width of size 10 shoes makes it very hard to strike one note at once.

As for piano pedalling without shoes - a pupil of my piano teacher's once broke her big toe that way when it slipped, so be careful not to pedal with just a couple of toes!

Organ is different.

QUOTE (neil.clarinet @ Mar 1 2005, 10:22 PM)

Organ is different.

Indeed it is, that's why it has a different name

About four days before my grade 4 exam I realised that I couldn't pedal with shoes on (I usually play wearing my slippers which give a much more detailed feel of the shape of the pedal). However I didn't fancy wearing my slippers in the exam so I decided that I'd have to practise in my shoes, I would have worn some nicer shoes for the exam but I had to go with my trainers as they seemed the next easiest thing to pedal in (mainly due to the lack of heel to complicate matters!). It took a while to get used to it (and still felt odd) but I managed it in the exam (there were comments about my pedalling in the piece concerned but I think that was down to me not the change in shoes!).

I have now bought some new shoes which are flat (it's quite hard to find flat (women's) shoes) and have a thinner sole so that they feel more like the slippers (still not the same though). I must remember to start practising with my shoes on more often though so that it's not such a shock when it comes to the exams! I agree that the best route to go, if you don't have much time, is to buy some thinly soled shoes, if you have a little more time (and less money!) then you might want to just practise with your shoes on to get used to it.

My son always plays with no shoes on in the exam. He is 8 now and sitting grade 4 this week. He has always walked into the hall without his shoes on .... he balances them on the piano sometimes as he cant reach the floor. Only in grade 3 did the examiner realise he had no shoes right at the end of the exam...... when commented on my son said that he couldnt play the piano if he wore his shoes and walked out of the room.

Not even thought about letting him try with shoes on .... that is until now.He likes playing without shoes on, suppose whatever you're comfortable with... surely they wouldnt mark you down if you have shoes on?

It's not wierd !

I've always played without shoes.

Only 5.5 yrs later, my piano teacher has just noticed

I can't play quite the same with shoes. I'm so used to playing barefoot - the pedals that is !

Fiona

Yeah, I always used to play without my shoes fo pedalling, and for my grade 2, I just took the right one off and no one minded! I can play with shoes now, coz I felt a bit stupid at festivals not having any on, so I made myself do it.

I got told to take my shoes off for a recording when I was playing my clarinet, coz I kept tapping my foot and all you heard was me tapping!

I always play without shoes when I practice at home. Before an exam or recital or something like that, I always practice in the shoes I'm going to wear. At home, my pedals sit lower than on most pianos so when I tried playing with no shoes on a grand, it was kinda weird. Anyway, my suggestion is to find some shoes that aren't too slipery on bottom, but not too grippy either, and without a platform because its harder to take control of the pedal in those. Then practice in your shoes. Or just play barefoot. I do think you should start out in shoes though, then just slip them off right before you play.

I play with my shoes on... But, even though it's not the piano, when I play the clarinet, I sometimes have to take my shoes off, as it gives me a lower height, and It actually makes me feel a lot more relaxed.

All very interesting.

When my children and I had lessons with our former teacher we always took our shoes off at the door and it became natural to play shoe-less.

Teacher never commented - not until my first exam when I had to pedal in one of the pieces (grade 3 I think)and said that I might have difficulty with my huge, heavy size-10 shoes on.

To which came the reply. "You will just have to get used to it then!" Which I did.

Now I can pedal OK with or without shoes but do somehow feel that I have more control barefoot. Especially when the pedal is quite a loose one.

I find pedals can really vary quite a bit between different pianos and it is always the first thing I try when I sit down at a strange one.

I think that whether you wear shoes for your exam or not won't make a lot of difference unless you regularly practice on the actual piano because the pedals will be different anyway.

One thing good about wearing shoes is that you can tap your toes inside them without anyone seeing. That is unless you're wearing sandals or open toed shoes.

I know someone who did her exam with her foot in a plaster cast - she had no option - definitely no shoe on!

me too! admittedly an 8 year old doing grade one, but she has badly broken the growth plate in her ankle and was in a LOT of pain. she got a distinction

I did my grade 8 clarinet today barefoot. The examiner just smiled at me. I say do wahtever you want, if it's going to improve your playing it's worth doing!

I think I would find it quite difficult to use the pedal without shoes on - especially a strange piano. Pedals can be different shapes and different heights and I would worry that not wearing shoes would lead to the pedal being used incorrectly. Only once have I told one of my students not to use the pedal - when she turned up for a lesson in June last year, the week before her grade 7 wearing flip-flops! If you pedal correctly without shoes, then go for it. Let us know what the examiner said about it!

Alpine,
Just wondering if you did your exam without shoes and how the examiner reacted if you did!

don't worry
i have the same problem and i've always been alowed my shoes off!
they do't mind as long as you push them out the way!

I must be the only one who needs heels on my shoes to use the pedal! I suppose pedals are at different heights and the pedals are quite high on my piano at home and so I feel I need a bit of a heel and the piano at our exam centre seems to be the same.

QUOTE (trio @ Mar 21 2005, 10:02 AM)

I must be the only one who needs heels on my shoes to use the pedal! I suppose pedals are at different heights and the pedals are quite high on my piano at home and so I feel I need a bit of a heel and the piano at our exam centre seems to be the same.

No I don't think so! Until this topic appeared I had never heard of anyone playing the piano without shoes. None of my students do. Is it possible to use the pedal correctly without shoes?

QUOTE (noodle @ Mar 21 2005, 11:24 AM)

Is it possible to use the pedal correctly without shoes?

Of course!

QUOTE (noodle @ Mar 21 2005, 11:24 AM)

Is it possible to use the pedal correctly without shoes?

Of course!

QUOTE

No I don't think so! Until this topic appeared I had never heard of anyone playing the piano without shoes. None of my students do. Is it possible to use the pedal correctly without shoes?

my teacher makes us all take our shoes off because she teaches at her house and doesn't want mud everywhere, and none of us have problems with pedalling with no shoes as far as I no.... personally I hate pedalling with shoes because I can't feel the pedal properly through my shoe, so it's harder...in my opinion anyway
having said that, I've found that if I don't want to take my shoes off (eg for a competition) dancing shoes are good, because they have very thin soles so it's practically the same as not wearing shoes!