shoes for male harpists with wide feet?

[Elizabeth Volpé Bligh]

I have a male harp student with wide feet, whose shoes are impinging on adjacent pedals. He actually gets his foot stuck in between the C and D, for example. Sometimes he steps on two pedals at once. It is very frustrating for him! So far, he survives by playing in his stocking feet, but that’s not a great solution.
What do other male harpists wear for playing pedal harp? I am thinking of ballroom shoes or organ shoes.

[carl-swanson]

Hi Elizabeth,

I used dance or theatrical shoes. They have a very soft leather sole and can be fit very snug to the contours of the feet, without a pointy toe that sticks out way too far. I noticed when I saw Alexander Boldachev in concert a while back that he uses the same kind of shoe. When I say dance shoes, I mean shoes that ballet dancers use for modern dance.

[charles-nix]

Dance shoes also. Lots of brands–Capezio probably being the best known (and most expensive). Organmasters are made by Capezio; you can get equivalent for half what Organmasters cost. Mine are Latin dance with 1″ heels. Don’t wear them around, especially not outside, ever. The thin suede soles will be worn out instantly.

[Charles]

I agree with Charles, Dance shoes (ball room dance) work really good. They are not comfortable to stand or walk around in but they work really well for organ and harp pedals.

[Saul Davis Zlatkovski]

I tried using ballroom shoes with a Cuban heel, and while the height was okay, it only had a half-way shank, which meant no support for most of my foot, and the soft sole was not an advantage. I wear any kind of Oxford shoe as long as it doesn’t have a wale on the sides. Florsheim used to have a cap-toe Oxford that was just right. Most dress shoes have worked. You want a heel that is at least a half-inch, depending on your proportions, and firm sole with a metal shank will give you the best leverage on the pedal. For some reason, when I wear loafers, they tend to slip off the pedal with a bang, otherwise, they’d be fine. It’s sad that Capezio took over Organmasters, because they always lower the quality. I used to wear Taffy’s jazz oxfords and they were perfect. But Capezio does have all widths, I think, so look at their jazz Oxfords. If his width is more than EE it may be a problem, maybe pedal extenders would help as the width would be slightly wider then.

[Author]

Posts