Are you gonna wear those shoes?!!

I once played through four Carter solo pieces....straight through...no stopping. Quite happy with my accomplishment, I looked up at my then teacher, and the first thing he said was...."Are you gonna wear those shoes?"

I thought to myself....this guy's an idiot....what does that have to do with anything. Well, turns out when I was pedaling a piece called Canto, my shoes were making a loud clicking noise, when going from pedal to pedal, that was really distracting. 

After thinking about this I did notice that if I had shoes that were too big, sometimes they would get a bit stuck between the clutch and the heel guard of a timpani pedal. Also, if I had fancy shoes, sometimes they would be a bit slippery on the foot plate...not to mention if I was standing and playing a somewhat athletic section of a piece....there were a couple of times when I would slightly loose my footing. Last thing I want to do when playing is fall right on my ass.....I got plenty of other things to worry about.....what to do......

The answer.....Dance Shoes!! No...not ballet shoes. The kind you use for ballroom type dancing. For one, they don't even feel like you're wearing shoes....amazingly comfortable and soft. Make sure you get the ones that have a supported heel area, that way when you tune a timpano that has a clutch, you won't hurt your ankle area. The other benefit is that they have a velour type sole that don't slide on slippery surfaces, but they don't stick either. Plus they are almost like a second skin, so they don't get caught up in the pedal area of a timpani. Not too mention they're pretty sexy looking even on a goofy bloke like me.

You know what they say.......Dress for success!!