It's actually not "effortlessly". You just need to get used to it. Like me, the first time i play organ using my foot, i had difficulties, but i played organ for around 9 months now, im used to it.
The word "pedal" means "foot" so one should only say pedal. I was told that many years ago from my organ teacher and just want to pass that along. I too always loved using socks and not organ shoes which never made me feel fully secure on the pedals. In contrast organ shoes did make it easier to play using the heel as needed.
Actually now I'm quite stressful. I was electone player at church when I was kid and that's on simple yamaha electone. More than 30 years don't have and never touch electone except piano. On this Easter 2023, after two weeks notice, I've been asked to accompany choir to sing Hallelujah by Beethoven, played on Rodgers Organ, which I never play on before. To this date only twice I tried to practice on that Organ and I found that it's hard to play pedal with accuracy, moreover with both feet need to be played. Honestly it's much easier to play fusion, jazz or any other genre on electone than play on Rodgers. I just keep looking on youtube regarding how to manage to play pedal well while as if like counting my judgement day till this Easter. Thank you for this video. I believe doesn't matter how little, every videos I watch will help. May God forgive me if I might not play well later on, which I tried hard will never happen, don't wanna embarrass myself and people who put their trust in me. Thanks a lot for this video 🙏🙏🙏
I play for a funeral home and this organist would come occasionally with a few vocalists from her church. She accompanied them and played in her bare feet. I never understood how anyone could play in stocking feet let alone bare feet. It was like the Clampetts go to church.
Hi, there. Thank you for your tips. l am a self student. And now l am going through this challenge in my life. I think it won’t be harder than play saxophone and sousaphone! Here we go!
The organ pedal is IDENTICAL to playing the keyboard in that it is ALL muscle memory!! Once you learn the CORRECT toe/heel method and really practice the method correctly and slowly, it will become more easier overtime.
@@pianoman551000 There lies the rub. You are correct in saying the correct heel toe method. This chick incorrectly uses the toe for any pedal. She never uses her heel.
Hi, You'r explanations it's ver y smart & easy for a beginers how importante . Also permit me to congratulate you's style it nice a cleari be a outstading forma the ears who feell it. I" m have a Yamaha Electone FX-20 organ who i love. Just becase it's an amaxing instruments. Of i have . has you knows this organ have a 2 & half octave. Im think the there'snt if haven' t the PBoards. So , maybe lthe peoples like as can playing using all the keypads it "s a Privilege . So I wish the new generación of musisian amateurs por pro mantain this an on the Organs factories continúe making that whiit pedals. Thak you. From Buenos Aires Argentina my best wishes a regards for Bridge an every one.!!!!!
Please play and demonstrate with shoes on its soooooo much work and wasted motion in stocking feet.BYU has excellent resources for untrained LDS organists thanks for your effort!
Paul Mills our Church Organist never wore organ shoes. She dressed up in a dress or suit and in her stockings and she was a pro. Nobody beat her. Only people like Virgil Fox and such could do better and I'm not exaggerating
I fully agree with Carol98 comments. I hope that there will be more videos dealing with pedalling technique and other styles she mentioned in her post, the position of the camera can be either at the side or a bit higher of the pedalboard (either is OK with me) and if you can put it as close to the feet as the camera allows (the best possible zoom opening) that would be great.
Have a look at the channel Secrets of Organ Playing. They have several excellent videos about pedalling and other aspects of organ technique. They use an organ with a straight pedalboard but the fundamentals are the same.
NO.......the most that can be played is two notes at the same time....either by using both feet (on different notes) or by using one foot while turning the foot so that the toe depresses one key and the heel depresses another note which is a third step in distance from the other note. This is a very advanced technique, to say the least.
Do you have any tips for playing the pedals with one foot? I play a transistor organ at my church and I like to keep my right foot on the volume pedal for dynamics (a swell at just the right time on All Hail the Power of Jesus Name can do a lot for the song, while backing the volume down on Fairest Lord Jesus is a great way to lend to the contemplative nature of the song), and even though the pedals on this particular organ only cover an octave I still have trouble covering the whole thing with just my left foot.
Any tips for adapting organ music to piano? (Sort of the reverse of this video). Have been trying to find a good arrangment of BWV 578 (Little fugue in G minor) for piano that keeps the essential parts of the LH voice and the pedal
Because hymn music is written for the voice singing (SATB), not the instrument playing. The instrumentalist has to interpret what is written to suit the situation.
While I do not criticise your technique, but playing tracker action (mechanical action) organ, it is torturous to play in socks. I am strictly a mechanical action player. Do you know a classical orchestra with electronic violins?
It's pretty obvious. You use your feet to play the foot pedals and your hands to play the finger keys. Optionally you can read the music with your eye glasses.
This is one of the most foolish comments I've ever read! :/! So if I wanted a basic guitar lesson I should not watch a RU-vid video and I must get a teacher? Lol, what kind of flawed logic is that? Ridiculous! There are many ways to learn a skill. A video like this is one of them. Like it or not, gone are the days when the only way to learn an instrument was to get/hire an in-person teacher. We must make music learning accessible to everyone, not just those wealthy people who can afford to hire a teacher (not that teachers are necessarily super-expensive, but I think you get the point).
I can tough water from Oslo Oregon oh my God oh melody utter the Calder and supplect sabbath at Chernobyl I'm so pretty stupid that you know your best time musica
Sock players: you, me, a church organist I attend. Wearing shoes, I could not be accurate. I always wear and see others wearing socks for sanitary reasons. You did not cover heals together technique. Legs going everywhere seems to be a hit or miss proposition. Unless, play same organ all the time and play, play, play to memorize the distance the limb must move. Also, when to use heel, when to use toe?
I enjoyed your pedaling tips as far as you went. However, 3 1/2 minutes doesn't begin to be enough time to explain pedal technique. Perhaps you can follow up with 15 to 20 minutes of pedaling to show heal -toe, substituting and choice of which foot to use at any given time. Also, your long pants were in the way. A skirt or tight calf length pants would be better. And position the camera to the side of the pedal keyboard. I would like to point out that playing in one's stocking feet is far superior to using shoes. It may be OK for a professional who practices 10 hours a day. For the rest of us, stocking or even barefoot is BEST!! The heal of the shoes does not counter the lack of feel and general clumsiness with shoes. Actually, any "oil" from your feet is GOOD for the wooden pedals because oil acts as a preservative, as apposed to the DAMAGE a hard shoe does to the pedal in WEAR and black marks over time. I have seen pedals destroyed by organists who used shoes!! I would also point out that organist's enjoy the "feel" of the pedals under their feet that helps them be confident in controlling the pedal keyboard. You made one incorrect statement; BOTH feet "help" each other all the way from the bottom to the top of the keyboard at ALL times; to say the left foot JUST take care of the pedals in the low octave and the right foot JUST takes care of the upper octave is INCORRECT!! Other than that, you did a great job. Look forward to more pedaling tips!
Wrong technique. The toe is for pressing the black key pedals. The heel is for pressing the white key pedals. Find other videos, they describe this. Black men in America, and white men in Europe describe the heel toe technique. This chick incorrectly uses the toe for all pedals = wrong!
It’s not an all inclusive training video…just tips for beginning pianists who are tempted to try the organ. Mother vast majority of those that would benefit are from the same church, different area, lay pianists who might be asked to try to play one Sunday when there are no others that are available. I can’t think of any non-trained organist that I know who has ever used organ shoes. So when the worst happens and a pianist is asked to play the organ next week, these videos are very handy - as there is not enough time for a 4 year degree in music theory - these quick lessons make what may be a once in a year event survivable. There are many, many other in-depth videos, one can watch to get more knowledge, even a RU-vid course, and also a BYU Non-Credit online course they can take for free. These organs are custom made for the Church by companies like Allen Most LDS Organs a have a s similar sound as determined by the Church Music Committee, which includes the Tabernacle Choir organist & choir, conductor, & many others with decades of high pressure performances. I thank her for willingness to do what she can to help out fellow pianists and future organist. I like to try and find the things done well and the effort instead of shaming for bad form. I’ll also bet that the organ bench is fixed in height and not adjustable. I can’t think of one I’ve seen yet in church that is. I would like to know which stops she prefers for the different types of hymns. I like the sound of the stops she set for all the examples. I’d like to see if I can get our Allen 420T LDS to sound similar. To me ours sounds like a dying cat. If you had seven presets for the entire organ, what you put in 1-7 towing the 1-7 intensity levels of different hymn registrations. And do you know how to clear the capture presets - I guess capture and set without any stops. Thanks look forward to hearing back.
At 1:00 she demonstrates correctly how to play a scale with heels and toes. Of course you can use heels too on white pedals. But you can’t expect to see all possibilities in only 5 minutes. I think she has done well to explain the basics.