Aristide
New member
Well, Peeters actually combined the pedal exercises of the two 20th century giants of organ technique, Marcel Dupré and Fernando Germani. So I guess you can't get better training than that, can you?
The "knees and heels together" goes back at least to Widor (and probably to his teacher Lemmens). Widor also emphasized a practical aspect of this technique: the toes will then span a fifth, whereas with only knees together, they will span an octave. Of course, this depends a lot on the organist's leg- and feet-measurements, and on those of the pedalboard, but these two "compasses" can still be useful.
Completely agree with ACC.
This manner of pedal playing, when well done, will give you great control of your pedaling. Although it may seem restrictive at first, perseverance will get you there. You will control the entire pedal board this way, from left to right, without sliding on the bench or otherwise unelegant and inaccurate leg-swinging.
On the matter of organ shoes : dancing shoes are a great option and rather easily available. Between the "Latin" and "Ballroom" variants, the most important difference is the hight of the heel. "Latin" would have higher heels, but narrower. I have used ballroom shoes for years, playing all recitals with them.
Using shoes instead of socks or bare feet gives you a more accurate pedal playing also.
(On the other hand - admittedly - using socks nicely polishes the pedal board. I've been known to use that technique on my organ at home. Playing a lot of Dupré provides for the best polishing ,)
The last paragraph may be academically disregarded - use shoes)