The Importance of Choosing
The Right Footwear For Performers
Comfortable concert shoes are an essential choice for musicians who want to enjoy perform their best without compromising on comfort. These shoes are designed to provide optimal support and cushioning, allowing concertgoers to stand and dance for hours without any discomfort. With their carefully crafted materials and ergonomic designs, these comfortable shoes prioritize foot health while ensuring style doesn't take a backseat.
They are often equipped with elements such as breathable mesh or soft leather uppers, cushioned insoles, and shock-absorbing outsoles to minimize the impact of long hours on hard surfaces.
Whether you're playing in your school orchestra or a marching band, these shoes are the perfect companions for a memorable and pain-free experience, allowing you to focus solely on the music and the joy of the moment.
What Are The Most Common Shoes For Music Performances?
It is crucial that you feel physically comfortable when you are performing instruments, so it is important that you select clothing and shoes that are suited for the activity. It is also crucial for the performers to portray themselves visually in an appropriate manner.
- Table Of Contents
- What “Concert Black” Means
- What Makes a Good Concert Shoe
This allows the audience to concentrate more on the performance itself rather than on the actors' adherence to a particular dress code.
In this article, we will address the basics of the importance of choosing the right footwear for performance, like marching band shoes. If you’re new to this and would like to know more, keep reading. We will be focusing on the “Concert Black” performances, but it can also apply to marching band shoes.
What “Concert Black” Means
Standard concert attire offers the ensemble a dignified and consistent image that does not distract from the performance of the music or call attention to the individual.
The standard that is followed for concert clothing and footwear is the same one that is used by a great number of professional, semi-professional, and amateur ensembles from all over the world. "Concert Black" is the name of this required dress code.
As its name suggests, the distinguishing characteristic of this dress code is that it requires its adherents to wear only black clothing devoid of any form of embellishment, like those we offer here at Concert Attire. It is expected that attire will be formal, classy, elegant, modest, and, above all, allow for comfort and freedom of movement in order to allow for the best possible performance.
This expectation applies regardless of the personal style of the wearer, gender, religious expression, or any other factor.
What Kind of Shoes Are “Concert Black”?
Concert Black shoes are dress shoes in black color, as obvious as it sounds, but they must be presentable and comfortable. More details are in the following sections.
What Makes a Good Pair of Concert Attire Shoes
To begin, you should steer clear of wearing any footwear with high heels, sandals, flip-flops, and tennis shoes. If you want to be able to play the piano, you need to be sure you can feel and manipulate the pedal. It is important for vocalists and string players not to wear shoes that produce noise to prevent drawing attention away from their performance.
Even though the soles of many nicer dress shoes are made of leather, performers —especially those who stand for long periods while performing— should use shoes with rubber soles.
Flats
Flats are a good choice only if they're comfortable and not too scandalous looking, of course. A helpful hint is to listen carefully to see whether the shoes or flats make any distracting noises. Don’t forget to check that the shoes you are wearing are the correct size.
Are High Heels Good For Performers?
Although heeled shoes are allowed, most performers should avoid wearing them. When it comes to choir, in particular, it is best to wear flats because wearing heels while standing on risers for an extended amount of time poses a risk of falling. But, if you can stand in your heels for long periods of time without experiencing any discomfort, then by all means, continue to wear them.
Opaque
The Concert Black attire conveys an air of sophistication and formality. Performers have complete creative control over the composition of their attire and footwear, which must be all-black from the waist down but must adhere to the following guidelines:
- Dress pants
- Slacks
- A black skirt or dress (the length of the skirt must be at or above the knee), and
- Black opaque stockings or tights
Comfortable But Not “Sporty”
Ties are optional and not especially suggested, but if you want to wear a black tie, it’s more than fine. The same holds true for sports coats and jackets; however, they are not recommended, typically due to the heat from the stage lights and the potential discomfort they may bring. The following items are not advised for Concert Black or marching band clothing and footwear:
- Beans, sweatpants, yoga pants, leggings, shorts, or mini-skirts.
- White socks, colored socks, no socks, bare legs, or bare feet.
- Flip-flops, sports shoes.
- Sneakers, or black shoes with colored stripes or logos.
For marching band shoes, the concert black rule applies unless the occasion calls for a specific color as part of their performance during marching. Comfortable shoes are a must for marching, with good support.
Learn how to prepare for your performance with our team at Concert Attire. We can help you choose the right footwear, concert dresses and concert suits for you or your children and help you get ready for recitals in a professional way!
