Organ shoes
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Organ shoes are shoes worn by organists, designed to facilitate playing of an organ pedalboard and reduce the risk of receiving a marching fracture. Also, since organ shoes are worn only at the organ, the use of special footwear avoids picking up grit or grime that could scar or stain the pedals.
[edit] Description
Organ shoes are typically as small as comfortably possible, so as to prevent accidental hitting of more than one pedal at a time. They typically have a leather sole which allows the organist to slide his/her feet easily both along and across the pedals. The sole should be thin enough to feel the pedals reasonably easily. Organ shoes have a step heel - this allows two non-adjacent notes to be played at once by one foot and eases playing with the heel.
A number of companies such as Organmaster Shoes and Tic-Tac-Toes make shoes designed solely for playing the organ, though all that is really required is a flexible upper and a thin leather sole that does not splay out too far at the side. Many organists use dance shoes, such as Capezios.
Wearing appropriate footwear can protect organists from getting a "marching fracture", which is a type of incomplete fracture in bones. It is caused by "unusual or repeated stress" from some type of physical activity. This is in contrast to other types of fractures, which are usually characterized by a solitary, severe impact.
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