Can't tap my foot while playing

[pipingturtle]

I'm crap at tapping my foot when I play the whistle (or any other non-percussive instrument for that matter). Probably because I don't practise enough. I do sway a bit though to the rhythm. When it comes to playing spoons or dancing about I can move exactly as I want to the rhythm, off-beat, on-beat, syncopated or otherwise, so I don't really care too much about the fact thats lots of other musicians are much better at tapping their feet than me.

TTFN.

[Azalin]

Beth, it's even worse for me, I can tap the foot, but I'm used to tap with my right foot, and my concertina is on my right leg, so the sound gets hammered! I'm gonna have to switch for tapping or leg for holding the concertina, still not sure which way to go!

[sbruyette]

Mary Rafferty came to mind when I read this. The times I saw her with CTL, it was amazing that should could tap so hard and fast and continue to play. I'm not sure she could stop even it she made a conscious effort to stop.

[Nanohedron]

Then there are the folks who tap both their feet alternately. *sigh*

[Ro3b]

The key is to treat your feet as your percussion section. Don't try to follow your playing with your feet; instead, get your groove going with your feet and play to that. It's a little feedback loop: the feet inform the music, which informs the feet. But it all starts with the rhythm.

That being said, I don't think this is such a huge issue, other than for the truly rhythm-impaired. If you're doing all the right things, you're naturally going to want to move your body around.

[dlovrien]

Many classical players have to work hard to learn NOT to tap their foot - it's distracting on stage, especially when your tempo disagrees with the conductor's!

So unless you're hoping to add the extra percussive element to your performance (a la Bottine Souriante), don't worry about it. It's usually a crutch anyway.

[avanutria]

Beth, it's even worse for me, I can tap the foot, but I'm used to tap with my right foot, and my concertina is on my right leg, so the sound gets hammered! I'm gonna have to switch for tapping or leg for holding the concertina, still not sure which way to go!

Same for me, Az, 'cept it's the left side. I have had to learn to tap less and more softly!

Did you see Marty O'Keefe play last year at Willie Clancy? He lived in my town in NY when I was starting to get into concertina. He plays while tapping BOTH feet at different rates. I can't remember for sure, but I want to say Mary MacNamera tapped too. I think the trick is to get the tapping to emphasise the beat, so you end up using your feet as ornamentation!

[jen f]

Wow, this got a lot of replies! Thanks, everyone. I guess I wanted to know that it's ok if I don't do it--and that's mostly what I'm hearing. Maybe it will come later, I don't know.

[mvhplank]

A number of years ago, I took a contra dance music workshop from Ralph Gordon, an extremely well-respected bass player in our region. (You probably have a record or CD somewhere with him on it.)

The caveat for what follows is, of course, that this applies mostly to contra dance music. But we use lots and lots of Irish jigs and reels, so maybe it's apt in there somewhere.

Ralph said not only does he tap his foot, but to get really in the groove with the lead melody player, he taps the same foot as the leader, and the same way (heel or toe, or whatever) as the leader.

Another local musician recommended practicing with a metronome, too--I suppose just to make sure your foot is as accurate as you think it is.

We all tap our feet. I've played with people who don't and their rhythm is often all over the place.

M

[dubhlinn]

Interesting thread...,
As Music is the only art form that causes people to move their bodies there will always be those who tap a foot to the rhythm. I have also seen shoulder shrugging in sessions and even a violent shaking of the head.
Many years ago when I was getting into playing fiddle I had the great pleasure of hanging around with Ted Furey, rest his soul, and he told me to look out ,when playing in public, for peoples feet tapping, or their fingers drumming a table or even a bit of bodily swaying. Once they are moving some part of their anatomy then your music is reaching them.If however ,they are not moving, then your music is not getting to their hearts and you need to practice a bit more before stepping out in public.
Hope this advice from Ted helps someone,it has served me well over many years.

Slan,
D.

[The Sporting Pitchfork]

Sometimes I tap my foot (or feet); sometimes I don't. I find if I'm consciously thinking about it ("hmm...I should be trying to tap my foot"), I'm more likely to just get messed up. If I don't think about it, I'll often find that my foot starts tapping on its own.

Just practice consistently with a metronome and these things will sort themselves out.

Tapping your feet the way Cape Breton players do works great for getting the right sort of bouncy feel in CB music. I've heard that the basic rhythms of Cape Breton piano accompaniment are a direct outgrowth of this distinctive way of foot tapping.

I am amazed at the incredible amount of multi-tasking some musicians are capable of. You know, people who are tapping their feet like crazy, playing great tunes, and talking at the same time, that sort of thing. Sometimes when I'm playing pipes people come up and start talking to me and my brain just shorts out. I WANT to say something, but ...can't...manage...to...play...and...use...vocal...chords...at ... same...time. I wind up sitting there with this weird strained look on my face like a total idiot.

I've heard that Tom Doorley (flute player with Danu) can even shout out chord changes and stuff while he's playing flute. He'll be goin' along and in the space right before he hits the first beat of the next tune, he'll quickly raise his head and shout "minor!" or something.

Crazy.

Peter--I empathize with you about that experience you described. I've experienced it a few times too--though hopefully I've never instigated it! Sometimes when playing with other people, it's necessary to submerge aspects of one's own particular style of playing so as not to get in everyone else's way.

[The Sporting Pitchfork]

Interesting thread...,
As Music is the only art form that causes people to move their bodies there will always be those who tap a foot to the rhythm.

Not so! Other forms of art occasionally get people to move too. There was an artist in New York back in the late 70s/ early 80s ( I want to say it was Robert Longo, but I could be wrong) who placed an ad for some fashion models to come do a photo shoot. So he got all these glamorous, immaculately dressed models to come in and unbeknownst to them, had a tennis ball machine hidden somewhere in the studio. He got them to pose and just before he took the picture, opened fire with the tennis ball machine. He did a great series of photographs of beautiful people doubled over backwards and jumping around in confusion and terror.

[Lizzie]

For me, toe tapping just started naturally when the heavy thinking stopped eg what notes to play, where to tongue, how to get my fingers to go where i wanted them to etc. All this got in the way of the rhythm at the beginning, but now the rhythm can come out and with it, those old toes just start tapping. It is not a conscious movement.

[Darwin]

Then there are the folks who tap both their feet alternately. *sigh*

It's the only way.

With some kinds of music, I find that I keep my left foot steady and vary the right foot a lot. Sometimes I do some pretty complex stuff with both--including heel-toe changes. It's nothing I do on purpose--it just comes out that way.

A couple of months ago I went to clawhammer banjo workshop, and the instructor claimed that foot tapping screws up your rhythm. I didn't say so in class, but I didn't believe him at all. I remember back in the late 50s, some guy on WLAC was telling about seeing John Lee Hooker somewhere on a cement stage, and how they had to go out and find him a two-by-four to tap his feet on before he could play. Tell me John Lee couldn't keep rhythm.

[Caj]

Anyway, the good news is that this is easily cured with practice. Practice tapping your foot to some polkas, and pretty soon it will become second nature.

If it's not used for keeping time or to add to the performance in some way, then what's the point in doing it at all?

Well, jeez, then why do audience members tap their feet?? Do they have to keep time?

It's just something you do when you get into the music. It does not have to serve some sort of functional purpose (in fact, neither does playing music in the first place!)

Tapping your feet is also useful for communication with other players, or providing a bit of percussion, but is not a crutch for keeping the beat. You should be able to keep a beat without moving your feet at all, and you should not need to tap your feet to keep a steady rhythm.

Caj