Can Foot-Tapping be Learned?

[Mockingbird]

Not having the steadiest rhythm, I searched the forum for tips. Reading up a bit, I realized I cannot tap my foot and whistle at the same time! I tried it and my fingers forget entirely what to do. I did slightly better on a reel played with a straight beat, but the jig just fell apart.

Is this a remediable deficiency? Has anyone learned it after thinking they couldn't, by chance?

If it is irremediable, am I doomed to second-class whistling for the rest of my life? Have I simply got no rhythm?

P.S., I have used a metronome on occasion.

[Tommy]

Try tapping with your other foot.

[whistle1000]

Once you take your hand off your whistle to tap your foot, naturally you fingers forget what to do. Sorry, just being a smarty pants! GREAT question and I am looking forward to the replys!

All the best

Not having the steadiest rhythm, I searched the forum for tips. Reading up a bit, I realized I cannot tap my foot and whistle at the same time! I tried it and my fingers forget entirely what to do. I did slightly better on a reel played with a straight beat, but the jig just fell apart.

Is this a remediable deficiency? Has anyone learned it after thinking they couldn't, by chance?

If it is irremediable, am I doomed to second-class whistling for the rest of my life? Have I simply got no rhythm?

P.S., I have used a metronome on occasion.

[crookedtune]

If you can tap in rhythm while not playing the whistle, then you can tap in rhythm while playing the whistle.

Play a tune you know well insanely slowly, making yourself tap. It may be painful for awhile, but keep at it. It will come.

I can't tap in time while I'm playing a tune that's new to me. Once I start to "own" it, it comes naturally.

[s1m0n]

Yes, with enough practice.

[Denny]

sure ya can!

not everyone can do it in rhythm however

[WhistleWhileyouWork]

My feet are huge and tapping them drowns out the drummer and scares small children, so I use my big toe (Discreet and I seem to keep better time)

The metronome still reminds me that I have horrible timing regardless...

[dsmootz]

Watch people playing video games like Rock Band/Band Hero, specifically playing the drum peripherals. When people play the game for the very first time, they can usually kinda-sorta play with the sticks, but find the kick pedal a major hurdle, even with very simple rhythms (the easiest songs will have one kick every measure or two, which is executed by, essentially, tapping your foot). With practice, the same players can eventually pull of complex, syncopated sixteenth-note rhythms.

My conclusion is that, though we typically don't use feet in playing instruments, and therefore think of them as fundamentally different than hands and fingers, they're really not. You have to spend the time to learn to use them, and you can get very good at it with practice.

[emmdee]

I'd say you can ... eventually. I think it's a comfort thing. When I was starting the whistle, I couldn't tap my left foot in time, only the right. I eventually learned to tap both. Oddly, the time I'm most likely to lose the beat is when switching from one foot to another!

Don't worry about it. Your internal metronome can be fine without you being able to tap your foot. I know a guy, great whistle player, whose foot taps 5/4 no matter what he's playing. Don't watch his feet under any circumstances!
m.d.

[david_h]

Try singing the tunes to yourself whilst walking steadily. I think that's what did it for me. Slightly uphill on a smooth surface is good.

I tried it indoors with a whistle but decided it might be dangerous if I tripped. Doorways are tricky with a flute - ethpethially going backwardth.

[mutepointe]

I have learned to manage to tap only the portions of songs that I need to tap. There is no way that I could tap a whole song.

[Innocent Bystander]

Lemme see.... "The Battering Ram" is a good one. It's hard to play that without tapping your feet. "Smash the Windows" and "Cooley's", much the same. Some tunes have bits that need a wee bit more concentration - I can't tap my feet all the way through "The Kid on the Mountain" - or at least, not while I am playing it. Same with "Dusty Windowsills".

Are you playing sitting down? It's a lot easier to tap your feet if you are standing. It's difficult not to...

[straycat82]

If you can tap your feet in time to music while not playing the whistle, and without focusing all of your mind on that one task then you should be able to incorporate it well enough in time (hopefully there is some inherent rhythm that comes naturally). I think what it takes is for both the playing and the tapping to become matters of muscle memory (second nature, if you will) so that neither depends on the other and neither requires so much mind focus that the rest of your body is left rigid and frozen. If you don't already do it, get in the habit of tapping along to music when you listen.

[pipersgrip]

Once you get comfortable with the instrument and the tunes, tapping will become natural. Just practice tapping all the time, even to tunes you listen to. Just constantly tap your foot.

[Denny]

wear boots!

if ya ain't annoyin' the neighbors then ya ain't doin' it right!