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Foot tapping?

#42
klyph said:
Is the pay good enough for you to be a dancer as well as a player?
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Sorry for the off-topic, but I could not stop myself from quoting the lyrics from an unknown artist, Louie Austen's, Disco Dancer.
(The song is about a musician (guitar player) who has become a Dancer.)

"When I was a kid, I picked the guitar
When I got older I played in a bar
After a while, I’ve played with the band
Then we were touring all over the land
Country and Western, and Rock
And then Heavy Metal – It was such a shock
The money was lousy, the whiskey was cheap
Backstage was filthy, the manager a creep
From city to city, together in a bus
Smoking and drinking, fighting over fuss
I’ve had enough, and I’ve had the chance
All I ever wanted (was just) dance, dance

Chorus:
I’m a disco dancer, sweet romancer.

Now, I’m a dancer, and I feel OK.
Moving and grooving the night away.
I like the 80’s and I like the beat
I like the Disco and the people I meet
I dance for money, and I dance for drinks
I feel like Michael (Jackson), I feel like Prince


 
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#45
I had it drilled into my head from 4th grade through high school (trumpet). It's second nature and I do it without even thinking about it. I don't think I'd be able to keep good time if I had to consciously think about NOT doing it.
 
#46
Whousedtoplay said:
..., then, a natural tapping is a semi-problem?
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Not really what I said. If you HAVE TO TAP YOUR FEET to keep time the whole way through a song - that is a problem. To me, that's an indication that your personal sense of time needs work, and if someone else is 'requiring' you to do it to help cover for THEIR time issues.... that's a whole other collective matter. That applies as well to solo practice at home, even with a metronome or other time keeping accompaniment. The occasional foot tap or head nod in the moment, while you're 'in it' on stage and grooving with others.... that's a natural reaction to being in the moment. That's not the issue here, at least as I read it.

I see in a prior post you mentioned conducting by hand to see/hear/feel the time when analyzing or working through a difficult passage. That's what I was taught to do as well.... but not on the bandstand. In the practice room, yes.

Even the great Pino Palladino nods his head to the music. I can assure you he does not need it to feel the pulse or keep time though. Nuance, again, is key here.
 
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#48
I had an old school music director insist on the foot tap during my childhood music lessons. The tapping didn't stay, but my sense of rhythm did. I think this is probably just a relic from old marching band guys trying to teach kids rhythm.
 
#49
I'll say this from a drummer's perspective:

If you can't tap your foot in time while you're playing, it doesn't necessarily mean you don't have good timing, it means you don't have good coordination.

However, if you work on playing while keeping the pulse by foot tapping, you will improve your limb coordination (in this case, hand-to-hand), and as a consequence, you'll improve your timekeeping.

Must you do it? No.
Should you do it? Probably, yes, at least as you practice. It'll suck at first, but you'll see the benefits, and you'll quickly learn where your left and right hand coordination is sloppy.

I do agree that you don't always want to be foot-tapping in all performance situations for aesthetic reasons, and you should always work to improve your internalization of tempo and timekeeping. Foot-tapping can definitely help you get there, though, if you're willing to make the effort.
 
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#51
Pings Bass said:
Kids are taught to tap their feet when learning instruments in grade school. Then they're taught to stop because otherwise at the concert there'd be 100 kids on stage all tapping their feet to different time.

Your BL is missing something.
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Who are these instructors that teach them to tap their feet? I never saw it. Seriously?
 
#53
turf3 said:
Who are these instructors that teach them to tap their feet? I never saw it. Seriously?
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Maybe they don't do it anymore, but I'm old and learned in the seventies in the midwest band belt. We were definitely taught to tap our feet to keep track of the down beats when first learning our instruments.
 
#55
Pings Bass said:
Maybe they don't do it anymore, but I'm old and learned in the seventies in the midwest band belt. We were definitely taught to tap our feet to keep track of the down beats when first learning our instruments.
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Well, that's really weird. I started playing in band in fifth grade, which would have been 1972-73 school year. We were absolutely told NOT to tap our feet - if you really had to, just move your toe inside your shoe. So some were told "You MUST NOT tap your foot!" and others were told "You MUST tap your foot!"
 
#58
Useful for playing when singing if counter to the bass, but for just bass never needed to do it as my clock always the drum time.
However, when your hearing suffers, the clock is harder to track when things are noisy.
So yep, a plan B
 

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