Tapping your foot while playing - Please Stop?

[Plectrum72]

I don't tap my foot. I keep time by moving my body. More involved than swaying. Far less complex than most dancing. I just move around in time with the music. Dweeb dancing? Dunno, don't care. It's just what I do when I'm not actively engaging the audience.

 

[Hummergeist]

I like tapping my foot, makes me feel more connected. Won't be giving it up any time soon

 

[Winslow]

It could be worse awesome!

Fixed.

 

[5StringBlues]

 

[jbhaugh]

Foot-tapping was a peeve of an old choir director I knew. He suggested tapping one's toe inside your shoe. Turns out that works quite well! You still get to feel yourself keeping time somewhere, but no one can see it going on.

If I had to guess I would say he hated it because he found that many of the singers in his choral groups had poor rhythm and he was distracted by 20 tapping feet each keeping a slightly different tempo.

 

[nickpc]

Tap or don't tap, you do you. Just please tell us these aren't the white shoes...

View attachment 3989623

Amen! I buy them in bulk when I find a good price. For the haters, you want me to wear grey sneakers? Brown? Blue? Red? Green, orange or yellow???

 

[Element Zero]

I tap, bob, sway... and even spin thanks to Kip Winger.

 

[Rip Van Dan]

Do you tap your foot to keep time? I sure do. And in recent videos of me I see just how distracting it is. It has caused me to stop wearing white shoes on stage. Beyond that I think I need to stop tapping my foot and maybe start bouncing my leg or swaying or something more dance-like to keep time. I'm not sure I see many pro entertainers tapping their foot.

Do you tap your foot? Or have you stopped? If so, how?

I sometimes tap my foot, particularly when I'm trying to get a particular entrance or exit right. Most of the time I can just feel it, particularly if I'm playing with a good drummer, but there are some things where I need to count and usually my foot will be tapping when I do that.

Have you ever noticed how everyone in the Big Band Orchestras used to sit down if front of small podiums. Those small podiums both held their music, and hid their toes tapping to keep time because they all did it...well, perhaps not the Basie Band. They tended to lean back in their chairs and just BLOW! Saw them a couple of times. In 1983 they performed at the Mt. Hood Jazz festival back in 1983. I had a performer's pass because I sang in the Mt. Hood Vocal Jazz Ensemble so I was back stage at first. After they'd played for about half an hour or so, Sarah Vaughn came out and sang with them. By then I had come out front so I could see everything better. It was one of the most memorable performances I've ever seen and I finally understood why my Dad had been a fan of theirs.

 

[Winslow]

If I had to guess I would say he hated it because he found that many of the singers in his choral groups had poor rhythm and he was distracted by 20 tapping feet each keeping a slightly different tempo.

Actually, it was mostly because all the tapping echoed like a marching army on the hardwood floor of the choir loft.

 

[darwin-bass]

Tap or don't tap, you do you. Just please tell us these aren't the white shoes...

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OMG I feel so exposed. You even got the brand right.

 

[pedroims]

I'm not sure I see many pro entertainers tapping their foot.

Do you tap your foot? Or have you stopped? If so, how?

I tap my foot from time to time but I don't think is to keep time but more of a feeling, just flowing with the song.

Here some pro taping their feet. Nothing wrong

 

[xposaune]

FWIW spending a bunch of time as an orchestral musician made me learn to keep time quietly. Sometimes tricky rhythmic stuff is easier with some foot tapping. Now it's gotten so it's distracting to keep time physicailly while playing. The stiller I am the better my time is lol. Doesnt serve well for stage presence lol

Been watching Hot Tuna quarantine recordings and noticed Jack Casady tapping his foot on this video of water song. Good reminder that you gotta keep a pulse even on a seemingly rubato, loose feel, even if you've played the song 10000 times ( apologies for facebook link but havent seen these elsewhere)

 

[pcake]

when i play sitting by myself, i tap my foot. when i play around others standing up, i headbang, move around, and i don't think i do anything to keep time - i guess it keeps itself...

 

[Pings Bass]

5th grade band Mr McNally taught us to tap our toes inside our shoes for performances.

 

[Watchootognbout]

No.

 

[dbsfgyd1]

Do you tap your foot to keep time? I sure do. And in recent videos of me I see just how distracting it is. It has caused me to stop wearing white shoes on stage. Beyond that I think I need to stop tapping my foot and maybe start bouncing my leg or swaying or something more dance-like to keep time. I'm not sure I see many pro entertainers tapping their foot.

Do you tap your foot? Or have you stopped? If so, how?

I don’t tap my foot , but my butt sways...

 

[JimmyM]

I don't tap my foot on gigs to keep time...I do things much sillier than that I'm a head bobber actually. But if it keeps you in time, then do it without remorse. There's a prejudice against it in classical circles, but if you have 80 people onstage all tapping their feet on a hollow wood stage, it tends to take over the music. In our amplified world, who cares? John Lennon was a foot tapper and nobody minded him

 

[HardNHeavy]

internal clock...like a metronome clicking in my head, driving me mad

 

[OogieWaWa]

I used to be so uptight, but now mostly I'm just a movin' and a groovin' to whatever feels right. Don't even think about it. Heck, I'm wireless, when not my song to sing I'll walk around in time and see the crowd, and if there's a group of ladies dancing together I'll join right in! Bounce up and down with little kids, whatever. Of course sometimes I almost have to run to get back to the mic for backing vocals, most times I make it. All before the grunge hit, of course.

 

[OogieWaWa]

Also, people tend to be way self-critical when watching themselves on video. It's probably not nearly as distracting as you think. Being a musician is great, being a performer is even better.