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Author Topic: Foot tapping  (Read 15489 times)

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Tone Dumb Greg

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Re: Foot tapping
« Reply #20 on: June 06, 2018, 01:56:14 PM »

That is a wonderful bit of box and foot playing!  I feel he desperately needs a backing band more in tune with his rhythmic skills, though.

Don't know. The band makes a great backdrop for his playing. Lets it shine through.
I didn't know you could dance sat down. Great piece.
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Greg Smith
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Jesse Smith

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Re: Foot tapping
« Reply #21 on: June 06, 2018, 02:18:04 PM »

That is a wonderful bit of box and foot playing!  I feel he desperately needs a backing band more in tune with his rhythmic skills, though.
I think I agree - the band isn't really adding much of anything to the box playing.
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Re: Foot tapping
« Reply #22 on: June 06, 2018, 09:17:08 PM »

George's comment about following the best dancer has a lot of resonance for me.

I'm not a deliberate foot-tapper, but I'm confident that my playing does all that's needed for people to dance to, including keeping time and providing a strong pulse.  I also know that my left foot taps unprompted, as I play. 

Treacherously, my left foot re-processes the regular beat of my playing and inserts its own degree of randomness.  I discovered this when a stand-in musician (a lady of considerable musical gifts and experience who was substituting for a missing fiddler) playing on a noisy stage with no monitors, mistakenly followed the movements of my foot rather than the movement of the dancers.  The result was temporary chaos. 

Some people seem to drive their playing with their foot, whilst others manage very well without any foot movement at all.  There's probably a doctorate to be had for anyone with the patience to work out why. 
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Tone Dumb Greg

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Re: Foot tapping
« Reply #23 on: June 07, 2018, 01:06:47 AM »

Our band has some pretty good musicians in it and some ...improvers. Tonight we had a practice night. Ostensibly, A dance practice but a musician's practice night too. While I can't do the cajun thing, I , very consciously, used foot tapping and dad dancing to  to see if it would help the ...improvers, to follow the subtleties, exaggerating the moves to make sure the tempo was obvious. The musicians loved it. The ...improvers didn't notice. Just carried on doing their own thing. I'm feeling a bit frustrated.
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Greg Smith
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Eshed

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Re: Foot tapping
« Reply #24 on: June 07, 2018, 06:46:47 PM »

Melnet strikes again with 10 answers containing 20 contradicting opinions for the same question  >:E
Thanks all, I have a lot to think about now  (:)
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Chris Ryall

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Re: Foot tapping
« Reply #25 on: June 08, 2018, 09:42:36 AM »

Been told off repeatedly for foot tapping in improvisation sessions in France.   

Seems … not quite in resonance with what I'm doing musically.  But personally its totally unconscious.
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george garside

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Re: Foot tapping
« Reply #26 on: June 08, 2018, 09:48:39 AM »

 an advantage of ffoot tapping in morris & ceilidh bands is that the leader can glance along the row of musicians to check that all feet are tapping in exact synch.   If the leader is in synch with the dancers or the best dancer  so should the rest of the band be  Anyone out of synch can be given  the dirty look!

george ;)
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Tone Dumb Greg

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Re: Foot tapping
« Reply #27 on: June 08, 2018, 05:05:09 PM »

an advantage of ffoot tapping in morris & ceilidh bands is that the leader can glance along the row of musicians to check that all feet are tapping in exact synch.   If the leader is in synch with the dancers or the best dancer  so should the rest of the band be  Anyone out of synch can be given  the dirty look!

george ;)

So, what do you do if he feet look like a mexican wave?
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Greg Smith
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Theo

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Re: Foot tapping
« Reply #28 on: June 08, 2018, 05:11:23 PM »

It should be the other way round.  The band members should all be watching and following the leaders foot tapping.
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Re: Foot tapping
« Reply #29 on: June 08, 2018, 05:40:42 PM »

an advantage of ffoot tapping in morris & ceilidh bands is that the leader can glance along the row of musicians to check that all feet are tapping in exact synch. 

What makes you think the musicians are any better at holding a straight line than the dancers are?  :||: :|||: :||: :|||: :M :M :M
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Tone Dumb Greg

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Re: Foot tapping
« Reply #30 on: June 08, 2018, 08:51:32 PM »

It should be the other way round.  The band members should all be watching and following the leaders foot tapping.

Too true, I think he meant, look and see if they are  (:)
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Greg Smith
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Stotty

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Re: Foot tapping
« Reply #31 on: June 08, 2018, 10:01:46 PM »

an advantage of ffoot tapping in morris & ceilidh bands is that the leader can glance along the row of musicians to check that all feet are tapping in exact synch. 

What makes you think the musicians are any better at holding a straight line than the dancers are?  :||: :|||: :||: :|||: :M :M :M

So many races start with the contestants in a line  >:E
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george garside

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Re: Foot tapping
« Reply #32 on: June 08, 2018, 10:30:38 PM »

It should be the other way round.  The band members should all be watching and following the leaders foot tapping.

Too true, I think he meant, look and see if they are  (:)


indeed!
g
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Barlow

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Re: Foot tapping
« Reply #33 on: June 09, 2018, 12:36:32 PM »

an advantage of ffoot tapping in morris & ceilidh bands is that the leader can glance along the row of musicians to check that all feet are tapping in exact synch.   If the leader is in synch with the dancers or the best dancer  so should the rest of the band be  Anyone out of synch can be given  the dirty look!

george ;)

So, what do you do if he feet look like a mexican wave?

A different genre of course but such as brass bands discourage foot-tapping. The beat and rhythm are set by the conductor, or perhaps a soloists, not (as with a session near us) the guy with the biggest feet (some might say smallest brain.)

So should beginners be encouraged to foot tap or should they train using metronome and their own internal rhythm?
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george garside

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Re: Foot tapping
« Reply #34 on: June 09, 2018, 01:47:43 PM »

 

if playing for dancers foot tapping helps musicians and dancers become as one


ceilid bands, morris bands etc etc don't have a conductor  to 'keep time'  and foot tapping in usison by all band members  helps to keep everybody in time with each other

Yes I would advocate  foot tapping for beginners  as it effectively helps then to identify the beat and the off beat.  ( foot down on the beat foot up on the offbeat)

this helps begginers to get away from the   varying speed  right notes in the right order  ?playing  that is not uncommon  among begginers  often with the easy bit played faster and the tricky bits slower!

With a bit of seriarse practice  the foot can  perform the function of a metronome   by programming the brain (no need to listen to any tick tocking)  to send the right rhythm down the arm  so to speak.

george
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Eshed

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Re: Foot tapping
« Reply #35 on: June 09, 2018, 02:24:37 PM »

this helps begginers to get away from the   varying speed  right notes in the right order  ?playing  that is not uncommon  among begginers  often with the easy bit played faster and the tricky bits slower!
The funny thing is that my issue is usually the opposite, I can play slow and steady in the easy bits, but once I get to a hard bit, I can find myself speeding up considerably.
I think it's due to my brain being afraid of getting stuck during the bit and my fingers trying to be helpful by rushing to wherever they're needed with no regard to timing.

I also suspect that my brain sometimes thinks that playing is typing, where the exact moment you hit a button doesn't matter at all, just the order and the average speed.
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Re: Foot tapping
« Reply #36 on: June 09, 2018, 02:44:49 PM »

an advantage of ffoot tapping

Is that for when you play the Welsh tunes George?  :|glug
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Re: Foot tapping
« Reply #37 on: June 09, 2018, 02:45:07 PM »

Try the Heel-toe technique ? there's many ways to tap :D if tapping is messing you up do so standing up and bend your knees instead of tapping or move your hip hells bang your head if that will help <-- doesn't help me :D I wish one day i can headbang to the jingle :D
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Theo

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Re: Foot tapping
« Reply #38 on: June 09, 2018, 03:33:58 PM »

this helps begginers to get away from the   varying speed  right notes in the right order  ?playing  that is not uncommon  among begginers  often with the easy bit played faster and the tricky bits slower!
The funny thing is that my issue is usually the opposite, I can play slow and steady in the easy bits, but once I get to a hard bit, I can find myself speeding up considerably.
I think it's due to my brain being afraid of getting stuck during the bit and my fingers trying to be helpful by rushing to wherever they're needed with no regard to timing.

I also suspect that my brain sometimes thinks that playing is typing, where the exact moment you hit a button doesn't matter at all, just the order and the average speed.

I don't think foot tapping is relevant here.  The problem you describe happens to almost everyone.   

The answer is to practice the hard bits very slowly, and I mean very, very slowly.  Then play the whole thing at a speed where you can play the hard bits with confidence and without speeding up. You might also find it helpful to use the "stop motion" technique to begin with where you stop briefly after each note and only play the next note when you know which finger, on which button and which bellows direction.  That will allow your brain time to learn the fingering, and with time and practice you will be able to play the sequence of notes with confidence and with good timing.
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george garside

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Re: Foot tapping
« Reply #39 on: June 09, 2018, 04:10:35 PM »

Try the Heel-toe technique ? there's many ways to tap :D if tapping is messing you up do so standing up and bend your knees instead of tapping or move your hip hells bang your head if that will help <-- doesn't help me :D I wish one day i can headbang to the jingle :D

at least you are not suggesting  doing anything with ones private parts!

g
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