It’s About Time: Tips for Musicality and Timing
Why do we love tap? Because we love music! Tap is a form of percussion, after all. We’re both dancers and musicians.
Tap originated in the American South, where enslaved people could not perform with traditional African instruments. Early tap shoes had nails or coins attached to the soles, and metal plates were added in the early 1900s. Over the 20th century, tap evolved with jazz and swing music, becoming a collaboration between musicians.
So, the tap started as an instrument and has always been about making music.
But sometimes, we get so focused on nailing complex sequences that we forget we’re active participants in the music we’re tapping to. I catch myself fighting and tapping over a song because I’m more worried about getting the steps right than actually listening to what I’m dancing to.
Which is a terrible way to go about playing music!
If we think about our tap shoes, like we think about a musical instrument like the drums, we need to approach tap dancing as if we’re playing in a band. I consider tappers to be a group of musicians, almost more than a group of dancers.
So, I applied the same music theory principles to tap dancing as I would when playing the drums or the piano. Here are a few of my musicality tips!
The space between your notes is as important as what you're playing.
French composer Claude Debussy said, “Music is the space between the notes.”
We tappers are always in a rush! We’re busy ensuring we get to the next sound instead of taking up the entire space of a beat. But the time we take between each sound is just as important.
To work on this, practice slowing down. Stretch your timing as much as possible. Get lower to the ground. Exaggerate the time between sounds and finish your step at the last possible instant. I’d rather you be behind the beat than ahead of the beat. You might hear dance instructors call this “Sitting in the pocket.”
Listen closely to all of the different beats in a song.
There’s the beat, and then there are all the other beats! Most songs will have a steady one-two, one-two rhythm. But pay attention to what else is going on.
Often, there’s a second, syncopated beat in double time. Syncopation is a musical technique that involves playing rhythms that emphasize off-beats. As tappers, we know about syncopation, but it’s easy to forget to listen to it in the music itself.
I can think of a few fun examples of syncopation: “Ether” by RAC, “Right Round” by Flo Rida, and “Cooler Than Me (Single Mix)” by Mike Posner.
Sometimes, there are much more complex, unexpected rhythms to listen for. Stewart Copeland, the drummer for The Police, is known for breaking free from the usual drumming patterns to create more surprising beats.
If you haven’t seen the Rocky Mountain Rhythm piece to “Message in a Bottle” by the Police yet, come to our Taps on Tap show in April! We tap into the different beats in the song that you might not have noticed before.
Think outside the 4/4 box & practice tapping to time signatures you’re not used to.
A time signature guides the structure of the rhythm. It looks just like a fraction! The top number indicates how many beats are played in a bar, and the bottom tells you the type of each note -- 2 is a half note, 4 is a quarter note, and so on. It’ll make a little more sense in a second.
There are many different time signatures in music. Here are a few common examples:
4/4 time signature: I call this the “normal one.” It’s the most commonly used time signature in Western music, so musicians call it “common time.” 4/4 means four beats in each measure—easy for us dancers to count!
3/4 time signature: I call this the “waltz one.” One-two-three, one-two-three. It’s tricky to tap into! There are three beats before the bar repeats, and the notes are a quarter long.
5/4 time signature: This one is five beats per bar. One-two-three-four-five, one-two-three-four-five. The jazz standard “Take Five” is a classic example.
Different time signatures are more complex to spot in the wild, but you’ll find them once you know what to listen for!
I recently heard a 3/4 time signature in the song “I’ll Be Your Girl” by Carly Rae Jepsen. “Nothing Else Matters” by Metallica has a 6/8 time signature. “Money” by Pink Floyd gets crazier with a 7/4 time. One of my favorite bands, King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, has a song called “Robot Stop” that alternates between 7/8 and 8/8 the whole time.
And it only gets more complex, especially if you listen to classical or non-Western music. So, it’s good practice to get used to various signatures. You’ll be more potent at tapping into everything from historical jazz to prog rock, jaunty Broadway show tunes, and modern pop!
Get loud and enjoy being part of the band!
When I'm not dancing, my favorite thing to do is go to concerts. I love watching the drummers bang it out.
I always marveled at how much noise a 2-3-person band could make, like the White Stripes, Muse, Rush, and Matt & Kim. They all have something in common: Strong drummers. Meg White’s powerhouse drumming style is how I aspire to tap.
Next time you’re in class, practice tapping like a drummer in a rock band: Loudly and unapologetically. (Unless you’re doing soft shoes, in which case, save the White Stripes vibes for another piece.) Tap with attitude. Tap like you’re a ‘70s rock star and are about to smash a guitar at the end of an epic stadium show.
I hope to see you all tapping as loudly and joyfully as possible in my community class on March 9! Join the band!
By Alex Gnibus
