Foot Tapping

[elbowmusic]

I’ve wondered about how folks actually feel about this, as I see much less foot tapping then in the Scottish/Cape Breton music. Do most people feel the way Rory does, that they would rather no one tapped their feet while playing?

[Mr.Gumby]

Do most people feel the way Rory does, that they would rather no one tapped their feet while playing?

I think foot tapping as you hear it in Irish music only adds a layer of noise. Podorythmie in the Cape Breton sense may be a different matter but , by and large, you don’t really find that in Irish music and I don’t believe it would be a practical option anyway when you have the body of a set of pipes sitting across your lap.

[Kevin_L_Rietmann]

@Mr.Gumby

I don’t think there are any hard andfast rules. It’s merely a crutch we hang on to to keep time I suppose. Leo Rowsome had it as one of the 'Don’t’s in his tutor. I know a few people who can play sitting still without moving as much as a toe and play a rock-solid rhythm. I think that’s a good thing. Then again, some make a virtue, or a feature, out of tapping their feet: anyone remember Mick Conroy?

I took Leo’s advice to heart, tapping just seemed to get in the way of playing the regulators anyway. Then I got that Rita Byxbe tape from the 1964 Oireachtas, where Leo takes the stage and you hear this “BOMP! BOMP! BOMP! BOMP!”

Still don’t tap. I think I can pound out a good beat - on the banjo, that is. The sean-nos dancing teacher I play for on occasion never has any complaints about my tempo, anyway. When I put on the pipes - at home - I like to revel in Reck-style rubato. “For the head and heart not feet and floor!”

So, this Mick Conroy is Andy’s brother, right? Did he clog ala Canadian musicians? When I took up an interest in trad music I found an old Folkways LP of Quebec music with some cuts of melodeon + clogging, I always thought was great stuff.

Also - who “invented” tapping the foot double time? Older players don’t do that all, including most baby boomers, but it seems de rigeur amongst youngsters these days. People tell me Jerry O’Sullivan was doing that over 30 years ago so perhaps it comes from Yonkers. Good thing he didn’t popularize having the eyeballs rolling back into the head… Very intense fellow, Jerry. Onstage, anyway.

[oliver]

@rorybbellows

@oliver

Say that to Martin Hayes !

People don’t listen to Martin Hayes because they think he’s a great foot tapper.

RORY

Of course, but I just like the way his whole body is involved when he plays… He’s also a joy to watch, and not just to listen to.

If foot-tapping is done to keep time, it’s a bad idea, feet are by no means a metronome…
To me foot-tapping’s like anything else, it’s ok when it’s well done… which implies not spoiling the music.

[ennischanter]

@PJ

When I started piping, I was unable to tap my foot while playing. When I got more proficient with the chanter, I found that I was tapping my foot without thinking. These days, I can’t tap my foot if I’m playing the regs - there’s just too much going on!!

I find the same thing is happening with me! I am starting to tap. My Rhythm still needs some errr… Refinement though. Gotta whip out my metronone.





And with foot tapping, I don’t mind it at all. It may be weird of me (I am generally a weird person, lel) but I actually enjoy the occasional stomp of the foot. Makes it all the more organic and authentic. IMHO

[myrddinemrys]

Foot tapping usually degrades my concentration on an already complex instrument that is using a lot of my focus.

[elbowmusic]

Is this mostly discouraged in sessions?

I did a quick search of the first six pipers to pop into my head on youtube and clicked on the first video I saw and all of them are tapping their feet.

Mick O’Brien

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0S7LYRnvzlc

Michael McGoldrick

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnhPivtfUKU

Tiarnan O Duinnchinn

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihq0dbwFQsE

David Power

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXJ4QZPNc94

Paddy Keenan

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHI5lcMOWpU

Even Paddy Maloney

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7pDiO52xSs



And the previously mentioned Jerry:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTy8i-v8owM


Sorry, I can’t stop myself from clicking on links!

Robbie Hannan

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfX17kGGhvo


Padraig McGovern

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FE4RzBbAPU


Cillian Vallely, once he gets to the dance music:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9HwsawxMH0


Brain MacNamara:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdnqGufqXJo


Elliot Grasso:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpQ-8YErxf4


Almost forgot Joey.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Plf8NgotEzo

[ennischanter]

Here’s Séamus Ennis also! Heck! They even zoom on on those leather shoes of his! ♪♫Click clack clack click *clack clack click clack click♫♪


Willie Clancy also taps, and even stomps hit foot on occasion.

[geoff_wooff]

Hey Elbowmusic,
did you not find the videos of Rory Bellows ?

[firnatine]

Fred Morrison
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgRHnz3UR-A

[rorybbellows]

@geoff wooff

Hey Elbowmusic,
did you not find the videos of Rory Bellows ?

I dont understand it, all my clips have mysteriously disappeared.

RORY

[geoff_wooff]

@rorybbellows

@geoff wooff

Hey Elbowmusic,
did you not find the videos of Rory Bellows ?

I dont understand it, all my clips have mysteriously disappeared.

RORY

Yes, I noticed !

How’s about putting up a demo of ’ how not to play without foot tapping’ ?

[MTGuru]

I once tried tapping my foot while playing, but my hand wouldn’t reach that far.

[PCL]

@PCL

My left foot likes to be involved. Sometimes. It is DANCE music were talking about.

I was playing ‘The Blackbird’ this afternoon and my right foot joined in. Where will it all end?

[tommykleen]

I dunno: I have often marveled at Máire Ní Ghráda’s 2nd-&-4th-beat tapping. Gives the music an interesting momentum.

[ennischanter]

@geoff wooff

@rorybbellows

@geoff wooff

Hey Elbowmusic,
did you not find the videos of Rory Bellows ?

I dont understand it, all my clips have mysteriously disappeared.

RORY

Yes, I noticed !

How’s about putting up a demo of ’ how not to play without foot tapping’ ?

I suggest duct tape, or hammer a nail in if you want to take the more extreme route…

[ausdag]

Even this rank amateur had better pack away his pipes and take up the bodhran. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsPcjlmnp1U at 0:30

[Hans-Joerg]

@Patrick D'Arcy

I didn’t want to tap my foot but wound up having to. There was this bodhran player you see. He always sped up and also played erratically. I was able to overcome the situation with a good hefty stomp. These days I try to keep it under control… it can feel good though in a big thundering session

Patrick

BTW - does somebody know a source for an adhesive-pic of a darts game that you could stick onto a bodhrán?

[Brazenkane]

I don’t think there’s much wrong with foot tapping. I 100% agree with Peter, that when it becomes a feature it’s a total distraction (at least for me). It’s the double foot stompers that drive me mad, personally.

I’ve seen both Robbie Hannan and Maire Ni Ghrada switch between tapping on 1&3, and 2&4. Robbie tells me he got the 2&4 idea from Jimmy O’Brien Moran.

I’ve heard audience members be amazed at how rock-solid a player’s time was. What greatly influenced there observation what the sound of the tapping. In actually, when I heard the play-back (of the recording I made), their time was no better or worse than someone who had good time. It was just where the LOUD thumping was happening that gave the experience that the rhythm was somehow better.

Hey… if such a thing get such a reaction, perhaps I should adopt that to my act?

[Lorenzo]

The only reason I tap my foot is so the audience can understand the tune! Most of the time people, unfamiliar with Irish music, have no idea where you are.

I saw a poster once that said, “friends don’t let friends clap on one and three” (not sure about the feet though!)