Tap Dance Teacher Blog

Everyone is aware how much computers have worked their way into nearly every aspect of our lives.  Teaching tap is no different, at least for me.  Granted I'm a bit of a tech-nerd, but nevertheless some of the tools available are REALLY helpful (and occasionally hurtful). Currently I use a macbook when I teach for a variety of reasons. 1.  Speed control - There is an app called Djay (See the sidebar for a link) that allows me to control the speed of the music I play which is very helpful to adjust for students who need to go slower or want to go faster.  It also has cue points which allow me to jump into any specific spot in the music just clicking a button.  In addition to that it automatically calculates the BPM of each song and allows me to sort by it so I can make up a combo and then look at the BPMs to find music with a speed that would work well. 2.  Garageband - I use this for choreographing and rehearsing routines.  It is not the bes...

In order to shake things up a little in class and make things a bit more interesting I tried something new this past week.  I had each student make up their own "step" which had to consist of 7 sounds with the counts 1 & 2 & 3 & 4.  Furthermore, it had to start on the right and end on the left and be repeatable.  Other than that they could do whatever they wanted with it and many did some really cool and creative things (after teaching over 20 years it's nice to see other people's creativity, especially students).  I gave them some time to work on it and get it down and helped a few kids that were stuck.  For those kids I simply tell them to make a sound, any sound.  If they stamp their feet (for instance), then I tell them to give me a number between 1-4.  If they pick 2, then I say "there's your first two sounds, stamp stamp, now make another sound and pick another number."  That usually gives them a start. So once they get their "...

So I've been in a "back to basics" mode this year trying to strengthen my students' basics skills like shuffles, buffalos, cramp rolls, etc.  In so doing I've found that if you manage to put some of these simple steps in just the right order your students will end being really challenged by them (depending on level of course).  For instance in one class I did buffalo shuffle ball change cramp roll flap ball change.  Sounds pretty easy.  But for some reason the brain wants to do a flap ball change after the buffalo not a shuffle ball change, especially on the 2nd or third repetition of the pattern (I do this across the floor).  I also like this because it allows the kids to practice differentiating shuffle step and flap.  Some kids never ever have a problem confusing the two but others never seem able to internalize the difference.  I have tried a couple of tricks like: Flaps go Front, Shuffle go Side (usually) noting the letter F in flap and front an...

It's a bit cliche, but we often hear about computers someday taking over the world.  So how will they affect the world of tap dancing?  Well I hope to be leading that charge in a positive way.  I've been working with a software programmer for a while and if all goes well I may end up with a computer program than can "hear" a students feet and draw their sounds onto a video screen in the exact way they tapped them.  Thus showing them visually when a sound was missing, early, or late.  It's not a substitute for listening to their own feet, but I think it will help train their ears to be better able to pick out "off" sounds.   That's step one of course.  Step 2 is the computer understanding what mistake they're making and then telling them how to fix it.  Truth be told, if I had the money to hire as many good programmers as I need I could make that software right now.  So mark my words that's coming down the pipeline.   Now don't misunder...

Today was my first day back for normal fall lessons.  Luckily for me it was only two hours which makes for a nice easing-back-into-things start to the new season.  The kids were were attentive, eager, and in good spirits and who doesn't love to teach to that?  These classes are at a studio I'm relatively new to (just started there about 2 months ago) so the kids are still learning my terminology. I find the terminology a tough thing.  I tell the kids to learn and remember as many names to steps as they can because that way when they take from someone else they'll hopefully be prepared for their terminology.  However regardless of how hard I try to teach new students who have had other teachers my terminology, they tend to still revert back to the very first names they learned for steps. Anyone got a solution to that? Rod at http://www.unitedtaps.com

So yesterday I made an ambitious attempt to replicate myself 3 times through the magic of modern technology, and it worked!  Here's the story: I was scheduled to teach a production number at one of the studios I work at and all the kids were coming at the same time (as opposed to splitting them into groups and working with one group at a time).  Well I didn't want 3/4 of the kids just sitting doing nothing while I worked with one of the subgroups within the production, so I replicated myself.  The night before I was scheduled to teach I video-taped myself teaching the choreography for three of the groups.  The next day I put three of the groups each in separate rooms with a tv and had them learn the choreography off of the video while I worked with the fourth group "live."  I did have an assistant overseeing my youngest group that was learning from video.  So how did it go? Splendid!  Worked like a charm!  So in the amount of time it would hav...

So throughout my many years of teaching I've taught at many different dance studios.  Teaching at a new place can be exciting and slightly intimidating all at the same time.  One of the perks however is that for a brief moment in time you're the "new guy" and the kids are genuinely excited to take class from you and learn all the great things you have to teach. Like all good things though, this soon comes to an end.  Not that the kids suddenly don't like your class anymore, it's just sort of like that new toy that was the coolest thing ever when you got it and then a few weeks later it's just another toy. Nevertheless those first few weeks are a real joy and can really remind you why you got into teaching in the first place, or perhaps why you haven't left. Have you had the same experience? Rod Howell at http://www.unitedtaps.com