Shuffle, Step, Shuffle, Ball Change

This is the mantra I keep saying to myself as I undertake to master at least ONE step of the tap routine we are doing in my Tappercize class. Over and over again, on my springy board in the living room which I bought just for this purpose, I try to get my feet to match up with what my mouth is saying. Not so easy. Shuffles require that you finish with a foot in the air, uncommitted to the next thing, ready to shift weight, or not. Slowly, I isolate the messages between foot and brain, and try to build up to doing two in a row, however slowly. Somewhere between the brain and the foot, a wire crosses and I am saying "shuffle", but actually "ball changing".

This wire crossing seems to multiply as I try to string the steps together, mutant DNA in my helix of instruction. I stop. Try one. Try one starting on the other foot. Try doing two in a row. Got it. Now try to keep it going. Wires cross again. This puzzles me. Why can't I tell my feet what to do? I am SAYING it out loud, for pity's sake! I back up and try one. Try one on the other foot. String two together. Try to keep it going. Say it out loud. Eventually, I manage to get maybe 4 to 6 in a row. The instructions repeat in my head, getting, finally, correctly, to my feet. Whee! I'm flying! Oops. As soon as I think ABOUT what I'm doing, instead of staying in the mantra, I goof up.

This goofing up when stepping outside my brain is something that has plagued me as a musician all my life. But that's not why I am writing today. I am thinking of my music students. As part of their instruction, I have them say out loud, and in tempo what they are doing. Reading note names, singing finger numbers, saying tahn and shh for quarter notes and rests as they clap a rhythm, or moving their bows vertically in the air as we practice a bowing rhythm are all things we do regularly in my classes. It is my belief that these activities develop an inner mantra for my students that keeps them, or gets them focused on pushing the music along and not getting stuck unable to string two or more notes together. And I think it does help. But as I have been observing my own wires crossing between brain and action, I can see my own students in my mind's eye having the same problem. As bows are going up and down in the air, I can see a couple kids completely backward-even as they are saying "down bow" they are pushing their bows up. Usually if I make smiling eye contact, they realize immediately what they are doing and turn around. Sometimes a student will CLAP on a rest when he should be putting palms out and saying Shh. But if we keep trying, and reminding them to look and focus, eventually they get it.

Once again, my own learning reminds me of how my students learn, and how they can cross wires just like I can. My job is to help them untangle the mess till they can fly too.