I'm currently learning a piece mostly just because I like it, but it's also an exam study and I may end up choosing this piece when I enter for G3 (probably next Spring). But it's a swing rhythm, and being a swing/jazz lover, I can't help swaying around when I'm playing it, tapping my foot etc. I don't do foot tapping or swaying when I'm playing anything else, but I just can't seem to help it with this one! Is it a really bad habit that I need to nip in the bud, or will it not matter if I get carried away in the exam on this one piece?!

Did you mean clarinet?

Yes, clarinet in my case, although I guess it could apply to many other instruments as well

ermm.. for piano you don't have to sway, better not to tap while playing.. that's my view.

I'm NOT a clarinet player, so feel free to ignore anything I say: BUT, having entered children for piano festivals, where the pieces were jazzy, the ones who won were the ones who really "got into it" and threw inhibition to the wind. (Obviously they played well too.....)

I would say that almost anything is ok apart from tapping feet.

I think as long as it's not insanely OTT to the extent it's going to make the examiner seasick, then go for it!

I think so long as it's natural and not too over-the-top, it's fine. It's good to show that the music engages you. But when it looks really affected and put on, then it starts to get annoying!

To the other extreme if one was to stand absolutely still, except for the strictly necessary movements (of fingers, breathing) it would look like they were simply going through the motions, bored, all the rest. I'm not sure about foot tapping, but general movement is OK, as long as it's not extreme.

I think its ok to sway and tap your foot as long as you dont do it to much and that you dont concerntatrate on it instead of what your playing.

I always sway with the music in exams and on each of the comment sheets for the exams it always says about how the examiner saw that I really got into the music. Don't know if that is good or bad

Thanks for all that everyone. It sounds as if I'll be OK with a bit of movement but foot tapping sounds more of a grey area, so just in case some examiners take exception to it, I think it will probably be safest to try and stop myself doing that.

.... and I'll take a stout bag into the exam room with me, just in case

Heehee - That comment also cracked me up!!

Why don't you actually ask the examiner when you go in?! "Hey, I hope you don't mind me asking this, but how do you feel about tapping feet, 'cos I find it really hard not to."

An exam, in my opinion, should be akin to a performance, rather than a dry atmosphere, and I'm sure the examiner would like to see you at ease.

I don't see what everybody has against foot-tapping... I always do it (probably comes from being a drummer) but my clarinet teacher has taken to standing on my feet to prevent it!

Why? What's so wrong?

The very core of music is the pulse... Without the beat, there's no real rhythm, so no real music...



I'd say it's OK to sway, tap, dance, hum during the rests etc...!! After all - if you go to watch a real jazz musician perform, they will do all of those... So if you're playing a jazz piece, why not play it like a real jazz musician? Surely that makes the performance better? If you were playing a baroque piece, it'd be a good thing to play it just as Bach would have done... So if you're playing a swing piece, it'll be a good thing to play it just as, say, Benny Goodman would have done... Including all the swaying, tapping, shouting, wrong notes and all of that!!

I love the idea of being relaxed/confident enough to negotiate with the examiner on this; in practice I've never said a word to the examiner other than a somewhat nervous greeting. I've now started a thread on this very topic!


Oh yes, love it, let's get carried away with it!!

[sighs] ... back to reality....

I can imagine that examiners don't like to see you tapping your feet because they take the view that you should have the rhythm in your head rather than "relying on" your feet, as it might appear. Although I agree that when playing jazz, you're not tapping your feet as a "rhythm aid", you're doing it because the music makes you do it. I've been trying to play my piece without tapping my feet, and it does feel very unnatural. I don't have this problem when playing other genres, and I would much rather just be totally natural when playing a swing/jazz piece ....

You'll be able to show that you have a sense of rhythm by the fact that you don't tap your foot for your other pieces - and I've seen many jazz musicians tapping furiously as they play. Given that, I'd have thought that an examiner should be able to see the foot-tapping thing for what it is - part of the style, and part of the music-making, rather than as an aid to survival. (Says she, who knows all about using a foot for survival purposes. )
I do move when I play - and when I play duets I'm slightly worried that I may be overdoing it, because the student with whom I usually play is also a French Horn player, and keeps very still - I would imagine it could look weird as a combination. In general, though, some movement is good, I think - providing that it doesn't distract from the music. Didn't someone put in a link to a bit of video once, in which a young flautist looked in imminent danger of falling over altogether as she played?
*goes to see if she can find it*

I've just got back from a band concert where they played a couple of swing pieces in amongst the rest. They'd hardly got to the end of the first bar of the swing number before my feet, hands, legs were going with the rhythm. It really is impossible not to, isn't it

..and I bet the rest of the band found the same, didn't it?

Having said that - I just had a look at the Lang Lang thread and link - I watched about one minute of the video clip and had to stop. He looked just like a toddler having an A* tantrum....
I think some music takes animated movement better than other sorts!

Do what you feel light... its called musicianship... this might actually help you to play the music better...

Our band teacher doesn't like it because then everyone starts playing along in time with their feet and relies on that rather than watching her, so then everyone starts playing at their own pace, which can lead to some interesting results!
I'd say go for it in an exam though - like everyone has said, it shows that you're getting into the music, which can only be a good thing! Just don't put it on, it looks annoying when people go OTT!

We played vivaldi 4 seasons spring in orchestra once, the 1st violin, my friend and myself kept speeding up, losing almost the entire orchestra by the end... Including our (clueless) conductor.

"It don't mean a thing, if it ain't got the swing"

Once heard of a clarinet candidate who did a whole exam standing on one leg- not really encouraged!