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Posted: **Thu Apr 23, 2020 3:18 pm**

True professionals do not tap their toes during concerts. Right? WRONG. Check out this player (viola) from a Berlin concert. He is towards the right. (1:17 on this YouTube video)

https://youtu.be/URoGryx2Fkc?t=74" target="_blank

Ace the toe-tapper

Posted: **Thu Apr 23, 2020 4:52 pm**

Must be his first gig as a sub.
Notice he’s also playing a Bb treble clef viola!

Posted: **Thu Apr 23, 2020 5:14 pm**

I’m triggered!!

The viola-ist favors someone I have spent the last 30+ years trying to forget.

Posted: **Thu Apr 23, 2020 5:28 pm**

As Bloke often says, people go yo concerts to watch as much as listen so everybody gots to do sumthin.

The LAP did a film of Bolero years ago with long shots of Roger Bobo swaying wildly. One way to make a boring part bearable.

Posted: **Thu Apr 23, 2020 8:13 pm**

bloke wrote:More than ALL other orchestras, the BPO musicians all seem to waggle around as if every single one if them is the concertmaster or principal oboist...

That having been said, they've obviously all managed to keep their mouths/fingers on their instruments QUITE well, in spite of their rock-concert-spectator-like jerky motions...

...but (to your question/remark) what's MORE distracting:
> toe-tapping
> over-the-top constant wagging

...??

Joe, his toe-tapping does not bother me or distract me in the least. I posted the video only to point out that the old "rule" about no toe-tapping is not inviolable, even by top-flight musicians. I rather enjoy it when some rigid "rules" are abandoned. I'm with you on the subject of wagging. I can't stand it. The BPO is particularly bad with all the swaying around by some of its players.

Ace

Posted: **Thu Apr 23, 2020 8:22 pm**

The BPO is particularly bad with all the swaying around by some of its players.

Ace[/quote]

vocalists call it emoting.

Posted: **Fri Apr 24, 2020 5:31 pm**

I just flex my *** muscle.

Posted: **Sat Apr 25, 2020 10:28 pm**

I do not tap. I don't care if others tap, as long as they do it silently. The last thing I need is to hear 6 or 8 feet all tapping the floor at differing times.

Posted: **Mon Apr 27, 2020 8:09 pm**

The toe tappers I've seen have been at the amateur level, and one whom I know well jiggles his entire leg up and down. Not on the beat, either. That's the problem.....they are internally focused and not externally. Which is part of what makes them amateurs.

Posted: **Mon Apr 27, 2020 11:38 pm**

MaryAnn wrote:The toe tappers I've seen have been at the amateur level, and one whom I know well jiggles his entire leg up and down. Not on the beat, either. That's the problem.....they are internally focused and not externally. Which is part of what makes them amateurs.

Posted: **Tue Apr 28, 2020 10:01 am**

MaryAnn wrote:Not on the beat, either.

It's weird, the guy I'm thinking of plays OK, but I can see his foot out of the corner of my eye, off the beat.

Posted: **Tue Apr 28, 2020 12:05 pm**

bloke wrote:His foot tends to go down with his phrasing, rather than with time...and his time is very good.

Like many things, the setting and the talent level have a lot to do with breaking "accepted practice"...

Posted: **Tue Apr 28, 2020 3:52 pm**

[quote="bloke"]A friend of mine is an amazing trombonist with a (self-admitted) "retarded foot" (and if you're triggered by the use of the word "retarded", you should probably switch to viola).

Now, now, Joe. Are you disparaging violas and violists? Be careful. My friend here might be offended.
https://youtu.be/NwXpg0l2VtE" target="_blank
Notwithstanding his appearance, he's really a viscious tough guy and defender of the world of violas. He takes names.

Ace (just kidding)

Posted: **Fri May 01, 2020 11:35 pm**

bloke wrote:an inordinate percentage of the gripes - to personnel managers about other personnel in orchestras - seem to come from the viola section...a sensitive lot.

A string quartet consists of four players: a first violin, someone who thinks they should be playing first violin, someone who thinks they should be playing violin and a ‘cello...

Posted: **Sat May 02, 2020 8:55 am**

Are viola players really worse than French horn players??

Posted: **Sat May 02, 2020 3:58 pm**

At the very amateur level of orchestras I've played with, the viola players I remember have been somewhat exceptional, musically and personally.

Posted: **Mon May 04, 2020 12:42 pm**

My favorite position in a string quartet is viola. The part is not as hard, and I can sit and listen to what is going on around me and just enjoy. In a brass quintet I like to play euph on the trombone part.....same general idea, although the tbone parts can be challenging.

Posted: **Thu Jul 16, 2020 11:48 am**

I understand why people say don't tap your foot, and as for myself, I try avoid it. But there are a lot of really fine players who tap and it obviously hasn't held them back. I saw a concert of the Lincoln Center Chamber Players and the first violin was tapping BOTH feet.

Hup

Posted: **Thu Jul 16, 2020 10:37 pm**

Many years ago I picked up the odd habit of tapping my HEEL, but only when playing trad jazz (foot tapping is not uncommon when playing this style of music, even by non-amateurs) and then only if the music is really moving me - or if I'm trying to drive the rest of the rythym section

No tapping for any other kind of music.

Posted: **Fri Jul 17, 2020 5:06 am**

Three Valves wrote:Are viola players really worse than French horn players??

Yes and no.

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