36th Annual Student Research Conference
Evolution of Rudimental Snare Drumming and Tap Dancing as Aural Traditions
Bridget Boyle
Dr. Michael Bump, Faculty Mentor
The purpose of this study is to compile a detailed comparison of the oral traditions of tap dancing and rudimental snare drumming and how they both evolved into written notations. There are clear similarities between the teaching of both tap dancing and rudimental snare. Both were taught traditionally by rote to connect aural syllables with a physical movement. Many of the snare rudiments and simplest tap steps match instructional words or phrases to the number of sounds they produce physically, an example being how the paradiddle (pa-ra-did-dle) creates four sounds when played on snare or tapped. The implications of this study will show how similar these two traditional rote methods are in their instructional methods, learning curves, and both their moves from oral to written out notation. The implications of this study find that further in the future, the art of tap dancing could have a place as a unique-but-able percussion part, given that the performer would have the mastery and ability needed to properly and correctly execute the style of tap.
Keywords: Tap, Percussion, Dance, Tradition
Topic(s):Music
Presentation Type: Oral Presentation
Session: 201-2
Location: SUB Alumni Room
Time: 10:30