How to Count Tap Dance Rhythms: 1 e & a, Eighths and Triplets

How do you count tap dance rhythms?

Say the beat as a number, the halfway point as "&", and the two points either side of it as "e" and "a". One bar of sixteenths in 4/4 reads "1 e & a 2 e & a 3 e & a 4 e & a", with your foot landing on each number. Slower rhythms use less of that grid: eighths are "1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &", and triplets are "1 & a 2 & a".

Tap counts sit on top of the same 8-count every other class uses. What changes is how finely you slice each beat. Learn the slicing once, and you can read any rhythm your teacher claps back at you.

Step by step: eighths, sixteenths and triplets

Step 1: the beat is the number

Start by saying "1 2 3 4" and pressing your foot down on each number. Keep it even and a little slow. Every syllable you add later hangs off this pulse, so if it wobbles, the rest will too.

Step 2: add the "&" for eighths

Now fit a sound halfway between each pair of beats. Wikipedia's page on counting in music marks the beats with numbers and the offbeats with a plus sign, spoken as "and", so a bar of eighths reads "1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &". Your foot stays on the numbers. The "&" falls in the air between two foot presses.

Step 3: add "e" and "a" for sixteenths

Sixteenths split each beat into four. The same page, which counts 4 beats in a bar of 4/4 and 4 sounds in each beat, gives the count as "1 e & a 2 e & a 3 e & a 4 e & a", and each beat holds four evenly spaced sounds. Say it slowly at first, with the "&" still in the middle of the beat and the "e" and "a" either side of it.

You will not always sound all four positions. The Sierra College page on sixteenth notes shows which positions sound in each common pattern:

The silent syllable still counts. Keep saying it in your head, and the long sound will land in the right place.

Try it on one beat. Take "eighth, then two sixteenths". Say "1 e & a" out loud, then say it again and make only the 1, the & and the a audible. The "e" is still there, silent, and the sound on 1 lasts through it. Do the same with each row of the table until you can hear the difference between them with your eyes closed.

Step 4: switch to triplets

A triplet puts three even sounds in one beat instead of four. The Traditional American system on that same Wikipedia page counts it "1 & a 2 & a", and other systems say "1 trip let 2 trip let". Notice the trap: the "&" in a triplet is not halfway through the beat. It sits a third of the way through, so a triplet and a sixteenth count do not line up.

To feel the difference, count one bar of sixteenths, "1 e & a 2 e & a 3 e & a 4 e & a", then one bar of triplets, "1 & a 2 & a 3 & a 4 & a", with the same foot pulse under both. The foot doesn't change. Only the number of sounds between the presses does.

Triplets are also where a swing feel lives. If you want to hear how another stage style handles it, read how jazz dancers count the & and the swing feel.

Find the 1 in the music

A count only helps if you start in the right place. Dancers count in "5 6 7 8", and the next beat after the 8 is the 1 of the new phrase. If you are not sure where that is, find the 1 in the music first, then lay the count over it.

Once you have the 1, say the bar at the speed of the song. Your voice only needs the numbers and the syllables you are using. If a phrase is eighths, do not say "e" and "a".

Common problems

Rushing the "e" and the "a". They tumble out in a rush when you're nervous. Keep your foot on the numbers and let the syllables drop evenly into the gaps.

Saying "&" too early. It belongs exactly halfway between two numbers. If your "&" crowds the next beat, you have turned an eighth into something else.

Mixing triplet and sixteenth counts. Pick one for the beat and stay with it. "1 e & a" has four sounds and "1 & a" has three, and they feel different under the foot.

Dropping the numbers when it gets fast. Keep saying the beat numbers out loud, even if the syllables in between shrink to a whisper. The numbers hold the shape.

Practise it with Count Studio

Drill the grid in layers. Press your foot on the numbers and say "1 2 3 4". Add the "&". Add the "e" and "a". Then switch to triplets, and go back and forth until the change feels easy. Work slowly, and speed up only when the foot stays steady.

Count Studio has this count ready to use. The Tap e & a count says every sixteenth aloud across eight counts, with a 5 6 7 8 lead-in, at 60 to 160 BPM. Its notes say it is straight sixteenths, and to use the swing slider (50 to 75 percent) for swung tap. The library also has Tap triplets and Tap swing & counts, so you can practise each count on its own. Count Studio is coming November 27 to iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch.

Bottom line

The number is the beat, the "&" is halfway, and "e" and "a" fill in the sixteenths. Triplets are "1 & a", with three sounds to the beat. Start slow, keep the foot steady on the numbers, and add one layer at a time.