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The Hunt for That Perfect Track
Every tapper knows the feeling. You hear the first few notes and suddenly your toes are itching to move. That's the magic we're after—the song that makes your body say things your voice can't.
After years of shuffling across studio floors, hunting through jazz archives, and stealing iTunes gift cards for new finds, here are the tracks that have never let me down.
The Classic That Still Slaps
"Sing, Sing, Sing" by Benny Goodman
There's a reason this song survives every trend. That opening drum roll? It doesn't just build—it demands you to answer it. The tempo accelerates and suddenly you're not thinking anymore, you're just reacting. Your feet find patterns you didn't know you knew.
Use this when you want to show off. Not in a braggy way—in a "watch what happens when I stop holding back" way. The best tappers in history have walked out to this song and felt the floor come alive beneath them.
The Cool Cat
Miles Davis understood something about tap that most people miss: it's not always about speed. Sometimes the most powerful move is the one that hangs in the air for half a second longer than expected.
Look for tracks with space in them. Gaps where your foot can float. Miles's catalog is a goldmine for this—"Freddie Freeloader," "So What"—songs that breathe. Put them on and let your heels do the talking while the horn plays hide and seek with your rhythm.
The Root
Bill "Bojangles" Robinson changed everything. Before him, tap was one thing. After him, it was something else entirely—a conversation between feet and floor that told stories.
Modern tappers owe him everything. When you hit a time step or a pull-back or a buffalo, you're speaking his language. Play something with that energy behind you—a track with swagger, with that particular strut—and feel the lineage under your feet.
The Challenge
Savion Glover didn't just dance. He argued with the music. He made the song fight back and win.
You need a track that keeps you honest. Something that doesn't let you coast. When your lungs are burning and your brain is saying "I can't," that's when you're growing. Put on the complex stuff—the songs that have more beats than you initially thought you could handle—and see what you're really made of.
The Joy
Tap is hard work. It's also supposed to be fun.
Some nights you walk into the studio and everything clicks. Your wings are crisp, your time is perfect, you're grinning because you can't help it. On those nights, play something that makes you smile. Something with a little ridiculousness in it. Something that says "I came here to move and nothing's going to stop me."
What Actually Matters
The song matters. But not in the way you think.
The "perfect" track isn't the most technically impressive one—it's the one that makes you forget you're performing. The one where you stop planning and start responding. The one that stays with you in the shower, in the car, at 2 a.m. when you suddenly remember that combination you missed.
Find those songs. Learn their names. Then go move.
