Accounting time and tapping my foot in music?

Question

If the time signature in a piece is 3/4, then do I tap my foot on beats 1,2,3 or
1, +, 2, +, 3, +?

Answer 1

3/4 is not enough information. You want to feel the piece and tap accordingly. Yes, its appropriate to simply count



| 1 2 3 | 1 2 3 |



But, if it feels more natural to count



|1 + 2 + 3 + | 1 + 2 + 3 + |



then count that way.



Today, I was working on a piece, 4/4, but the entire piece is best counted



|1 2 3 + 4|1 2 3 + 4| because thats the feel throughout the entire piece where both 3 and 4 are strong pulses.

Answer 2

1, 2, 3

Answer 3

Every beat, with an accent on the first one.

ONE two three

ONE two three

ONE two three



If you go 1 + 2 + 3 +, it can get confusing after a while.



With a 6/8 beat, it would be 1 and 4, unless you're reading some really out there music.

Answer 4

You can tap your foot however you want. Sometimes there will be eights and sixteenths in a 3/4 piece so I count (I can't tap that fast) 1,2,3,4, 2,2,3,4, 3,2,3,4, etc and I do that to have steady sixteenths. So whatever works with the particular piece.