Top 3 Technology Recommendations for Tap Teachers

Published on September 12th 2019 by Hillary-Marie

Top 3 Technology Recommendations for Tap Teachers

Annette from NJ, recently asked me, what are your favorite technology recommendations for tap teachers? She said I don’t want to get behind on the times! 

Annette is an iTapOnline™ Member and she’s an iTapOnline™ Teacher! As an iTapOnline™ Teacher, Annette is working with me and my team, alongside other tap teachers around the world through my 99 day iTapOnline™ Teacher Training Program. We are having a blast!

I loved this question. So, here we go. My top three technology recommendations for tap teachers...

I personally need a functional, lightweight laptop. My whole life is run on my laptop. Grooves Unlimited Dance Studio, iTapOnline™, this podcast, everything functions on my laptop. I have a lenovo yoga laptop, it’s a 2-in-1 touch screen laptop that flips into tablet mode. So if you’re someone who’s carrying a laptop and a tablet, consider getting something like this. 

If your technical needs are not as high as mine, a tablet will do just fine. But all in all, you need a separate device to play your music from. I personally don’t think it’s appropriate to run music from your phone. It’s super unprofessional to have phone calls coming in over the speaker, or text message sounds. And having your phone in your hands constantly shows younger students endorses phone overuse, and for adult students, makes them wonder if you’re paying attention to them or scrolling on instagram. Parents at the studio may also complain to your studio owner that they saw the teacher on the phone instead of teaching, and that’s not something you want to deal with either. 

#1: A device to play your music on outside of your phone, be it a laptop or tablet. 

My next technology recommendation for tap teachers is Spotify. I was really against joining Spotify for many years because they're not paying their artists adequately. They feel they're a hosting service and that users are paying to have access to Spotify interface, not an artist’s music, and that it's an artist's choice to participate in Spotify in a networking platform, and therefore, they don’t need to pay adequate royalties. So all in all, they’re not paying artists what they deserve... but we are to blame! We are to blame because we want cheap streaming… because we want instant access to new music. 

The way I can justify my use of Spotify is that when I find an artist I like, I will go online and support them - buy their album - see them live in concert - support their patreon page - buy their products, etc. 

So enough with the evils of Spotify, because if it was only evil, I wouldn’t have it as my number two recommendation of this technology for tap teachers list. I love Spotify because all my music is portable. I used to have an ipod, and I don't like apple any more than I like Spotify because of their business practices. The cool thing about spotify is that I can access it on my laptop and on my phone. And even though it's streaming, I can download my playlists to have access offline. I also like Spotify because I can use the spotify library to organize the music that I have on my laptop in addition to the new music I have on there. I also like how easy it is to share music with my students and how easy it is for them to share with me. They’re always sending me new music requests for improv class, I love it!

#2: Spotify

My first two recommendations are all about music essentially. Having your music easily organized, portable and at your fingertips. My last technology recommendation for tap teachers is an iTapOnline™ Membership. iTapOnline™  Members have full-time access to the iTapOnline™ video library which is host to over 100 breakdown videos… my whole goal with iTapOnline™ is to support you with quick and easy access to new knowledge  and fresh inspiration, and when it comes to teachers, my mission is to grow the tap community one passionate tap dance student as a time by supporting the tap teachers who teach them, and the iTapOnline™ Video Library is one of the ways that I do that. I recommend it as an awesome resource for tap teachers around the world to keep their class material fresh and push their students to the next level. 

So there you have you guys! 

#1 Laptop or Tablet to manage your music 

#2 Spotify 

#3 iTapOnline™ Family 

What are some of your favorite technology resources? Any portable speakers you like to use? A certain laptop or tablet you use to organize your music? Comment in the iTapOnline™ Video Library and let me know!

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