I have been teaching tap for a looong time, yet one of the things that frustrates me the most is the difficulty my young students have remembering shuffle ball change vs flap ball change. I purposefully teach them in different years for this reason - shuffle ball change is taught ad nauseum in the first year, and then in the 2nd class of the 2nd year, they learn flap ball change, but they cannot seem to decifer the difference once they hear "ball change". I use a mneumonic device to help them remember - a little ditty I made up - but nothing really seems to work.

Does anyone have tricks they use to teach them so that the kids remember the difference?? It is soooo frustrating.

Thank you for your help!

I teach them in the same year and my kids have no problems with mixing them up. We do shuffle ball change at the barre, or center floor. We do flap ball change across the floor. When doing flap ball change across the floor, I will have them say "brush step back front". (Helps figure out what their feet are doing) Once they are able to do it, then we go onto to saying flap ball change.

wow, DanceTumbleCheer I was going to say the exact same thing! We introduce them in the first year of tap as well and usually don't have any problems. The first portion of the class is done at the bar - this is where students will practices shuffle ball changes. And then next, we move to progressions which is where they do flap ball change across the floor. "Brush step back front" is actually a better terminology (I think at least) for getting the concept of flap ball change because they're used to just doing ball change in parallel, it's helpful for beginners to think of it "back front" when getting the hang of the moving step. Hope this helps! Maybe just not calling it a ball change initially might be the trick.

I also teach them both the same year. I never have had a problem with students mixing them up, but they do make the same amount of sounds so at least they are trying to mimic the same amount of sounds. I teach my students that shuffles always end up OFF the floor and flaps always end down ON the floor.

If I have a student that has a problem picking their foot up on the second part of the shuffle I might say brush UP so they are concentrating on the second beat of the shuffle. If they are doing flaps sometimes I say brush DOWN, so that helps them remember the second beat stays on the floor and has to take weight.

I actually teach both at the same time. I put the two together going across the floor. Shuffle ball change, flap ball change. This seems to help them get the difference when they are together. I too emphasize that the shuffle comes off the floor and the flap stays down. Hope that helps!

I tell mine shuffle starts with S so it stays on the same foot/spot and flap satrts with F is it moves forward. Then when we do a shuffle bc and flap bc across the floor I say "Stay ball change, forward ball change"

I have the same battle with them getting them mixed up.

I have never had a problem with it BUT, a few suggestions:

Have they learned transfer of weight, ie.. hop vs. jump"?
are you trying to get them to do it on releve? I so, try flat footed to get the concept.

I teach both of these at age 5-6. They already know how to do a shuffle at this point and most of the time a basic flap.

Goodluck

Teacher4Life....I like that! S=same F=forward

I usually never have an issue with flap ballchange & shuffle ballchange, but I have a time teaching my older kids running flaps (without the ballchange). They always turn the flap in to a shuffle. I tell them that the stays forward for flaps and with shuffles the weight comes back.....

So in makingart's case you may want to use imagery like rocking chair for shuffle ballchange and chasing & smashing the bug for flap ballchange (flap you kick and step on it, ball change is the chase).

I also teach both in the same year, this way they remember and see the actual difference between the steps. I start it with my 5 and 6 yr olds....First make sure they can differentiate a FLAP and a SHUFFLE thats the first step! I say "a flap stay on the floor, a shuffle come back up" Also a flap (ballchange) is a travel step, where as a SHUFFLE (ballchange) stays in place and should not be a traveling. Hope this helps!

I also teach them in the same year. When I'm teaching the 1st or 2nd year kids, I try and keep the shuffle steps together and then move on to the flap steps. I find that they get the most confused when I ask for a leap shuffle ball change, then the next step is a flap heel, then shuffle hop steps, then flap heels. Keeping the steps grouped together like that helps. The other thing I use A LOT are "pop quizzes". The last 5 (or 2 depending on class size) minutes of class I ask each kid to demonstrate a step. If they get it wrong I ask the class to help them. When they're demonstrating and being "tested", the steps get in them A LOT faster, plus they think it's fun!

I just always say FLAP starts with an F, FRONT starts with an F, FLAP to the front and leave it there, ball change.

A lot of good ideas above...I just wanted to say that YES my kids confuse these two a lot as well so you are now alone!