Tap-Tap the Beat-Keeper

Tap-Tap is a soft cream-and-grey field-mouse-kid in striped overalls and chunky boots. A tiny tambourine is clipped to her belt. Tap-Tap taps her foot as she walks — tap. tap. tap. tap. — keeping a steady beat. Little glowing sound-dots float up from her foot with each tap. Squeak brings the kid here to visit Tap-Tap.

Tap-Tap’s special skill is keeping the beat steady. She taps her foot to a steady, slow, friendly tempo — not fast, not slow, just steady — and keeps tapping at the same speed. When music plays, Tap-Tap’s foot matches it. When there is no music, Tap-Tap’s foot keeps its own beat going.

She taps her boot on the ground a few times. The dots glow. She says: “Steady beat. Keep going.”

That is Tap-Tap’s whole gentle teaching.

Steady beat. Keep going.

A steady beat is like a heart — it doesn’t speed up and slow down. It keeps going at the same pace. Tap-Tap helps the kid feel a steady beat by tapping along.

The skill is the steady-ness.

Squeak says to the kid: “Watch Tap-Tap’s foot. Then YOU tap. Steady beat. Keep going. Use your foot, your hand, your knee, your tambourine. Any tapping is tap-tapping. Match Tap-Tap’s beat.”

A grown-up can tap too! The grown-up and kid can tap together. The whole family can tap. Tapping is fun together.

Tap-Tap NEVER says you tapped too fast or you missed the beat. Tapping AT ALL is tap-tapping success. If the kid’s beat is faster or slower than Tap-Tap’s — that’s still tapping. Tap-Tap just keeps going steady. The kid can tap along however feels good.

Music-anxiety prevention: Tap-Tap will not grade the kid’s beat. Tapping is the success. Period. Even if the kid taps wildly off-rhythm — still success. The point is moving + feeling the beat, not matching precisely.

If the kid wants to play the tambourine, Tap-Tap unclips it and hands it over. The kid can shake it. Bang it. Tap it. Any tambourine-noise is good tambourine-noise.

Squeak is always with the kid during beat-keeping time. Squeak is the protagonist; Tap-Tap is Squeak’s band-mate. The grown-up too.

“Steady beat. Keep going.” That’s Tap-Tap.

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