Great News! I was putting some of my old scripts into labeled folders and I found my choreography notes for a number from "My One & Only". I choreographed that show for a local theater some years ago. I had misplaced the notes for one of my favorite numbers from that show. Now I will transcribe it into Tappinese(R), it will be archived there for future reference and the faded yellow tablet sheets can disintegrate, gracefully, into old age.
Now, back to my story. A friend recently suggested that I enlist several studios or universities to be model sites for testing out the software and giving feedback. This sounds like a great way to get the software "field tested", critiqued and improved. My partner and I could inservice the faculty/staff, on site, giving them a running start in the use of the application. I know that when I taught dance for the school system here, the computer specialist would always give the faculty a brief "hands-on" intro to new applications. I found it easier to learn when someone guided me through the initial operation. I guess dancers are used to that concept! I think we would generate a series of questions to be responded to by the users on a periodic basis. We would ask for their questions, comments, and suggestions, as well.
So, yesterday, my partner and I met with a gentleman from one of the area universities. He is going to set us up with the dance faculty there to see if they will agree to "test" our ballet software. They do not have a tap track(this, I do not understand) so I will keep looking for a school or two willing to take on the testing of Tappinese. Any takers? Feel free to offer advice,ideas or feedback. I hope to contribute something of value to the tap dance community.
As for now, I'll get back to reorganizing, perhaps to rediscover a forgotten or misplaced treasure or piece of memorabilia from my past choreographic undertakings.
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Monday, June 14, 2010
Just what is a contemplative tapper, anyway?
A few years ago, after many spiral notebooks filled with scribbled lesson plans and choreography notes for way too many recitals/musical theater productions and what not, I got this idea about creating a system of notation for Tap Dance. That was the easy part and I really loved the visually intuitive nature of the symbols. Young students especially, took to the symbol representation of the tap movements and it made writing things so much quicker.
Then, I thought, if I could find a way to use a computer in conjunction with this notation, it would be a terrific tool for choreographers, teachers & students to record and preserve their work while maintaining the integrity of that work, just as in a score written for music. It would also save tremendous amounts of space in my workroom and keep my husband from always attempting to clean up some of this "old trash". Honestly, most of it was under 10 years old (well, maybe 15, but who's counting)?
It took a few years, programmers are not dancers and dancers that understand computers do not program. I finally met my partner, Caroline (a rather brilliant software engineer) who was a business coworker with my husband and also a dance aficionado with an appetite for problem solving and going in new directions. It helped that she was also familiar with my work and had helped build sets for some of the my shows. We began to develop Tappinese(R)(pronounced tappin' ease, like Japanese) but initially we couldn't marry the programming with the symbols. Technology was way behind this creative idea of two bright women. Three years ago the programming caught up with our innovation and we were able to produce Tappinese(R), Patent Pending. After a year of trial and error(we were still going where no man had gone before) we had a working program.
I soon learned that many dancers are totally freaked by symbol notation! They had studied and been befuddled by other systems-this was enough to turn them away from our program. Not to worry, I thought, the beauty of our program is that you do not need to use the symbols at all. You can simply choose to use either standard or abbreviated tap terminology, but with the convenience of a single keystroke ease-thereby shortening time needed to record the work. it is really a lot of fun to pop a CD into the tray of my laptop and create dance combinations that I can immediately save, edit, and/or print. Not to mention, copying some of those old notebooks my husband loves so well. That does take some time because I found out my old notations were not that legible after all these years and not as well insribed over the erasure marks. From now on I'll have neatly preserved and accurate class or choreography notes.
What about video, you ask, isn't that the most accurate record? Well, I purchased an instructional tap video with the idea of transcribing it for myself and found that while some parts of it were clearly taught and described, other parts were unclear even at very slow speed playback. How great would it be to have both the video and a written dance score at your fingertips?
My problem now is spreading the word to share our idea. I would love to be able to receive input from tap dancers as to how this software could be useful to them. I thought maybe if I were to share my ideas on this blog about the benefits of using a computer and software as a choreographic tool I could get some ideas in return and see if our creation was a good idea.
If you'd like, check out www.tap-tech.com. In addition to information about the software, there is a free trial version for download(no strings attached) if you'd like to give it a test drive.
Let me know what you think. Please write and give me your input. Meanwhile, I'll be recording my spiral notebooks. I only have 14 years worth left to go.
Then, I thought, if I could find a way to use a computer in conjunction with this notation, it would be a terrific tool for choreographers, teachers & students to record and preserve their work while maintaining the integrity of that work, just as in a score written for music. It would also save tremendous amounts of space in my workroom and keep my husband from always attempting to clean up some of this "old trash". Honestly, most of it was under 10 years old (well, maybe 15, but who's counting)?
It took a few years, programmers are not dancers and dancers that understand computers do not program. I finally met my partner, Caroline (a rather brilliant software engineer) who was a business coworker with my husband and also a dance aficionado with an appetite for problem solving and going in new directions. It helped that she was also familiar with my work and had helped build sets for some of the my shows. We began to develop Tappinese(R)(pronounced tappin' ease, like Japanese) but initially we couldn't marry the programming with the symbols. Technology was way behind this creative idea of two bright women. Three years ago the programming caught up with our innovation and we were able to produce Tappinese(R), Patent Pending. After a year of trial and error(we were still going where no man had gone before) we had a working program.
I soon learned that many dancers are totally freaked by symbol notation! They had studied and been befuddled by other systems-this was enough to turn them away from our program. Not to worry, I thought, the beauty of our program is that you do not need to use the symbols at all. You can simply choose to use either standard or abbreviated tap terminology, but with the convenience of a single keystroke ease-thereby shortening time needed to record the work. it is really a lot of fun to pop a CD into the tray of my laptop and create dance combinations that I can immediately save, edit, and/or print. Not to mention, copying some of those old notebooks my husband loves so well. That does take some time because I found out my old notations were not that legible after all these years and not as well insribed over the erasure marks. From now on I'll have neatly preserved and accurate class or choreography notes.
What about video, you ask, isn't that the most accurate record? Well, I purchased an instructional tap video with the idea of transcribing it for myself and found that while some parts of it were clearly taught and described, other parts were unclear even at very slow speed playback. How great would it be to have both the video and a written dance score at your fingertips?
My problem now is spreading the word to share our idea. I would love to be able to receive input from tap dancers as to how this software could be useful to them. I thought maybe if I were to share my ideas on this blog about the benefits of using a computer and software as a choreographic tool I could get some ideas in return and see if our creation was a good idea.
If you'd like, check out www.tap-tech.com. In addition to information about the software, there is a free trial version for download(no strings attached) if you'd like to give it a test drive.
Let me know what you think. Please write and give me your input. Meanwhile, I'll be recording my spiral notebooks. I only have 14 years worth left to go.
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