10 Jan
2023
10 Jan
'23
11:44 p.m.
The short version of this post is, how should I organize my dances? But,
I'm sure if I ask that, the thread will have 100 replies and lots of
confusion. My search of the list archives and web were surprisingly spotty
on this question, with lots of anecdotes and no summary or comparison. And
I'm not just asking for myself. While I've got a whopping 15 evenings of
dance calling under my belt, I'm being called on to train some students to
call for our college club, and they're asking the same question.
So, I'm looking for one or more summaries from those wiser than I (ok, low
bar!) of the kinds of systems for cards. This might better be asked as,
what are the different approaches to programming dances, and what
organizing systems make each of those easier?
In a workshop of his last summer, Bob Isaacs related his system of colored
cards for easy, hard, bouncy, flowy, sweetheart, and divorce-reconcile
dances (I think those were the categories). Call easy dances first, call a
sweetheart right after the break when they're most likely to dance with the
person they came with. Save hard for festivals. Give them variety.
But, I've wanted more categories, and what about finding the bouncy
sweethearts? I'm really busy, so the idea of re-copying a hundred or more
cards to make a new system doesn't thrill me, if I don't like my initial
system. Maybe I'll get a database system to select dances with, and then
have a set of alphabetized printed cards for the actual calling, though
what if I'm wrong and need to change my program, as has already happened a
few times when a ton of newbies shows up? I'm interested in hearing about
anything particularly clever or efficient, especially if it doesn't involve
a computer or tablet.
A comparison of the different computer systems would also be welcome. I'm
aware of programs by Will Loving and Colin Hume. I asked on one Facebook
group for a comparison of these but got no response. Is the Caller's Box
up to real-time dance selection at an event? That presumes wi-fi, of
course, or at least cell signal.
I'll toss in one amusing and possibly workable paper system, for a
dedicated and extremely nerdy caller, which might be me...
I heard recently (I believe from Angela DeCarlis) of a mechanical sorting
system based on the Jacquard loom concept that became the Hollerith punched
card system. I've never seen it in use. Does anyone do this?
Figure out the ten or so characteristics you might want to sort on. For
example, easy, medium, hard, bouncy, flowy, separates partners, sweetheart
(keeps partners together), etc. Take a stack of cards and drill holes near
the bottom edge, one per characteristic (you can drill a stack of cards if
you sandwich them between wood and clamp them). Now, on a given card,
punch out the rest of the paper between the hole and the edge of the card
for each hole the card DOESN'T match. So, for an easy dance, you'd punch
out the rest of the paper for the medium and hard holes (among others), but
leave the easy hole intact. If you make a mistake, just fold a piece of
tape over the gap above the hole to close the gap.
Now, when you want to look at your easy, flowy, sweetheart dances, flip the
stack so the holes are up, push a pencil or knitting needle through the
"easy" hole and lift. Then, in the ones you pulled, push through the flowy
hole and lift, and finally for that set poke through the sweetheart hole
and lift. Those are the easy, flowy, sweetheart dances. If you want the
medium or hard dances that are bouncy and that separate partners, you pull
first the medium and then the hard dances, combine them, and then pull the
bouncies from that set and the separators from that third pull. And so on.
Good hole alignment and clean punching would matter, I think. If you are a
real dance sorting fanatic, you could get like 30 holes around the card
edges, but that would limit the writing space.
I predict this will be all the rage, post-apocalypse...at least until we
run out of cards. ;-)
--jh--
Joe Harrington
Organizer, Greater Orlando Contra Dance
Faculty Advisor, Contra Knights, the UCF contra dancing club
contraknights.org
FB, Ig: Contra Knights
contradancerjoe(a)gmail.com
11 Jan
11 Jan
4:16 a.m.
This might be one of the 100 replies you were trying to avoid, rather
than the summary you are looking for, but here's what I do:
I categorize my dances by "signature move" -- hey for four dances,
down-the-halls, petronella dances, stars, roll-aways, wavy lines
(subdivided into short waves, long waves, rory o'mores, &
box-circulates), alemandes-&-pull-bys, contra corners, etc., plus
sections for squares, 4x4s, triplets, chestnuts, and novelty dances. I
also have a section for "just basics", which in my mind have no
signature move -- i.e., glossary dances. For me, the point is that I
don't want to do too many hey (or petronella, or down-the-hall, or,
whatever) dances in an evening, and I don't want to do two in a row.
But basic moves are in every dance, so I'm not worried about that, so I
don't have a category for moves like chains, long lines forward & back,
or circles. I do have a section for alemandes and pull-bys, but I don't
include every single dance that has an alemande in it. Good lord. It
only includes dances in which those are the *signature *of a dance -
e.g., a series of alemandes, such as a swing-through in the A and then
again in the B. (This is why I group them with pull-bys, such as
square-throughs or grand-right-&-lefts -- similar feel for which I
wouldn't want to do 2 in a row, or too many in an evening). If a dance
has 2 signature moves (e.g., a down-the-hall, and then a hey), I file it
in one section only, and then I have a "see-also" card in the other
section that lists additional dances with that move and where to find them.
Then, on each card, I make notes about the feel (flowy or bouncy; linear
or circular), and about the mood (sweet, romantic, lilting, driving,
playful, goofy, restful, super-high-energy, etc.), and when I'm
programming I make sure I have good variety for those criteria. I also
check that I don't have too many in a row with the same starting move or
ending move (i.e., avoid/for the 5th time in a row, balance and swing
your neighbor/). I also try to vary Becket vs. improper formation, and
depending on the crowd, contras vs squares or triplets or 4-face-4s. But
I don't categorize according to all those criteria because for me, they
are secondary. As I'm putting together the program, FIRST I'm
considering the signature move, so that's how I want to search.
I once tried doing a database with these various criteria so I could
search, e.g., for a hey dance that was also Becket and also goofy, but I
never used it. I really just preferred to pull out the cards for the
signature move I wanted and then just peruse them to narrow it down and
pick one.
Hope this helps.
Diane
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Diane Silver
828 298-7084
diane(a)diane-silver.com
On 1/11/2023 12:44 AM, Joe Harrington via Contra Callers wrote:
The short version of this post is, how should I
organize my dances?
But, I'm sure if I ask that, the thread will have 100 replies and lots
of confusion. My search of the list archives and web were
surprisingly spotty on this question, with lots of anecdotes and no
summary or comparison. And I'm not just asking for myself. While I've
got a whopping 15 evenings of dance calling under my belt, I'm being
called on to train some students to call for our college club, and
they're asking the same question.
So, I'm looking for one or more summaries from those wiser than I (ok,
low bar!) of the kinds of systems for cards. This might better be
asked as, what are the different approaches to programming dances, and
what organizing systems make each of those easier?
In a workshop of his last summer, Bob Isaacs related his system of
colored cards for easy, hard, bouncy, flowy, sweetheart, and
divorce-reconcile dances (I think those were the categories). Call
easy dances first, call a sweetheart right after the break when
they're most likely to dance with the person they came with. Save hard
for festivals. Give them variety.
But, I've wanted more categories, and what about finding the bouncy
sweethearts? I'm really busy, so the idea of re-copying a hundred or
more cards to make a new system doesn't thrill me, if I don't like my
initial system. Maybe I'll get a database system to select dances
with, and then have a set of alphabetized printed cards for the actual
calling, though what if I'm wrong and need to change my program, as
has already happened a few times when a ton of newbies shows up? I'm
interested in hearing about anything particularly clever or efficient,
especially if it doesn't involve a computer or tablet.
A comparison of the different computer systems would also be welcome.
I'm aware of programs by Will Loving and Colin Hume. I asked on one
Facebook group for a comparison of these but got no response. Is the
Caller's Box up to real-time dance selection at an event? That
presumes wi-fi, of course, or at least cell signal.
I'll toss in one amusing and possibly workable paper system, for a
dedicated and extremely nerdy caller, which might be me...
I heard recently (I believe from Angela DeCarlis) of a mechanical
sorting system based on the Jacquard loom concept that became the
Hollerith punched card system. I've never seen it in use. Does
anyone do this?
Figure out the ten or so characteristics you might want to sort on.
For example, easy, medium, hard, bouncy, flowy, separates partners,
sweetheart (keeps partners together), etc. Take a stack of cards and
drill holes near the bottom edge, one per characteristic (you can
drill a stack of cards if you sandwich them between wood and clamp
them). Now, on a given card, punch out the rest of the paper between
the hole and the edge of the card for each hole the card DOESN'T
match. So, for an easy dance, you'd punch out the rest of the paper
for the medium and hard holes (among others), but leave the easy hole
intact. If you make a mistake, just fold a piece of tape over the gap
above the hole to close the gap.
Now, when you want to look at your easy, flowy, sweetheart dances,
flip the stack so the holes are up, push a pencil or knitting needle
through the "easy" hole and lift. Then, in the ones you pulled, push
through the flowy hole and lift, and finally for that set poke through
the sweetheart hole and lift. Those are the easy, flowy, sweetheart
dances. If you want the medium or hard dances that are bouncy and
that separate partners, you pull first the medium and then the hard
dances, combine them, and then pull the bouncies from that set and the
separators from that third pull. And so on.
Good hole alignment and clean punching would matter, I think. If you
are a real dance sorting fanatic, you could get like 30 holes around
the card edges, but that would limit the writing space.
I predict this will be all the rage, post-apocalypse...at least until
we run out of cards. ;-)
--jh--
Joe Harrington
Organizer, Greater Orlando Contra Dance
Faculty Advisor, Contra Knights, the UCF contra dancing club
contraknights.org <http://contraknights.org>
FB, Ig: Contra Knights
contradancerjoe(a)gmail.com
_______________________________________________
Contra Callers mailing list --contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net
To unsubscribe send an email tocontracallers-leave(a)lists.sharedweight.net
12 Jan
12 Jan
12:03 p.m.
Hi Joe,
Like Diane, I categorize my cards based on the signature move. Also, to some extent,
difficulty, although that is a moving target based on the type of venue, the crowd, and
other unforeseen situations.
FWIW, here's what I use:
Easy contras
Basic Improper - 1
Basic Improper - 2
(where 1 = solid main contras, 2 = slightly more advanced)
Becket -1
Becket -2
w/heys (these are full heys, duple minor sets)
w/petronella
w/box circulate
w/mad robin
w/bicycle chain
w/contra corners
Multiple progressions (2x, 3x, etc).
4x4 dances
Advanced contras (truly advanced, dance camp level)
Novelty contras (mixer contras, etc.)
Triplets
Odd formations
Circle dances
Mixers
Very, Very easy dances (e.g., for ONS and wedding gigs)
Reserve contras (i.e., "back pocket" dances to use when something fails, like
"Roll In The Hey")
Also, I put a colored marker on cards for dances that lend themselves to No-Walk-Thru
situations (these can be in any of 5 or 6 different categories). Sometimes I need to
identify these quickly, on-the-fly during a gig.
If a dance falls into two or more categories, I sometimes put a piece of paper in one
category with a cross-reference to that dance. Frankly, I don't like to do this --
it's too complicated, especially as so many dances today that contain two or more
signature moves.
Frankly, I don't want to get too detailed in my classifications (e.g. bouncy,
mesmerizing, etc.) because those characteristics can be so fluid -- based on the band, the
music, the crowd, the time of night, etc. And sometimes selecting a dance against the
grain can be the highlight of an evening. That's part of the artistry as a caller.
With experience, gut feeling and instinct are essential to the creative process of
selecting dances.
Woody
--
Woody Lane
Caller, Percussive Dancer
Roseburg, Oregon
http://www.woodylanecaller.com
cell: 541-556-0054
________________________________
On 1/11/2023 2:16 AM, Diane Silver via Contra Callers wrote:
This might be one of the 100 replies you were trying to avoid, rather than the summary you
are looking for, but here's what I do:
I categorize my dances by "signature move" -- hey for four dances,
down-the-halls, petronella dances, stars, roll-aways, wavy lines (subdivided into short
waves, long waves, rory o'mores, & box-circulates), alemandes-&-pull-bys,
contra corners, etc., plus sections for squares, 4x4s, triplets, chestnuts, and novelty
dances. I also have a section for "just basics", which in my mind have no
signature move -- i.e., glossary dances. For me, the point is that I don't want to do
too many hey (or petronella, or down-the-hall, or, whatever) dances in an evening, and I
don't want to do two in a row. But basic moves are in every dance, so I'm not
worried about that, so I don't have a category for moves like chains, long lines
forward & back, or circles. I do have a section for alemandes and pull-bys, but I
don't include every single dance that has an alemande in it. Good lord. It only
includes dances in which those are the signature of a dance - e.g., a series of alemandes,
such as a swing-through in the A and then again in the B. (This is why I group them with
pull-bys, such as square-throughs or grand-right-&-lefts -- similar feel for which I
wouldn't want to do 2 in a row, or too many in an evening). If a dance has 2
signature moves (e.g., a down-the-hall, and then a hey), I file it in one section only,
and then I have a "see-also" card in the other section that lists additional
dances with that move and where to find them.
Then, on each card, I make notes about the feel (flowy or bouncy; linear or circular), and
about the mood (sweet, romantic, lilting, driving, playful, goofy, restful,
super-high-energy, etc.), and when I'm programming I make sure I have good variety for
those criteria. I also check that I don't have too many in a row with the same
starting move or ending move (i.e., avoid for the 5th time in a row, balance and swing
your neighbor). I also try to vary Becket vs. improper formation, and depending on the
crowd, contras vs squares or triplets or 4-face-4s. But I don't categorize according
to all those criteria because for me, they are secondary. As I'm putting together the
program, FIRST I'm considering the signature move, so that's how I want to
search.
I once tried doing a database with these various criteria so I could search, e.g., for a
hey dance that was also Becket and also goofy, but I never used it. I really just
preferred to pull out the cards for the signature move I wanted and then just peruse them
to narrow it down and pick one.
Hope this helps.
Diane
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Diane Silver
828 298-7084
diane@diane-silver.com<mailto:diane@diane-silver.com>
3:23 p.m.
"Isaac, try Staples:" - Joe
Yeah, that
was a part of the deep dive I went on. The biggest hangup there is that I use 55mmx90mm
(about 2.25x3.5) index cards for my dances today, so I'd have to buy a set of 3x5in
cards and find a way to chop them in half. My makerspace has a sheet metal brake and a
cold saw, which are both almost certainly overkill, but I don't know that I could use
a track/band/jig saw on index cards without losing a finger....
"Note that for edge-notched cards, you need a
fairly sturdy card stock" - Michael
Yeah, and then you get into another
nefarious detail - Mead makes a set of 3x5in cards with the highest coil density (4 holes
per inch!), but the cards are *perforated *at the bound edge. With care, I imagine they
would last for a good while, but eventually the cards designed to detatch from their
hole-punched edges will do just that.
"make custom cards in a laser-cutter" -
Michael
While I could probably fuss with laser power to make this work, I imagine
it's a fine, fine line between "enough to punch a hole through X cards" and
"thank god we have a vent hood".
"where do you live that you're calling 30-40
dances a year?" - Keith
Eh, in the Northwest pre-pandemic I usually averaged
around 3 dances a month. If you're in a major metro area and there are enough other
outlying cities in a 3-4hr radius it's pretty easy to self-promote yourself into that
volume of gigs. Organizers are usually happy to have one fewer booking to chase down.
Isaac
On Thu, Jan 12, 2023, at 10:03 AM, Woody Lane via Contra Callers wrote:
Hi Joe,
Like Diane, I categorize my cards based on the signature move. Also, to some extent,
difficulty, although that is a moving target based on the type of venue, the crowd, and
other unforeseen situations.
FWIW, here's what I use:
Easy contras
Basic Improper - 1
Basic Improper - 2
(where 1 = solid main contras, 2 = slightly more advanced)
Becket -1
Becket -2
w/heys (these are full heys, duple minor sets)
w/petronella
w/box circulate
w/mad robin
w/bicycle chain
w/contra corners
Multiple progressions (2x, 3x, etc).
4x4 dances
Advanced contras (truly advanced, dance camp level)
Novelty contras (mixer contras, etc.)
Triplets
Odd formations
Circle dances
Mixers
Very, Very easy dances (e.g., for ONS and wedding gigs)
Reserve contras (i.e., "back pocket" dances to use when something fails, like
"Roll In The Hey")
Also, I put a colored marker on cards for dances that lend themselves to No-Walk-Thru
situations (these can be in any of 5 or 6 different categories). Sometimes I need to
identify these quickly, on-the-fly during a gig.
If a dance falls into two or more categories, I sometimes put a piece of paper in one
category with a cross-reference to that dance. Frankly, I don't like to do this --
it's too complicated, especially as so many dances today that contain two or more
signature moves.
Frankly, I don't want to get too detailed in my classifications (e.g. bouncy,
mesmerizing, etc.) because those characteristics can be so fluid -- based on the band, the
music, the crowd, the time of night, etc. And sometimes selecting a dance against the
grain can be the highlight of an evening. That's part of the artistry as a caller.
With experience, gut feeling and instinct are essential to the creative process of
selecting dances.
Woody
--
Woody Lane
Caller, Percussive Dancer
Roseburg, Oregon
http://www.woodylanecaller.com
cell: 541-556-0054
On 1/11/2023 2:16 AM, Diane Silver via Contra Callers wrote:
This might be one of the 100 replies you were
trying to avoid, rather than the summary you are looking for, but here's what I do:
I categorize my dances by "signature move" -- hey for four dances,
down-the-halls, petronella dances, stars, roll-aways, wavy lines (subdivided into short
waves, long waves, rory o'mores, & box-circulates), alemandes-&-pull-bys,
contra corners, etc., plus sections for squares, 4x4s, triplets, chestnuts, and novelty
dances. I also have a section for "just basics", which in my mind have no
signature move -- i.e., glossary dances. For me, the point is that I don't want to do
too many hey (or petronella, or down-the-hall, or, whatever) dances in an evening, and I
don't want to do two in a row. But basic moves are in every dance, so I'm not
worried about that, so I don't have a category for moves like chains, long lines
forward & back, or circles. I do have a section for alemandes and pull-bys, but I
don't include every single dance that has an alemande in it. Good lord. It only
includes dances in which those are the *signature *of a dance - e.g., a series of
alemandes, such as a swing-through in the A and then again in the B. (This is why I group
them with pull-bys, such as square-throughs or grand-right-&-lefts -- similar feel for
which I wouldn't want to do 2 in a row, or too many in an evening). If a dance has 2
signature moves (e.g., a down-the-hall, and then a hey), I file it in one section only,
and then I have a "see-also" card in the other section that lists additional
dances with that move and where to find them.
Then, on each card, I make notes about the feel (flowy or bouncy; linear or circular),
and about the mood (sweet, romantic, lilting, driving, playful, goofy, restful,
super-high-energy, etc.), and when I'm programming I make sure I have good variety for
those criteria. I also check that I don't have too many in a row with the same
starting move or ending move (i.e., avoid* for the 5th time in a row, balance and swing
your neighbor*). I also try to vary Becket vs. improper formation, and depending on the
crowd, contras vs squares or triplets or 4-face-4s. But I don't categorize according
to all those criteria because for me, they are secondary. As I'm putting together the
program, FIRST I'm considering the signature move, so that's how I want to
search.
I once tried doing a database with these various criteria so I could search, e.g., for a
hey dance that was also Becket and also goofy, but I never used it. I really just
preferred to pull out the cards for the signature move I wanted and then just peruse them
to narrow it down and pick one.
Hope this helps.
Diane
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Diane Silver
828 298-7084
diane(a)diane-silver.com
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11 Jan
11 Jan
7:50 a.m.
Hi Joe,
The most important thing is to have a sorting system that allows you to
find a dance fast when you need it. The key elements of this system would
thus be based on how one programs and how frequently one calls. For
example, a caller who programs in advance and calls one dance per quarter
pretty much does not need to worry about a sorting system. Each dance
program can be carefully hand crafted with main dances and alternates
should the dances turn out to be particularly new or experienced in a given
night. Sorting becomes more important for callers who call frequently and
program more ad-hoc. I call about 30-40 dances per year, and lean toward
the ad-hoc programming approach, tempered by a standard slotting framework
I use that governs. So, being able to just look through a short subset of
dances for a particular slot is important for me to do on the fly. So,
"slot" is my first organizational criteria. After that, I generally use
Diane's hook categorization, but also consider the opening figures and
whether a dance works better for warm or cold weather (important
consideration for my home hall, which is not climate controlled).
I can detail my programming framework process, but this is long enough, I
think.
Hope this provides some additional insight.
Best,
Greg
On Wed, Jan 11, 2023 at 12:44 AM Joe Harrington via Contra Callers <
contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
The short version of this post is, how should I
organize my dances? But,
I'm sure if I ask that, the thread will have 100 replies and lots of
confusion. My search of the list archives and web were surprisingly spotty
on this question, with lots of anecdotes and no summary or comparison. And
I'm not just asking for myself. While I've got a whopping 15 evenings of
dance calling under my belt, I'm being called on to train some students to
call for our college club, and they're asking the same question.
So, I'm looking for one or more summaries from those wiser than I (ok, low
bar!) of the kinds of systems for cards. This might better be asked as,
what are the different approaches to programming dances, and what
organizing systems make each of those easier?
In a workshop of his last summer, Bob Isaacs related his system of colored
cards for easy, hard, bouncy, flowy, sweetheart, and divorce-reconcile
dances (I think those were the categories). Call easy dances first, call a
sweetheart right after the break when they're most likely to dance with the
person they came with. Save hard for festivals. Give them variety.
But, I've wanted more categories, and what about finding the bouncy
sweethearts? I'm really busy, so the idea of re-copying a hundred or more
cards to make a new system doesn't thrill me, if I don't like my initial
system. Maybe I'll get a database system to select dances with, and then
have a set of alphabetized printed cards for the actual calling, though
what if I'm wrong and need to change my program, as has already happened a
few times when a ton of newbies shows up? I'm interested in hearing about
anything particularly clever or efficient, especially if it doesn't involve
a computer or tablet.
A comparison of the different computer systems would also be welcome. I'm
aware of programs by Will Loving and Colin Hume. I asked on one Facebook
group for a comparison of these but got no response. Is the Caller's Box
up to real-time dance selection at an event? That presumes wi-fi, of
course, or at least cell signal.
I'll toss in one amusing and possibly workable paper system, for a
dedicated and extremely nerdy caller, which might be me...
I heard recently (I believe from Angela DeCarlis) of a mechanical sorting
system based on the Jacquard loom concept that became the Hollerith punched
card system. I've never seen it in use. Does anyone do this?
Figure out the ten or so characteristics you might want to sort on. For
example, easy, medium, hard, bouncy, flowy, separates partners, sweetheart
(keeps partners together), etc. Take a stack of cards and drill holes near
the bottom edge, one per characteristic (you can drill a stack of cards if
you sandwich them between wood and clamp them). Now, on a given card,
punch out the rest of the paper between the hole and the edge of the card
for each hole the card DOESN'T match. So, for an easy dance, you'd punch
out the rest of the paper for the medium and hard holes (among others), but
leave the easy hole intact. If you make a mistake, just fold a piece of
tape over the gap above the hole to close the gap.
Now, when you want to look at your easy, flowy, sweetheart dances, flip
the stack so the holes are up, push a pencil or knitting needle through the
"easy" hole and lift. Then, in the ones you pulled, push through the flowy
hole and lift, and finally for that set poke through the sweetheart hole
and lift. Those are the easy, flowy, sweetheart dances. If you want the
medium or hard dances that are bouncy and that separate partners, you pull
first the medium and then the hard dances, combine them, and then pull the
bouncies from that set and the separators from that third pull. And so on.
Good hole alignment and clean punching would matter, I think. If you are
a real dance sorting fanatic, you could get like 30 holes around the card
edges, but that would limit the writing space.
I predict this will be all the rage, post-apocalypse...at least until we
run out of cards. ;-)
--jh--
Joe Harrington
Organizer, Greater Orlando Contra Dance
Faculty Advisor, Contra Knights, the UCF contra dancing club
contraknights.org
FB, Ig: Contra Knights
contradancerjoe(a)gmail.com
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To unsubscribe send an email to contracallers-leave(a)lists.sharedweight.net
9:05 a.m.
This is more geeking than actually useful, but the hole-sorting system
you're describing is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edge-notched_card
You could buy spiral-bound index cards and remove the spiral:
https://www.staples.com/oxford-spiral-index-cards-3-x-5-50-cards-white-4028…
This gets you 19 categories per card. This should be plenty for contra
dances, though is well below what a traditional edge-notched card might
offer
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edge-notched_card#/media/File:Edge-notched_ca…
(I don't call much anymore, but when I do I just use my phone. If I was
going to be doing a lot of calling again I'd write an app (with offline
capability) for showing and searching dances)
Jeff
On Wed, Jan 11, 2023 at 8:50 AM Gregory Frock via Contra Callers <
contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
Hi Joe,
The most important thing is to have a sorting system that allows you to
find a dance fast when you need it. The key elements of this system would
thus be based on how one programs and how frequently one calls. For
example, a caller who programs in advance and calls one dance per quarter
pretty much does not need to worry about a sorting system. Each dance
program can be carefully hand crafted with main dances and alternates
should the dances turn out to be particularly new or experienced in a given
night. Sorting becomes more important for callers who call frequently and
program more ad-hoc. I call about 30-40 dances per year, and lean toward
the ad-hoc programming approach, tempered by a standard slotting framework
I use that governs. So, being able to just look through a short subset of
dances for a particular slot is important for me to do on the fly. So,
"slot" is my first organizational criteria. After that, I generally use
Diane's hook categorization, but also consider the opening figures and
whether a dance works better for warm or cold weather (important
consideration for my home hall, which is not climate controlled).
I can detail my programming framework process, but this is long enough, I
think.
Hope this provides some additional insight.
Best,
Greg
On Wed, Jan 11, 2023 at 12:44 AM Joe Harrington via Contra Callers <
contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
The short version of this post is, how should I
organize my dances? But,
I'm sure if I ask that, the thread will have 100 replies and lots of
confusion. My search of the list archives and web were surprisingly spotty
on this question, with lots of anecdotes and no summary or comparison. And
I'm not just asking for myself. While I've got a whopping 15 evenings of
dance calling under my belt, I'm being called on to train some students to
call for our college club, and they're asking the same question.
So, I'm looking for one or more summaries from those wiser than I (ok,
low bar!) of the kinds of systems for cards. This might better be asked
as, what are the different approaches to programming dances, and what
organizing systems make each of those easier?
In a workshop of his last summer, Bob Isaacs related his system of
colored cards for easy, hard, bouncy, flowy, sweetheart, and
divorce-reconcile dances (I think those were the categories). Call easy
dances first, call a sweetheart right after the break when they're most
likely to dance with the person they came with. Save hard for festivals.
Give them variety.
But, I've wanted more categories, and what about finding the bouncy
sweethearts? I'm really busy, so the idea of re-copying a hundred or more
cards to make a new system doesn't thrill me, if I don't like my initial
system. Maybe I'll get a database system to select dances with, and then
have a set of alphabetized printed cards for the actual calling, though
what if I'm wrong and need to change my program, as has already happened a
few times when a ton of newbies shows up? I'm interested in hearing about
anything particularly clever or efficient, especially if it doesn't involve
a computer or tablet.
A comparison of the different computer systems would also be welcome.
I'm aware of programs by Will Loving and Colin Hume. I asked on one
Facebook group for a comparison of these but got no response. Is the
Caller's Box up to real-time dance selection at an event? That presumes
wi-fi, of course, or at least cell signal.
I'll toss in one amusing and possibly workable paper system, for a
dedicated and extremely nerdy caller, which might be me...
I heard recently (I believe from Angela DeCarlis) of a mechanical sorting
system based on the Jacquard loom concept that became the Hollerith punched
card system. I've never seen it in use. Does anyone do this?
Figure out the ten or so characteristics you might want to sort on. For
example, easy, medium, hard, bouncy, flowy, separates partners, sweetheart
(keeps partners together), etc. Take a stack of cards and drill holes near
the bottom edge, one per characteristic (you can drill a stack of cards if
you sandwich them between wood and clamp them). Now, on a given card,
punch out the rest of the paper between the hole and the edge of the card
for each hole the card DOESN'T match. So, for an easy dance, you'd punch
out the rest of the paper for the medium and hard holes (among others), but
leave the easy hole intact. If you make a mistake, just fold a piece of
tape over the gap above the hole to close the gap.
Now, when you want to look at your easy, flowy, sweetheart dances, flip
the stack so the holes are up, push a pencil or knitting needle through the
"easy" hole and lift. Then, in the ones you pulled, push through the flowy
hole and lift, and finally for that set poke through the sweetheart hole
and lift. Those are the easy, flowy, sweetheart dances. If you want the
medium or hard dances that are bouncy and that separate partners, you pull
first the medium and then the hard dances, combine them, and then pull the
bouncies from that set and the separators from that third pull. And so on.
Good hole alignment and clean punching would matter, I think. If you are
a real dance sorting fanatic, you could get like 30 holes around the card
edges, but that would limit the writing space.
I predict this will be all the rage, post-apocalypse...at least until we
run out of cards. ;-)
--jh--
Joe Harrington
Organizer, Greater Orlando Contra Dance
Faculty Advisor, Contra Knights, the UCF contra dancing club
contraknights.org
FB, Ig: Contra Knights
contradancerjoe(a)gmail.com
_______________________________________________
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To unsubscribe send an email to
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To unsubscribe send an email to contracallers-leave(a)lists.sharedweight.net
10:25 a.m.
On 2023-01-11 12:44 a.m., Joe Harrington via Contra Callers wrote:
I heard recently (I believe from Angela DeCarlis) of a mechanical sorting
system based on the Jacquard loom concept that became the Hollerith punched
card system. I've never seen it in use. Does anyone do this?
See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edge-notched_card
[Ah, Jeff Kaufman beat me to it.]
Figure out the ten or so characteristics you might
want to sort on. For
example, easy, medium, hard, bouncy, flowy, separates partners, sweetheart
(keeps partners together), etc. Take a stack of cards and drill holes near
the bottom edge, one per characteristic (you can drill a stack of cards if
you sandwich them between wood and clamp them). Now, on a given card, punch
out the rest of the paper between the hole and the edge of the card for each
hole the card DOESN'T match.
Alternatively, you could punch out the margin when it *does* match (which
would probably be less work). Then in the selection procedure, the cards
that fall out (as opposed to the ones that stay on the needle) are the
selected ones.
[...]
Good hole alignment and clean punching would matter, I think. If you are a
real dance sorting fanatic, you could get like 30 holes around the card
edges, but that would limit the writing space.
Back when I was young and had lots of time (and no computer), I made a deck
of edge-notched cards to 'play' the game Mastermind:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mastermind_(board_game)
(4 pegs of 6 possible colors, so 1296 cards, each with 24 holes and 4
notches.) As I recall, during the selection procedure, cards with a notch at
the selected hole (which *should* fall out) would sometimes 'stay on' the
needle just from friction with the neighboring cards. So I'd have to jostle
the deck a bit to shake those loose.
Also, V-shaped notches increased the chances that a card would fall out when
it should.
One way to avoid these problems is to have two opposite sets of holes, with
complementary notches. In the selection procedure, you use two needles,
placed in complementary holes, and you pull them apart to separate the cards
you want from the ones you don't.
-Michael
12:48 p.m.
I love that Joe remembered the edge-notched sorting system I told him about
and also really love Jeff's suggestion of getting spiral-bound cards and
removing the spiral! I've drilled holes in index cards before as Joe
described, but the results weren't clean.
*I don't remember who I first heard about this sorting system from, but I
recall that they said some well-known caller/choreographer organized his
cards this way. Anyone know who this was?* I've always wanted to rediscover
this knowledge!
For my cards, I've only in the last year developed a system I'm happy with
after a decade of prototyping:
- First, my box is divided into five sections (I, II, III, IV, and V)
according to *difficulty*. Dances in the I section are easiest and won't
even include a courtesy turn. Sections II and III are my most-used; a
typical regular dance evening will pull from these sections. IV is for
tricky dances — you could get away with one or two at a regular dance with
a competent crowd, or you could save them for Advanced Dance events. V is
really wacky hard stuff. Advanced as it gets.
- Second, each card has a colored sticker (something like these
<https://www.webstaurantstore.com/avery-5796-1-4-round-assorted-removable-see-through-color-coding-dot-labels-pack/15405796.html?utm_source=google&utm_medium=freeclicks&utm_campaign=GoogleShopping>)
to give a sense of the dance's *disposition*. Pink is very balance-y,
orange is moderately balance-y, yellow is moderately smooth, green is very
smooth. The important distinction here is that I'm not wed to how a
particular bit of choreography should be danced (i.e., a band could
successfully play a smooth tune to an orange-coded dance) but my coding
does give a sense of where to look for certain moves: if I want
petronellas, I look in the pink dances first.
- *The stickers are placed along the top edge of the cards and
positioned according to difficulty, with dances in Section I having
stickers on the left of that edge and dances in Section V toward
the right.
This makes sorting and identifying dances very easy.*
- Finally, within each colored section I alphabetize. Occasionally I
know the name of a dance I'm looking for (though not always!) and in those
cases I usually remember enough about the dance to guess where in my box it
will be.
I've been really happy with this sorting system. Programming is easier. It
means that if I need to change plans, I can select dances very quickly. It
also means I can replace dances and re-sort my box at the end of the
evening without trouble. I used removable stickers so that I could change
my mind if needed, and this is the only thing I'd do differently so far;
these stickers fall off too easily, even when folded over the top edge.
Bonus: My box looks like rainbow stripes from the top.
And another mechanic:
- I always add a tally to the back of a card after I call it...
- Regular at the top left, medley inclusion at the bottom
- This allows me to turn my box around and select for favorites ("I
need an old stand-by") or newly-collected ("I'm bored")
- ...and I also add dance titles to a google spreadsheet before I
re-sort the cards back into their categories
- What did I call last time I was at this dance? What worked and what
didn't?
- I can also pull an old program from a comparable event if I don't
have time to program from scratch
On Wed, Jan 11, 2023 at 11:26 AM Michael Dyck via Contra Callers <
contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
On 2023-01-11 12:44 a.m., Joe Harrington via Contra
Callers wrote:
I heard recently (I believe from Angela DeCarlis) of a mechanical
sorting
system based on the Jacquard loom concept that
became the Hollerith
punched
card system. I've never seen it in use.
Does anyone do this?
See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edge-notched_card
[Ah, Jeff Kaufman beat me to it.]
Figure out the ten or so characteristics you
might want to sort on. For
example, easy, medium, hard, bouncy, flowy, separates partners,
sweetheart
(keeps partners together), etc. Take a stack of
cards and drill holes
near
the bottom edge, one per characteristic (you can
drill a stack of cards
if
you sandwich them between wood and clamp them).
Now, on a given card,
punch
out the rest of the paper between the hole and
the edge of the card for
each
hole the card DOESN'T match.
Alternatively, you could punch out the margin when it *does* match (which
would probably be less work). Then in the selection procedure, the cards
that fall out (as opposed to the ones that stay on the needle) are the
selected ones.
[...]
Good hole alignment and clean punching would matter, I think. If you
are a
real dance sorting fanatic, you could get like 30
holes around the card
edges, but that would limit the writing space.
Back when I was young and had lots of time (and no computer), I made a
deck
of edge-notched cards to 'play' the game Mastermind:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mastermind_(board_game)
(4 pegs of 6 possible colors, so 1296 cards, each with 24 holes and 4
notches.) As I recall, during the selection procedure, cards with a notch
at
the selected hole (which *should* fall out) would sometimes 'stay on' the
needle just from friction with the neighboring cards. So I'd have to
jostle
the deck a bit to shake those loose.
Also, V-shaped notches increased the chances that a card would fall out
when
it should.
One way to avoid these problems is to have two opposite sets of holes,
with
complementary notches. In the selection procedure, you use two needles,
placed in complementary holes, and you pull them apart to separate the
cards
you want from the ones you don't.
-Michael
_______________________________________________
Contra Callers mailing list -- contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net
To unsubscribe send an email to contracallers-leave(a)lists.sharedweight.net
1:33 p.m.
New subject: [External] Re: mechanical sorting systems
Angela
I love the idea of the colored stickers on the top. That sounds so colorful and enticing.
When I started calling and building a collection of dances, I did a similar sorting by
difficulty - Easy, Medium, Complex. And mostly, it works. However, My definition of
difficulty changes in several different ways.
* As I learn how to teach a dance - there are dances that previously I thought were
challenging. But once I learned how to teach them effectively, it turns out there were not
that challenging. It was me that was making them challenging
* Context makes a huge difference as to what is an easy or challenging dance.
* A dance that might be considered easy for a regular dance might suddenly become
very challenging. We have had a huge influx of first time dancers in January - we call
them the "New Years Resolution crowds". "Air pants" by Lisa G has no
chain or courtesy turn, but would be far too difficult for the first dance of the night
with all these first timers. I'm pulling back to "Family Contra" or
similar.
* On the other hand, if I'm calling in a school or for a wedding, I MIGHT call
family contra late in the session - but it would be one I would build up to. In that
context, "Family Contra" is advanced.
* Finally, at a dance weekend, a dance that in other contexts might be considered
intermediate difficulty becomes "no walk thru" easy.
Seth Tepfer, MBA, CSM, PMP (he, him, his)
Senior IT Manager, Emory Primate Center
________________________________
From: Angela DeCarlis via Contra Callers <contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net>
Sent: Wednesday, January 11, 2023 1:48 PM
To: Michael Dyck <jmdyck(a)ibiblio.org>
Cc: contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net <contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net>
Subject: [External] [Callers] Re: mechanical sorting systems
I love that Joe remembered the edge-notched sorting system I told him about and also
really love Jeff's suggestion of getting spiral-bound cards and removing the spiral!
I've drilled holes in index cards before as Joe described, but the results weren't
clean.
I don't remember who I first heard about this sorting system from, but I recall that
they said some well-known caller/choreographer organized his cards this way. Anyone know
who this was? I've always wanted to rediscover this knowledge!
For my cards, I've only in the last year developed a system I'm happy with after a
decade of prototyping:
* First, my box is divided into five sections (I, II, III, IV, and V) according to
difficulty. Dances in the I section are easiest and won't even include a courtesy
turn. Sections II and III are my most-used; a typical regular dance evening will pull from
these sections. IV is for tricky dances — you could get away with one or two at a regular
dance with a competent crowd, or you could save them for Advanced Dance events. V is
really wacky hard stuff. Advanced as it gets.
* Second, each card has a colored sticker (something like
these<https://nam11.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2F…)
to give a sense of the dance's disposition. Pink is very balance-y, orange is
moderately balance-y, yellow is moderately smooth, green is very smooth. The important
distinction here is that I'm not wed to how a particular bit of choreography should be
danced (i.e., a band could successfully play a smooth tune to an orange-coded dance) but
my coding does give a sense of where to look for certain moves: if I want petronellas, I
look in the pink dances first.
* The stickers are placed along the top edge of the cards and positioned according
to difficulty, with dances in Section I having stickers on the left of that edge and
dances in Section V toward the right. This makes sorting and identifying dances very
easy.
* Finally, within each colored section I alphabetize. Occasionally I know the name of
a dance I'm looking for (though not always!) and in those cases I usually remember
enough about the dance to guess where in my box it will be.
I've been really happy with this sorting system. Programming is easier. It means that
if I need to change plans, I can select dances very quickly. It also means I can replace
dances and re-sort my box at the end of the evening without trouble. I used removable
stickers so that I could change my mind if needed, and this is the only thing I'd do
differently so far; these stickers fall off too easily, even when folded over the top
edge.
Bonus: My box looks like rainbow stripes from the top.
And another mechanic:
* I always add a tally to the back of a card after I call it...
* Regular at the top left, medley inclusion at the bottom
* This allows me to turn my box around and select for favorites ("I need an
old stand-by") or newly-collected ("I'm bored")
* ...and I also add dance titles to a google spreadsheet before I re-sort the cards
back into their categories
* What did I call last time I was at this dance? What worked and what didn't?
* I can also pull an old program from a comparable event if I don't have time
to program from scratch
On Wed, Jan 11, 2023 at 11:26 AM Michael Dyck via Contra Callers
<contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net<mailto:contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net>>
wrote:
On 2023-01-11 12:44 a.m., Joe Harrington via Contra Callers wrote:
I heard recently (I believe from Angela DeCarlis) of a mechanical sorting
system based on the Jacquard loom concept that became the Hollerith punched
card system. I've never seen it in use. Does anyone do this?
See
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edge-notched_card<https://nam11.safelinks.…
[Ah, Jeff Kaufman beat me to it.]
Figure out the ten or so characteristics you might
want to sort on. For
example, easy, medium, hard, bouncy, flowy, separates partners, sweetheart
(keeps partners together), etc. Take a stack of cards and drill holes near
the bottom edge, one per characteristic (you can drill a stack of cards if
you sandwich them between wood and clamp them). Now, on a given card, punch
out the rest of the paper between the hole and the edge of the card for each
hole the card DOESN'T match.
Alternatively, you could punch out the margin when it *does* match (which
would probably be less work). Then in the selection procedure, the cards
that fall out (as opposed to the ones that stay on the needle) are the
selected ones.
[...]
Good hole alignment and clean punching would matter, I think. If you are a
real dance sorting fanatic, you could get like 30 holes around the card
edges, but that would limit the writing space.
Back when I was young and had lots of time (and no computer), I made a deck
of edge-notched cards to 'play' the game Mastermind:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mastermind_(board_game)<https://nam11.safe…
(4 pegs of 6 possible colors, so 1296 cards, each with 24 holes and 4
notches.) As I recall, during the selection procedure, cards with a notch at
the selected hole (which *should* fall out) would sometimes 'stay on' the
needle just from friction with the neighboring cards. So I'd have to jostle
the deck a bit to shake those loose.
Also, V-shaped notches increased the chances that a card would fall out when
it should.
One way to avoid these problems is to have two opposite sets of holes, with
complementary notches. In the selection procedure, you use two needles,
placed in complementary holes, and you pull them apart to separate the cards
you want from the ones you don't.
-Michael
_______________________________________________
Contra Callers mailing list --
contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net<mailto:contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net>
To unsubscribe send an email to
contracallers-leave@lists.sharedweight.net<mailto:contracallers-leave@lists.sharedweight.net>
3:50 p.m.
New subject: [External] Re: mechanical sorting systems
Seth, I do my best to categorize difficulty by the dance and not the
context. I think my Section III might include minor ventures outside the
minor set, for example, but not big movements away. At a place like
Pinewoods I might never touch a dance from Sections I or II.
On Wed, Jan 11, 2023 at 2:34 PM Tepfer, Seth <labst(a)emory.edu> wrote:
Angela
I love the idea of the colored stickers on the top. That sounds so
colorful and enticing.
When I started calling and building a collection of dances, I did a
similar sorting by difficulty - Easy, Medium, Complex. And mostly, it
works. However, My definition of difficulty changes in several different
ways.
- As I learn how to teach a dance - there are dances that previously I
thought were challenging. But once I learned how to teach them effectively,
it turns out there were not that challenging. It was me that was making
them challenging
- Context makes a huge difference as to what is an easy or challenging
dance.
- A dance that might be considered easy for a regular dance might
suddenly become very challenging. We have had a huge influx of first time
dancers in January - we call them the "New Years Resolution crowds".
"Air
pants" by Lisa G has no chain or courtesy turn, but would be far too
difficult for the first dance of the night with all these first timers. I'm
pulling back to "Family Contra" or similar.
- On the other hand, if I'm calling in a school or for a wedding, I
MIGHT call family contra late in the session - but it would be one I would
build up to. In that context, "Family Contra" is advanced.
- Finally, at a dance weekend, a dance that in other contexts might
be considered intermediate difficulty becomes "no walk thru" easy.
Seth Tepfer, MBA, CSM, PMP (he, him, his)
Senior IT Manager, Emory Primate Center
------------------------------
*From:* Angela DeCarlis via Contra Callers <
contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net>
*Sent:* Wednesday, January 11, 2023 1:48 PM
*To:* Michael Dyck <jmdyck(a)ibiblio.org>
*Cc:* contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net <
contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net>
*Subject:* [External] [Callers] Re: mechanical sorting systems
I love that Joe remembered the edge-notched sorting system I told him
about and also really love Jeff's suggestion of getting spiral-bound cards
and removing the spiral! I've drilled holes in index cards before as Joe
described, but the results weren't clean.
*I don't remember who I first heard about this sorting system from, but I
recall that they said some well-known caller/choreographer organized his
cards this way. Anyone know who this was?* I've always wanted to
rediscover this knowledge!
For my cards, I've only in the last year developed a system I'm happy with
after a decade of prototyping:
- First, my box is divided into five sections (I, II, III, IV, and V)
according to *difficulty*. Dances in the I section are easiest and
won't even include a courtesy turn. Sections II and III are my most-used; a
typical regular dance evening will pull from these sections. IV is for
tricky dances — you could get away with one or two at a regular dance with
a competent crowd, or you could save them for Advanced Dance events. V is
really wacky hard stuff. Advanced as it gets.
- Second, each card has a colored sticker (something like these
<https://nam11.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.webstaurantstore.com%2Favery-5796-1-4-round-assorted-removable-see-through-color-coding-dot-labels-pack%2F15405796.html%3Futm_source%3Dgoogle%26utm_medium%3Dfreeclicks%26utm_campaign%3DGoogleShopping&data=05%7C01%7Clabst%40emory.edu%7C320567296483459d017e08daf4047b2e%7Ce004fb9cb0a4424fbcd0322606d5df38%7C0%7C0%7C638090597349435039%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=X92GqD513UOOFl%2FEw8Jmrs3hVyz317TO8qQ9kgCukzc%3D&reserved=0>)
to give a sense of the dance's *disposition*. Pink is very balance-y,
orange is moderately balance-y, yellow is moderately smooth, green is very
smooth. The important distinction here is that I'm not wed to how a
particular bit of choreography should be danced (i.e., a band could
successfully play a smooth tune to an orange-coded dance) but my coding
does give a sense of where to look for certain moves: if I want
petronellas, I look in the pink dances first.
- *The stickers are placed along the top edge of the cards and
positioned according to difficulty, with dances in Section I having
stickers on the left of that edge and dances in Section V toward the right.
This makes sorting and identifying dances very easy.*
- Finally, within each colored section I alphabetize. Occasionally
I know the name of a dance I'm looking for (though not always!) and in
those cases I usually remember enough about the dance to guess where in my
box it will be.
I've been really happy with this sorting system. Programming is easier. It
means that if I need to change plans, I can select dances very quickly. It
also means I can replace dances and re-sort my box at the end of the
evening without trouble. I used removable stickers so that I could change
my mind if needed, and this is the only thing I'd do differently so far;
these stickers fall off too easily, even when folded over the top edge.
Bonus: My box looks like rainbow stripes from the top.
And another mechanic:
- I always add a tally to the back of a card after I call it...
- Regular at the top left, medley inclusion at the bottom
- This allows me to turn my box around and select for favorites ("I
need an old stand-by") or newly-collected ("I'm bored")
- ...and I also add dance titles to a google spreadsheet before I
re-sort the cards back into their categories
- What did I call last time I was at this dance? What worked and
what didn't?
- I can also pull an old program from a comparable event if I don't
have time to program from scratch
On Wed, Jan 11, 2023 at 11:26 AM Michael Dyck via Contra Callers <
contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
On 2023-01-11 12:44 a.m., Joe Harrington via Contra Callers wrote:
I heard recently (I believe from Angela DeCarlis) of a mechanical
sorting
system based on the Jacquard loom concept that
became the Hollerith
punched
card system. I've never seen it in use.
Does anyone do this?
See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edge-notched_card
<https://nam11.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FEdge-notched_card&data=05%7C01%7Clabst%40emory.edu%7C320567296483459d017e08daf4047b2e%7Ce004fb9cb0a4424fbcd0322606d5df38%7C0%7C0%7C638090597349435039%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=flN8KaAZJR3pf74clihLeTnkL4d8RO27SXe0BMODAAg%3D&reserved=0>
[Ah, Jeff Kaufman beat me to it.]
Figure out the ten or so characteristics you
might want to sort on. For
example, easy, medium, hard, bouncy, flowy, separates partners,
sweetheart
(keeps partners together), etc. Take a stack of
cards and drill holes
near
the bottom edge, one per characteristic (you can
drill a stack of cards
if
you sandwich them between wood and clamp them).
Now, on a given card,
punch
out the rest of the paper between the hole and
the edge of the card for
each
hole the card DOESN'T match.
Alternatively, you could punch out the margin when it *does* match (which
would probably be less work). Then in the selection procedure, the cards
that fall out (as opposed to the ones that stay on the needle) are the
selected ones.
[...]
Good hole alignment and clean punching would matter, I think. If you
are a
real dance sorting fanatic, you could get like 30
holes around the card
edges, but that would limit the writing space.
Back when I was young and had lots of time (and no computer), I made a
deck
of edge-notched cards to 'play' the game Mastermind:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mastermind_(board_game)
<https://nam11.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FMastermind_(board_game)&data=05%7C01%7Clabst%40emory.edu%7C320567296483459d017e08daf4047b2e%7Ce004fb9cb0a4424fbcd0322606d5df38%7C0%7C0%7C638090597349435039%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=Fs%2BuqPhPZtbpVy5IoYMzEOQairVzH9ugrbuyp0DKFnA%3D&reserved=0>
(4 pegs of 6 possible colors, so 1296 cards, each with 24 holes and 4
notches.) As I recall, during the selection procedure, cards with a notch
at
the selected hole (which *should* fall out) would sometimes 'stay on' the
needle just from friction with the neighboring cards. So I'd have to
jostle
the deck a bit to shake those loose.
Also, V-shaped notches increased the chances that a card would fall out
when
it should.
One way to avoid these problems is to have two opposite sets of holes,
with
complementary notches. In the selection procedure, you use two needles,
placed in complementary holes, and you pull them apart to separate the
cards
you want from the ones you don't.
-Michael
_______________________________________________
Contra Callers mailing list -- contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net
To unsubscribe send an email to contracallers-leave(a)lists.sharedweight.net
5:51 p.m.
New subject: [External] Re: mechanical sorting systems
Now I'm mostly just grumpy because I got all excited about Edge-notched
Cards and spent a good 30-45 minutes frustratingly discovering there's
nowhere to get these for a reasonable cost/scale anymore...
Tossing onto the rest of the conversation, I have 9 categories in my box
but am broadly only half-satisfied with the results:
- Easy, sometimes boring
- Simple, but fun
- Full heys
- Petronellas
- Wave-balancey
- Intermediate
- Advanced 1
- Advanced 2
- "Garbage" (Contra Mixers, general random nonsense that I rarely call
outside of workshops, etc)
Previously I had a system where I'd add a colored stripe for different
distinguishing moves in a dance - blue for a hey, orange for petronellas,
green for chain->star, yellow for long lines, etc - but that rapidly failed
to scale as I collected more dances than I had time to stripe. Like Angela,
I did however enjoy the splash of color while it lasted.
*Goes back to scouring the web for viable edge-notched card replacements in
a sub-2.5in form factor*
Isaac Banner
Code Monkey, Contra Orangutan
On Wed, Jan 11, 2023 at 1:51 PM Angela DeCarlis via Contra Callers <
contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
Seth, I do my best to categorize difficulty by the
dance and not the
context. I think my Section III might include minor ventures outside the
minor set, for example, but not big movements away. At a place like
Pinewoods I might never touch a dance from Sections I or II.
On Wed, Jan 11, 2023 at 2:34 PM Tepfer, Seth <labst(a)emory.edu> wrote:
Angela
I love the idea of the colored stickers on the top. That sounds so
colorful and enticing.
When I started calling and building a collection of dances, I did a
similar sorting by difficulty - Easy, Medium, Complex. And mostly, it
works. However, My definition of difficulty changes in several different
ways.
- As I learn how to teach a dance - there are dances that previously
I thought were challenging. But once I learned how to teach them
effectively, it turns out there were not that challenging. It was me that
was making them challenging
- Context makes a huge difference as to what is an easy or
challenging dance.
- A dance that might be considered easy for a regular dance might
suddenly become very challenging. We have had a huge influx of first time
dancers in January - we call them the "New Years Resolution crowds".
"Air
pants" by Lisa G has no chain or courtesy turn, but would be far too
difficult for the first dance of the night with all these first timers. I'm
pulling back to "Family Contra" or similar.
- On the other hand, if I'm calling in a school or for a wedding,
I MIGHT call family contra late in the session - but it would be one I
would build up to. In that context, "Family Contra" is advanced.
- Finally, at a dance weekend, a dance that in other contexts
might be considered intermediate difficulty becomes "no walk thru" easy.
Seth Tepfer, MBA, CSM, PMP (he, him, his)
Senior IT Manager, Emory Primate Center
------------------------------
*From:* Angela DeCarlis via Contra Callers <
contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net>
*Sent:* Wednesday, January 11, 2023 1:48 PM
*To:* Michael Dyck <jmdyck(a)ibiblio.org>
*Cc:* contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net <
contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net>
*Subject:* [External] [Callers] Re: mechanical sorting systems
I love that Joe remembered the edge-notched sorting system I told him
about and also really love Jeff's suggestion of getting spiral-bound cards
and removing the spiral! I've drilled holes in index cards before as Joe
described, but the results weren't clean.
*I don't remember who I first heard about this sorting system from, but I
recall that they said some well-known caller/choreographer organized his
cards this way. Anyone know who this was?* I've always wanted to
rediscover this knowledge!
For my cards, I've only in the last year developed a system I'm happy
with after a decade of prototyping:
- First, my box is divided into five sections (I, II, III, IV, and V)
according to *difficulty*. Dances in the I section are easiest and
won't even include a courtesy turn. Sections II and III are my most-used; a
typical regular dance evening will pull from these sections. IV is for
tricky dances — you could get away with one or two at a regular dance with
a competent crowd, or you could save them for Advanced Dance events. V is
really wacky hard stuff. Advanced as it gets.
- Second, each card has a colored sticker (something like these
<https://nam11.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.webstaurantstore.com%2Favery-5796-1-4-round-assorted-removable-see-through-color-coding-dot-labels-pack%2F15405796.html%3Futm_source%3Dgoogle%26utm_medium%3Dfreeclicks%26utm_campaign%3DGoogleShopping&data=05%7C01%7Clabst%40emory.edu%7C320567296483459d017e08daf4047b2e%7Ce004fb9cb0a4424fbcd0322606d5df38%7C0%7C0%7C638090597349435039%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=X92GqD513UOOFl%2FEw8Jmrs3hVyz317TO8qQ9kgCukzc%3D&reserved=0>)
to give a sense of the dance's *disposition*. Pink is very balance-y,
orange is moderately balance-y, yellow is moderately smooth, green is very
smooth. The important distinction here is that I'm not wed to how a
particular bit of choreography should be danced (i.e., a band could
successfully play a smooth tune to an orange-coded dance) but my coding
does give a sense of where to look for certain moves: if I want
petronellas, I look in the pink dances first.
- *The stickers are placed along the top edge of the cards and
positioned according to difficulty, with dances in Section I having
stickers on the left of that edge and dances in Section V toward the right.
This makes sorting and identifying dances very easy.*
- Finally, within each colored section I alphabetize. Occasionally
I know the name of a dance I'm looking for (though not always!) and in
those cases I usually remember enough about the dance to guess where in my
box it will be.
I've been really happy with this sorting system. Programming is easier.
It means that if I need to change plans, I can select dances very quickly.
It also means I can replace dances and re-sort my box at the end of the
evening without trouble. I used removable stickers so that I could change
my mind if needed, and this is the only thing I'd do differently so far;
these stickers fall off too easily, even when folded over the top edge.
Bonus: My box looks like rainbow stripes from the top.
And another mechanic:
- I always add a tally to the back of a card after I call it...
- Regular at the top left, medley inclusion at the bottom
- This allows me to turn my box around and select for favorites
("I need an old stand-by") or newly-collected ("I'm
bored")
- ...and I also add dance titles to a google spreadsheet before I
re-sort the cards back into their categories
- What did I call last time I was at this dance? What worked and
what didn't?
- I can also pull an old program from a comparable event if I
don't have time to program from scratch
On Wed, Jan 11, 2023 at 11:26 AM Michael Dyck via Contra Callers <
contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
On 2023-01-11 12:44 a.m., Joe Harrington via Contra Callers wrote:
Contra Callers mailing list --
contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net
To unsubscribe send an email to contracallers-leave(a)lists.sharedweight.net
I heard recently (I believe from Angela DeCarlis) of a mechanical
sorting
system based on the Jacquard loom concept that
became the Hollerith
punched
card system. I've never seen it in use.
Does anyone do this?
See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edge-notched_card
<https://nam11.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FEdge-notched_card&data=05%7C01%7Clabst%40emory.edu%7C320567296483459d017e08daf4047b2e%7Ce004fb9cb0a4424fbcd0322606d5df38%7C0%7C0%7C638090597349435039%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=flN8KaAZJR3pf74clihLeTnkL4d8RO27SXe0BMODAAg%3D&reserved=0>
[Ah, Jeff Kaufman beat me to it.]
Figure out the ten or so characteristics you
might want to sort on.
For
example, easy, medium, hard, bouncy, flowy,
separates partners,
sweetheart
(keeps partners together), etc. Take a stack of
cards and drill holes
near
the bottom edge, one per characteristic (you can
drill a stack of cards
if
you sandwich them between wood and clamp them).
Now, on a given card,
punch
out the rest of the paper between the hole and
the edge of the card for
each
hole the card DOESN'T match.
Alternatively, you could punch out the margin when it *does* match (which
would probably be less work). Then in the selection procedure, the cards
that fall out (as opposed to the ones that stay on the needle) are the
selected ones.
[...]
Good hole alignment and clean punching would matter, I think. If you
are a
real dance sorting fanatic, you could get like 30
holes around the card
edges, but that would limit the writing space.
Back when I was young and had lots of time (and no computer), I made a
deck
of edge-notched cards to 'play' the game Mastermind:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mastermind_(board_game)
<https://nam11.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FMastermind_(board_game)&data=05%7C01%7Clabst%40emory.edu%7C320567296483459d017e08daf4047b2e%7Ce004fb9cb0a4424fbcd0322606d5df38%7C0%7C0%7C638090597349435039%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=Fs%2BuqPhPZtbpVy5IoYMzEOQairVzH9ugrbuyp0DKFnA%3D&reserved=0>
(4 pegs of 6 possible colors, so 1296 cards, each with 24 holes and 4
notches.) As I recall, during the selection procedure, cards with a notch
at
the selected hole (which *should* fall out) would sometimes 'stay on' the
needle just from friction with the neighboring cards. So I'd have to
jostle
the deck a bit to shake those loose.
Also, V-shaped notches increased the chances that a card would fall out
when
it should.
One way to avoid these problems is to have two opposite sets of holes,
with
complementary notches. In the selection procedure, you use two needles,
placed in complementary holes, and you pull them apart to separate the
cards
you want from the ones you don't.
-Michael
_______________________________________________
Contra Callers mailing list -- contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net
To unsubscribe send an email to
contracallers-leave(a)lists.sharedweight.net
_______________________________________________ 
6:05 p.m.
New subject: [External] Re: mechanical sorting systems
My filing system is probably archaic. I have 4 main categories: simple,
smooth, medium, and percussive. Then I have several rarely used categories:
3 face 3, multiple progressions, circles, mixers, etc.
I keep them in separate, alphabetized sections in my box. Top right corner
of each card says either simple, perc., smooth, or med. At top center I
have a shorthand-ish code for the signature moves, or "glossary." At the
bottom of each card are notes for various oddities. If the progression
isn't at the end of the dance I mark where it is with "prog."
The only color I use is bright yellow to remind myself to tell the dancers
this is a Becket dance, because that's the thing that trips me up most
often.
Works for me.
-Amy
On Wed, Jan 11, 2023, 3:52 PM Isaac Banner via Contra Callers <
contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
Now I'm mostly just grumpy because I got all
excited about Edge-notched
Cards and spent a good 30-45 minutes frustratingly discovering there's
nowhere to get these for a reasonable cost/scale anymore...
Tossing onto the rest of the conversation, I have 9 categories in my box
but am broadly only half-satisfied with the results:
- Easy, sometimes boring
- Simple, but fun
- Full heys
- Petronellas
- Wave-balancey
- Intermediate
- Advanced 1
- Advanced 2
- "Garbage" (Contra Mixers, general random nonsense that I rarely call
outside of workshops, etc)
Previously I had a system where I'd add a colored stripe for different
distinguishing moves in a dance - blue for a hey, orange for petronellas,
green for chain->star, yellow for long lines, etc - but that rapidly failed
to scale as I collected more dances than I had time to stripe. Like Angela,
I did however enjoy the splash of color while it lasted.
*Goes back to scouring the web for viable edge-notched card replacements
in a sub-2.5in form factor*
Isaac Banner
Code Monkey, Contra Orangutan
On Wed, Jan 11, 2023 at 1:51 PM Angela DeCarlis via Contra Callers <
contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
Seth, I do my best to categorize difficulty by
the dance and not the
context. I think my Section III might include minor ventures outside the
minor set, for example, but not big movements away. At a place like
Pinewoods I might never touch a dance from Sections I or II.
On Wed, Jan 11, 2023 at 2:34 PM Tepfer, Seth <labst(a)emory.edu> wrote:
_______________________________________________
Contra Callers mailing list -- contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net
To unsubscribe send an email to contracallers-leave(a)lists.sharedweight.net
Angela
I love the idea of the colored stickers on the top. That sounds so
colorful and enticing.
When I started calling and building a collection of dances, I did a
similar sorting by difficulty - Easy, Medium, Complex. And mostly, it
works. However, My definition of difficulty changes in several different
ways.
- As I learn how to teach a dance - there are dances that previously
I thought were challenging. But once I learned how to teach them
effectively, it turns out there were not that challenging. It was me that
was making them challenging
- Context makes a huge difference as to what is an easy or
challenging dance.
- A dance that might be considered easy for a regular dance might
suddenly become very challenging. We have had a huge influx of first time
dancers in January - we call them the "New Years Resolution crowds".
"Air
pants" by Lisa G has no chain or courtesy turn, but would be far too
difficult for the first dance of the night with all these first timers. I'm
pulling back to "Family Contra" or similar.
- On the other hand, if I'm calling in a school or for a wedding,
I MIGHT call family contra late in the session - but it would be one I
would build up to. In that context, "Family Contra" is advanced.
- Finally, at a dance weekend, a dance that in other contexts
might be considered intermediate difficulty becomes "no walk thru" easy.
Seth Tepfer, MBA, CSM, PMP (he, him, his)
Senior IT Manager, Emory Primate Center
------------------------------
*From:* Angela DeCarlis via Contra Callers <
contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net>
*Sent:* Wednesday, January 11, 2023 1:48 PM
*To:* Michael Dyck <jmdyck(a)ibiblio.org>
*Cc:* contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net <
contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net>
*Subject:* [External] [Callers] Re: mechanical sorting systems
I love that Joe remembered the edge-notched sorting system I told him
about and also really love Jeff's suggestion of getting spiral-bound cards
and removing the spiral! I've drilled holes in index cards before as Joe
described, but the results weren't clean.
*I don't remember who I first heard about this sorting system from, but
I recall that they said some well-known caller/choreographer organized his
cards this way. Anyone know who this was?* I've always wanted to
rediscover this knowledge!
For my cards, I've only in the last year developed a system I'm happy
with after a decade of prototyping:
- First, my box is divided into five sections (I, II, III, IV, and
V) according to *difficulty*. Dances in the I section are easiest
and won't even include a courtesy turn. Sections II and III are my
most-used; a typical regular dance evening will pull from these sections.
IV is for tricky dances — you could get away with one or two at a regular
dance with a competent crowd, or you could save them for Advanced Dance
events. V is really wacky hard stuff. Advanced as it gets.
- Second, each card has a colored sticker (something like these
<https://nam11.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.webstaurantstore.com%2Favery-5796-1-4-round-assorted-removable-see-through-color-coding-dot-labels-pack%2F15405796.html%3Futm_source%3Dgoogle%26utm_medium%3Dfreeclicks%26utm_campaign%3DGoogleShopping&data=05%7C01%7Clabst%40emory.edu%7C320567296483459d017e08daf4047b2e%7Ce004fb9cb0a4424fbcd0322606d5df38%7C0%7C0%7C638090597349435039%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=X92GqD513UOOFl%2FEw8Jmrs3hVyz317TO8qQ9kgCukzc%3D&reserved=0>)
to give a sense of the dance's *disposition*. Pink is very
balance-y, orange is moderately balance-y, yellow is moderately smooth,
green is very smooth. The important distinction here is that I'm not wed to
how a particular bit of choreography should be danced (i.e., a band could
successfully play a smooth tune to an orange-coded dance) but my coding
does give a sense of where to look for certain moves: if I want
petronellas, I look in the pink dances first.
- *The stickers are placed along the top edge of the cards and
positioned according to difficulty, with dances in Section I having
stickers on the left of that edge and dances in Section V toward the right.
This makes sorting and identifying dances very easy.*
- Finally, within each colored section I alphabetize.
Occasionally I know the name of a dance I'm looking for (though not
always!) and in those cases I usually remember enough about the dance to
guess where in my box it will be.
I've been really happy with this sorting system. Programming is easier.
It means that if I need to change plans, I can select dances very quickly.
It also means I can replace dances and re-sort my box at the end of the
evening without trouble. I used removable stickers so that I could change
my mind if needed, and this is the only thing I'd do differently so far;
these stickers fall off too easily, even when folded over the top edge.
Bonus: My box looks like rainbow stripes from the top.
And another mechanic:
- I always add a tally to the back of a card after I call it...
- Regular at the top left, medley inclusion at the bottom
- This allows me to turn my box around and select for favorites
("I need an old stand-by") or newly-collected ("I'm
bored")
- ...and I also add dance titles to a google spreadsheet before I
re-sort the cards back into their categories
- What did I call last time I was at this dance? What worked and
what didn't?
- I can also pull an old program from a comparable event if I
don't have time to program from scratch
On Wed, Jan 11, 2023 at 11:26 AM Michael Dyck via Contra Callers <
contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
On 2023-01-11 12:44 a.m., Joe Harrington via Contra Callers wrote:
Contra Callers mailing list --
contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net
To unsubscribe send an email to
contracallers-leave(a)lists.sharedweight.net
I heard recently (I believe from Angela DeCarlis) of a mechanical
sorting
system based on the Jacquard loom concept that
became the Hollerith
punched
card system. I've never seen it in use.
Does anyone do this?
See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edge-notched_card
<https://nam11.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FEdge-notched_card&data=05%7C01%7Clabst%40emory.edu%7C320567296483459d017e08daf4047b2e%7Ce004fb9cb0a4424fbcd0322606d5df38%7C0%7C0%7C638090597349435039%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=flN8KaAZJR3pf74clihLeTnkL4d8RO27SXe0BMODAAg%3D&reserved=0>
[Ah, Jeff Kaufman beat me to it.]
Figure out the ten or so characteristics you
might want to sort on.
For
example, easy, medium, hard, bouncy, flowy,
separates partners,
sweetheart
(keeps partners together), etc. Take a stack of
cards and drill holes
near
the bottom edge, one per characteristic (you can
drill a stack of
cards if
you sandwich them between wood and clamp them).
Now, on a given card,
punch
out the rest of the paper between the hole and
the edge of the card
for each
hole the card DOESN'T match.
Alternatively, you could punch out the margin when it *does* match
(which
would probably be less work). Then in the selection procedure, the cards
that fall out (as opposed to the ones that stay on the needle) are the
selected ones.
[...]
Good hole alignment and clean punching would matter, I think. If you
are a
real dance sorting fanatic, you could get like 30
holes around the
card
edges, but that would limit the writing space.
Back when I was young and had lots of time (and no computer), I made a
deck
of edge-notched cards to 'play' the game Mastermind:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mastermind_(board_game)
<https://nam11.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FMastermind_(board_game)&data=05%7C01%7Clabst%40emory.edu%7C320567296483459d017e08daf4047b2e%7Ce004fb9cb0a4424fbcd0322606d5df38%7C0%7C0%7C638090597349435039%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=Fs%2BuqPhPZtbpVy5IoYMzEOQairVzH9ugrbuyp0DKFnA%3D&reserved=0>
(4 pegs of 6 possible colors, so 1296 cards, each with 24 holes and 4
notches.) As I recall, during the selection procedure, cards with a
notch at
the selected hole (which *should* fall out) would sometimes 'stay on'
the
needle just from friction with the neighboring cards. So I'd have to
jostle
the deck a bit to shake those loose.
Also, V-shaped notches increased the chances that a card would fall out
when
it should.
One way to avoid these problems is to have two opposite sets of holes,
with
complementary notches. In the selection procedure, you use two needles,
placed in complementary holes, and you pull them apart to separate the
cards
you want from the ones you don't.
-Michael
_______________________________________________
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6:21 p.m.
As someone who *ran* a card sorter for IBM as my summer job working
through college,
I'm simultaneously laughing and shuddering.
My cards are the standard white kind -
except for the ones I wrote or rejiggered, they're on cream colored stock
Beckets are blue paper and double-progressions are green. Chestnuts
are light brown.
A pink highlighter stripe across the top means the two women have
action together (remember the days when that was heady?)
A blue stripe means the two men interact specifically. Yellow means
you escape your foursome somehow. Shadows get a grey pencil stripe.
Orange is particularly aerobic. Purple is proper.
Top left hand corner hand corner has a custom acronym - EFE means
"easy for experts", LNBD = "late night brain dead", FC = "feels
cool"
but is actually simple.
Top right hand corner lists specific moves I prob. want to avoid doing
twice in a row - heys, down the center four-in-line.
The progression type is centered on the top edge.
If I fan them correctly, I can check everything at once.
Dances I do a lot are tattered.
Dances I do rarely are more pristine.
"Roll In the Hey" has a coffee stain.
"The Snow Dance" is missing a chunk I tore off to give someone my phone number.
"Baby Rose" was rolled up and used as an impromptu hot-pad for a stove
handle and doesn't stay flat.
Dances I learned prior to 1994 are in ballpoint.
After that it's finepoint felt tip.
Anything after 2018 when I started needing reading glasses is in thicker gauge.
I'm only on my second freezer-weight Ziploc bag, ever, and really proud of that.
:)
A
On 1/11/23, Joe Harrington via Contra Callers
<contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
The short version of this post is, how should I
organize my dances? But,
I'm sure if I ask that, the thread will have 100 replies and lots of
confusion. My search of the list archives and web were surprisingly spotty
on this question, with lots of anecdotes and no summary or comparison. And
I'm not just asking for myself. While I've got a whopping 15 evenings of
dance calling under my belt, I'm being called on to train some students to
call for our college club, and they're asking the same question.
So, I'm looking for one or more summaries from those wiser than I (ok, low
bar!) of the kinds of systems for cards. This might better be asked as,
what are the different approaches to programming dances, and what
organizing systems make each of those easier?
In a workshop of his last summer, Bob Isaacs related his system of colored
cards for easy, hard, bouncy, flowy, sweetheart, and divorce-reconcile
dances (I think those were the categories). Call easy dances first, call a
sweetheart right after the break when they're most likely to dance with the
person they came with. Save hard for festivals. Give them variety.
But, I've wanted more categories, and what about finding the bouncy
sweethearts? I'm really busy, so the idea of re-copying a hundred or more
cards to make a new system doesn't thrill me, if I don't like my initial
system. Maybe I'll get a database system to select dances with, and then
have a set of alphabetized printed cards for the actual calling, though
what if I'm wrong and need to change my program, as has already happened a
few times when a ton of newbies shows up? I'm interested in hearing about
anything particularly clever or efficient, especially if it doesn't involve
a computer or tablet.
A comparison of the different computer systems would also be welcome. I'm
aware of programs by Will Loving and Colin Hume. I asked on one Facebook
group for a comparison of these but got no response. Is the Caller's Box
up to real-time dance selection at an event? That presumes wi-fi, of
course, or at least cell signal.
I'll toss in one amusing and possibly workable paper system, for a
dedicated and extremely nerdy caller, which might be me...
I heard recently (I believe from Angela DeCarlis) of a mechanical sorting
system based on the Jacquard loom concept that became the Hollerith punched
card system. I've never seen it in use. Does anyone do this?
Figure out the ten or so characteristics you might want to sort on. For
example, easy, medium, hard, bouncy, flowy, separates partners, sweetheart
(keeps partners together), etc. Take a stack of cards and drill holes near
the bottom edge, one per characteristic (you can drill a stack of cards if
you sandwich them between wood and clamp them). Now, on a given card,
punch out the rest of the paper between the hole and the edge of the card
for each hole the card DOESN'T match. So, for an easy dance, you'd punch
out the rest of the paper for the medium and hard holes (among others), but
leave the easy hole intact. If you make a mistake, just fold a piece of
tape over the gap above the hole to close the gap.
Now, when you want to look at your easy, flowy, sweetheart dances, flip the
stack so the holes are up, push a pencil or knitting needle through the
"easy" hole and lift. Then, in the ones you pulled, push through the flowy
hole and lift, and finally for that set poke through the sweetheart hole
and lift. Those are the easy, flowy, sweetheart dances. If you want the
medium or hard dances that are bouncy and that separate partners, you pull
first the medium and then the hard dances, combine them, and then pull the
bouncies from that set and the separators from that third pull. And so on.
Good hole alignment and clean punching would matter, I think. If you are a
real dance sorting fanatic, you could get like 30 holes around the card
edges, but that would limit the writing space.
I predict this will be all the rage, post-apocalypse...at least until we
run out of cards. ;-)
--jh--
Joe Harrington
Organizer, Greater Orlando Contra Dance
Faculty Advisor, Contra Knights, the UCF contra dancing club
contraknights.org
FB, Ig: Contra Knights
contradancerjoe(a)gmail.com
7:30 p.m.
First off--Gregory Frock, where do you live that you're calling 30-40
dances a year? And are you the only caller in the area?
Joe-- There are theories in the contra world about how long a beginners
session should be before the dance. Some believe that going in depth is the
way to go, teaching many moves, and taking 30 minutes or more with the
beginners. Others believe that getting the basic 3-4 moves down, and
getting a feel for the contra rhythm, is plenty, and only takes 10 minutes,
and does the rest of the teaching during the dance.
If you are teaching a class of beginning callers, I would suggest you do
the "short lesson" re: indexing . And I'd recommend categorizing be a short
discussion, after more important things are addressed, like...
-"What are your 3-4 favorite dances that were easier?.... Make a card for
each of them." (If you can ask them this ahead of time, you could print out
copies of the directions before your session, and hand them out.)
"What are your 3-4 favorite dances that were harder or more complex?...
Make a card..." (Likewise, if you ask ahead, you can print some of them
out.)
"Do you know where to look to find collections of contra dances? If not,
here's some places.... Take time to read through these, and make a card for
the ones you think would be a good dance to call, and that you think you
could call well."
"ff you've got 10-20 dances, you should start there to put a program
together. Let's talk about how an evening dance should flow... How do we
put one together to make it a great night?..."
Somewhere after all this.... "A big help as you collect more dances, and
learn what's important about each of them TO YOU, you'll want to categorize
in a way that makes sense to you. You can do it by difficulty level, do it
by specific moves, do it by dance feel... whatever works best for you."
I apologize if you feel I'm talking down to you with this Contra 101
outline, you don't indicate if your new trainees have had any experience...
But if I were a beginner, and you, in our fist session, started talking
about the 15 recommended techniques for indexing cards, before I had even
had the time or opportunity or guidance to just become a decent caller, I'd
wonder how the hell that was supposed to help me now.
Becoming a new/better caller is a spiral path. After you make each learning
loop upward, you're ready to understand some new things... Your intentions
are good, you're just a spiral or two ahead of things, IMO.
Seth T was one of my two foundational teachers when I started calling, and
I learned much from Diane S along the way, too. What they posted above
speaks most practically to me. But you now have a good list of suggestions
on how to organize your dance library. When they're ready, with enough
experience and dances to call, you could offer these newbies this list of
solutions... Good luck with your training sessions!
Keith Tuxhorn
Springfield IL
On Wed, Jan 11, 2023 at 6:21 PM Amy Cann via Contra Callers <
contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
As someone who *ran* a card sorter for IBM as my
summer job working
through college,
I'm simultaneously laughing and shuddering.
My cards are the standard white kind -
except for the ones I wrote or rejiggered, they're on cream colored stock
Beckets are blue paper and double-progressions are green. Chestnuts
are light brown.
A pink highlighter stripe across the top means the two women have
action together (remember the days when that was heady?)
A blue stripe means the two men interact specifically. Yellow means
you escape your foursome somehow. Shadows get a grey pencil stripe.
Orange is particularly aerobic. Purple is proper.
Top left hand corner hand corner has a custom acronym - EFE means
"easy for experts", LNBD = "late night brain dead", FC = "feels
cool"
but is actually simple.
Top right hand corner lists specific moves I prob. want to avoid doing
twice in a row - heys, down the center four-in-line.
The progression type is centered on the top edge.
If I fan them correctly, I can check everything at once.
Dances I do a lot are tattered.
Dances I do rarely are more pristine.
"Roll In the Hey" has a coffee stain.
"The Snow Dance" is missing a chunk I tore off to give someone my phone
number.
"Baby Rose" was rolled up and used as an impromptu hot-pad for a stove
handle and doesn't stay flat.
Dances I learned prior to 1994 are in ballpoint.
After that it's finepoint felt tip.
Anything after 2018 when I started needing reading glasses is in thicker
gauge.
I'm only on my second freezer-weight Ziploc bag, ever, and really proud of
that.
:)
A
On 1/11/23, Joe Harrington via Contra Callers
<contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
The short version of this post is, how should I
organize my dances? But,
I'm sure if I ask that, the thread will have 100 replies and lots of
confusion. My search of the list archives and web were surprisingly
spotty
on this question, with lots of anecdotes and no
summary or comparison.
And
I'm not just asking for myself. While
I've got a whopping 15 evenings of
dance calling under my belt, I'm being called on to train some students
to
call for our college club, and they're asking
the same question.
So, I'm looking for one or more summaries from those wiser than I (ok,
low
bar!) of the kinds of systems for cards. This
might better be asked as,
what are the different approaches to programming dances, and what
organizing systems make each of those easier?
In a workshop of his last summer, Bob Isaacs related his system of
colored
cards for easy, hard, bouncy, flowy, sweetheart,
and divorce-reconcile
dances (I think those were the categories). Call easy dances first, call
a
sweetheart right after the break when they're
most likely to dance with
the
person they came with. Save hard for festivals.
Give them variety.
But, I've wanted more categories, and what about finding the bouncy
sweethearts? I'm really busy, so the idea of re-copying a hundred or
more
cards to make a new system doesn't thrill me,
if I don't like my initial
system. Maybe I'll get a database system to select dances with, and then
have a set of alphabetized printed cards for the actual calling, though
what if I'm wrong and need to change my program, as has already happened
a
few times when a ton of newbies shows up?
I'm interested in hearing
about
anything particularly clever or efficient,
especially if it doesn't
involve
a computer or tablet.
A comparison of the different computer systems would also be welcome.
I'm
aware of programs by Will Loving and Colin Hume.
I asked on one Facebook
group for a comparison of these but got no response. Is the Caller's Box
up to real-time dance selection at an event? That presumes wi-fi, of
course, or at least cell signal.
I'll toss in one amusing and possibly workable paper system, for a
dedicated and extremely nerdy caller, which might be me...
I heard recently (I believe from Angela DeCarlis) of a mechanical sorting
system based on the Jacquard loom concept that became the Hollerith
punched
card system. I've never seen it in use.
Does anyone do this?
Figure out the ten or so characteristics you might want to sort on. For
example, easy, medium, hard, bouncy, flowy, separates partners,
sweetheart
(keeps partners together), etc. Take a stack of
cards and drill holes
near
the bottom edge, one per characteristic (you can
drill a stack of cards
if
you sandwich them between wood and clamp them).
Now, on a given card,
punch out the rest of the paper between the hole and the edge of the card
for each hole the card DOESN'T match. So, for an easy dance, you'd punch
out the rest of the paper for the medium and hard holes (among others),
but
leave the easy hole intact. If you make a
mistake, just fold a piece of
tape over the gap above the hole to close the gap.
Now, when you want to look at your easy, flowy, sweetheart dances, flip
the
stack so the holes are up, push a pencil or
knitting needle through the
"easy" hole and lift. Then, in the ones you pulled, push through the
flowy
hole and lift, and finally for that set poke
through the sweetheart hole
and lift. Those are the easy, flowy, sweetheart dances. If you want the
medium or hard dances that are bouncy and that separate partners, you
pull
first the medium and then the hard dances,
combine them, and then pull
the
bouncies from that set and the separators from
that third pull. And so
on.
Good hole alignment and clean punching would matter, I think. If you
are a
real dance sorting fanatic, you could get like 30
holes around the card
edges, but that would limit the writing space.
I predict this will be all the rage, post-apocalypse...at least until we
run out of cards. ;-)
--jh--
Joe Harrington
Organizer, Greater Orlando Contra Dance
Faculty Advisor, Contra Knights, the UCF contra dancing club
contraknights.org
FB, Ig: Contra Knights
contradancerjoe(a)gmail.com
_______________________________________________
Contra Callers mailing list -- contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net
To unsubscribe send an email to contracallers-leave(a)lists.sharedweight.net
9:42 p.m.
Wow! This has been an amazing thread. Many thanks! (And I look forward to
further replies!)
Anyone care to compare the computer programs? Are there more than Colin's
and Will's, and has anyone tried both of those? I know both Colin and Will
are here, so we can stick to facts about what they do and have.
A few remarks/replies:
I suppose I should have figured that punching cards to do Boolean logic was
something not just contra callers do, and found the edge-notched card
system described online, but thanks, Jeff, for pointing that out (and
Michael)! Also for the idea of using spiral-bound cards rather than
drilling my own. Now I might actually do it...
Isaac, try Staples:
https://www.staples.com/Staples-Spiral-Bound-Index-Cards-4-x-6-Ruled-White-…
or
https://www.staples.com/Staples-3-x-5-Ruled-Neon-Spiral-Bound-Index-Cards-2…
or, if you're REEEEEALY into it:
https://www.staples.com/Mead-Spiral-1-Subject-Notebook-8-1-2-x-11-College-R…
One of the things I made a point of doing as soon as I knew I was going to
be a caller was to beg experienced callers for a session of brain-picking
at dances I travel to. A good half a dozen of you have generously sat with
me and dished on the art, so far. I have really appreciated that, and it's
made a difference to my dancers, too!
Keith, I'm actually on track for calling 30-40 a year as well, as I started
a weekly dance series and, while I'm not the only caller in the area, I'm
almost the only one I can afford! We're not yet breaking even on hall
rental, though things seem to be moving in the right direction. No, I won't
go into any detail on card systems in my caller workshop. I just want to
give them one system and let them know there are others. Now, I can point
them to this thread when they outgrow "write your dances on cards".
And, THANKS for the Contra 101 rundown. I can give them specific stuff to
call, but it's better if they pick them. Having a few different exercises
for them to do is great. We started our first session with cueing in
unison as we walked a dance, using
https://www.jefftk.com/contras/dances/simple_dances_full.pdf (which needs a
3/4 in the circle in The Baby Rose). Then they took turns cueing it alone
to the same group. Then we talked about how walkthroughs are different
from cueing, and that's what we had time for.
You mentioned beginner workshops, Keith. Next thread, I think, if people
aren't getting tired...maybe let's wait a bit before launching that, in
case others have more to say on organizing systems and the computer
programs and web systems for that. One of the web systems attempted
animations, I think.
--jh--
On Wed, Jan 11, 2023 at 8:30 PM Keith Tuxhorn via Contra Callers <
contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
First off--Gregory Frock, where do you live that
you're calling 30-40
dances a year? And are you the only caller in the area?
Joe-- There are theories in the contra world about how long a beginners
session should be before the dance. Some believe that going in depth is the
way to go, teaching many moves, and taking 30 minutes or more with the
beginners. Others believe that getting the basic 3-4 moves down, and
getting a feel for the contra rhythm, is plenty, and only takes 10 minutes,
and does the rest of the teaching during the dance.
If you are teaching a class of beginning callers, I would suggest you do
the "short lesson" re: indexing . And I'd recommend categorizing be a
short
discussion, after more important things are addressed, like...
-"What are your 3-4 favorite dances that were easier?.... Make a card for
each of them." (If you can ask them this ahead of time, you could print out
copies of the directions before your session, and hand them out.)
"What are your 3-4 favorite dances that were harder or more complex?...
Make a card..." (Likewise, if you ask ahead, you can print some of them
out.)
"Do you know where to look to find collections of contra dances? If not,
here's some places.... Take time to read through these, and make a card for
the ones you think would be a good dance to call, and that you think you
could call well."
"ff you've got 10-20 dances, you should start there to put a program
together. Let's talk about how an evening dance should flow... How do we
put one together to make it a great night?..."
Somewhere after all this.... "A big help as you collect more dances, and
learn what's important about each of them TO YOU, you'll want to categorize
in a way that makes sense to you. You can do it by difficulty level, do it
by specific moves, do it by dance feel... whatever works best for you."
I apologize if you feel I'm talking down to you with this Contra 101
outline, you don't indicate if your new trainees have had any experience...
But if I were a beginner, and you, in our fist session, started talking
about the 15 recommended techniques for indexing cards, before I had even
had the time or opportunity or guidance to just become a decent caller, I'd
wonder how the hell that was supposed to help me now.
Becoming a new/better caller is a spiral path. After you make each
learning loop upward, you're ready to understand some new things... Your
intentions are good, you're just a spiral or two ahead of things, IMO.
Seth T was one of my two foundational teachers when I started calling, and
I learned much from Diane S along the way, too. What they posted above
speaks most practically to me. But you now have a good list of suggestions
on how to organize your dance library. When they're ready, with enough
experience and dances to call, you could offer these newbies this list of
solutions... Good luck with your training sessions!
Keith Tuxhorn
Springfield IL
On Wed, Jan 11, 2023 at 6:21 PM Amy Cann via Contra Callers <
contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
As someone who *ran* a card sorter for IBM as my
summer job working
through college,
I'm simultaneously laughing and shuddering.
My cards are the standard white kind -
except for the ones I wrote or rejiggered, they're on cream colored stock
Beckets are blue paper and double-progressions are green. Chestnuts
are light brown.
A pink highlighter stripe across the top means the two women have
action together (remember the days when that was heady?)
A blue stripe means the two men interact specifically. Yellow means
you escape your foursome somehow. Shadows get a grey pencil stripe.
Orange is particularly aerobic. Purple is proper.
Top left hand corner hand corner has a custom acronym - EFE means
"easy for experts", LNBD = "late night brain dead", FC = "feels
cool"
but is actually simple.
Top right hand corner lists specific moves I prob. want to avoid doing
twice in a row - heys, down the center four-in-line.
The progression type is centered on the top edge.
If I fan them correctly, I can check everything at once.
Dances I do a lot are tattered.
Dances I do rarely are more pristine.
"Roll In the Hey" has a coffee stain.
"The Snow Dance" is missing a chunk I tore off to give someone my phone
number.
"Baby Rose" was rolled up and used as an impromptu hot-pad for a stove
handle and doesn't stay flat.
Dances I learned prior to 1994 are in ballpoint.
After that it's finepoint felt tip.
Anything after 2018 when I started needing reading glasses is in thicker
gauge.
I'm only on my second freezer-weight Ziploc bag, ever, and really proud
of that.
:)
A
On 1/11/23, Joe Harrington via Contra Callers
<contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
_______________________________________________
Contra Callers mailing list -- contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net
To unsubscribe send an email to contracallers-leave(a)lists.sharedweight.net
The short version of this post is, how should I
organize my dances?
But,
I'm sure if I ask that, the thread will have
100 replies and lots of
confusion. My search of the list archives and web were surprisingly
spotty
on this question, with lots of anecdotes and no
summary or comparison.
And
I'm not just asking for myself. While
I've got a whopping 15 evenings of
dance calling under my belt, I'm being called on to train some students
to
call for our college club, and they're asking
the same question.
So, I'm looking for one or more summaries from those wiser than I (ok,
low
bar!) of the kinds of systems for cards. This
might better be asked as,
what are the different approaches to programming dances, and what
organizing systems make each of those easier?
In a workshop of his last summer, Bob Isaacs related his system of
colored
cards for easy, hard, bouncy, flowy, sweetheart,
and divorce-reconcile
dances (I think those were the categories). Call easy dances first,
call a
sweetheart right after the break when they're
most likely to dance with
the
person they came with. Save hard for festivals.
Give them variety.
But, I've wanted more categories, and what about finding the bouncy
sweethearts? I'm really busy, so the idea of re-copying a hundred or
more
cards to make a new system doesn't thrill me,
if I don't like my initial
system. Maybe I'll get a database system to select dances with, and then
have a set of alphabetized printed cards for the actual calling, though
what if I'm wrong and need to change my program, as has already
happened a
few times when a ton of newbies shows up?
I'm interested in hearing
about
anything particularly clever or efficient,
especially if it doesn't
involve
a computer or tablet.
A comparison of the different computer systems would also be welcome.
I'm
aware of programs by Will Loving and Colin Hume.
I asked on one
Facebook
group for a comparison of these but got no
response. Is the Caller's
Box
up to real-time dance selection at an event? That
presumes wi-fi, of
course, or at least cell signal.
I'll toss in one amusing and possibly workable paper system, for a
dedicated and extremely nerdy caller, which might be me...
I heard recently (I believe from Angela DeCarlis) of a mechanical
sorting
system based on the Jacquard loom concept that
became the Hollerith
punched
card system. I've never seen it in use.
Does anyone do this?
Figure out the ten or so characteristics you might want to sort on. For
example, easy, medium, hard, bouncy, flowy, separates partners,
sweetheart
(keeps partners together), etc. Take a stack of
cards and drill holes
near
the bottom edge, one per characteristic (you can
drill a stack of cards
if
you sandwich them between wood and clamp them).
Now, on a given card,
punch out the rest of the paper between the hole and the edge of the
card
for each hole the card DOESN'T match. So,
for an easy dance, you'd
punch
out the rest of the paper for the medium and hard
holes (among others),
but
leave the easy hole intact. If you make a
mistake, just fold a piece of
tape over the gap above the hole to close the gap.
Now, when you want to look at your easy, flowy, sweetheart dances, flip
the
stack so the holes are up, push a pencil or
knitting needle through the
"easy" hole and lift. Then, in the ones you pulled, push through the
flowy
hole and lift, and finally for that set poke
through the sweetheart hole
and lift. Those are the easy, flowy, sweetheart dances. If you want
the
medium or hard dances that are bouncy and that
separate partners, you
pull
first the medium and then the hard dances,
combine them, and then pull
the
bouncies from that set and the separators from
that third pull. And so
on.
Good hole alignment and clean punching would matter, I think. If you
are a
real dance sorting fanatic, you could get like 30
holes around the card
edges, but that would limit the writing space.
I predict this will be all the rage, post-apocalypse...at least until we
run out of cards. ;-)
--jh--
Joe Harrington
Organizer, Greater Orlando Contra Dance
Faculty Advisor, Contra Knights, the UCF contra dancing club
contraknights.org
FB, Ig: Contra Knights
contradancerjoe(a)gmail.com
_______________________________________________
Contra Callers mailing list -- contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net
To unsubscribe send an email to
contracallers-leave(a)lists.sharedweight.net
10:06 p.m.
On 2023-01-11 10:42 p.m., Joe Harrington via Contra Callers wrote:
[Thanks] for the idea of using spiral-bound cards rather than drilling my own.
Now I might actually do it...
Isaac, try Staples: [...]
Note that for edge-notched cards, you need a fairly sturdy card stock to
survive multiple selections. Spiral-bound index cards will probably work,
but I doubt the paper in a spiral-bound notebook would be up to it.
It occurs to me that you might be able to make custom cards in a
laser-cutter. (Maybe there's a local maker-space that has one.)
-Michael
12 Jan
12 Jan
12:09 a.m.
Joe, I only included the beginner session comparison to illustrate my
recommended approach to the callers session re: indexing. Wasn't pushing
you into new discussion territory.
And I still love having my dances written on cards, and carrying my box of
'em to dances. I doubt if I'll ever graduate...
Keith T
On Wed, Jan 11, 2023 at 10:06 PM Michael Dyck via Contra Callers <
contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
On 2023-01-11 10:42 p.m., Joe Harrington via Contra
Callers wrote:
[Thanks] for the idea of using spiral-bound cards rather than drilling
my own.
Now I might actually do it...
Isaac, try Staples: [...]
Note that for edge-notched cards, you need a fairly sturdy card stock to
survive multiple selections. Spiral-bound index cards will probably work,
but I doubt the paper in a spiral-bound notebook would be up to it.
It occurs to me that you might be able to make custom cards in a
laser-cutter. (Maybe there's a local maker-space that has one.)
-Michael
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To unsubscribe send an email to contracallers-leave(a)lists.sharedweight.net
3:37 p.m.
On Jan 11, 2023, at 7:42 PM, Joe Harrington via Contra
Callers <contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
Wow! This has been an amazing thread. Many thanks! (And I look forward to further
replies!)
Agreed. I’ve really enjoyed it.
Anyone care to compare the computer programs? Are
there more than Colin's and Will's, and has anyone tried both of those? I know
both Colin and Will are here, so we can stick to facts about what they do and have.
I use a custom-made FileMaker Pro database (with slightly separate versions for contras
and for english country dance). I also print the dances out on 8 1/2 x 6 1/2 pages and
carry them in a mini 3-ring binder, sorted by name (and categorization is done in the
database and printed table of contents).
It has trade-offs vs cards. Here are some that come to mind:
* It’s harder to lose and I have a copy on my phone and tablet.
* I don’t have to worry as much about dropping my cards and getting them all out of order
(though that can still happen to the printed notebook).
* It’s easier to make changes, at least in some ways, including global changes (I hesitate
to use the L and R words and derail this conversation, but you get the idea).
* It is easy to search and sort dances.
* In theory I could have multiple tables of contents with different groupings. In practice
I don’t do that; I just have one table sorted by formation.
* Any annotations need to be copied back from the cards to the database.
* It’s harder to riffle through the dances while coming up with a dance program (in
advance or modifying one on the fly), though removing the potential dances from the 3-ring
binder certainly works.
* There's a practical limit to the # of pages I can carry in one binder.
* Mini three-ring binders are harder to find than they used to be (the one I most recently
bought has a different spacing of rings than my old ones, ick).
* FileMaker Pro has gotten expensive.
* The way I get dances onto my phone and tablet is a bit ugly (dance db in the cloud, but
requires a manual step on the phone or tablet to copy the database to FileMaker Go, a free
app from the FileMaker folks).
Regards,
Russell
714
days inactive
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contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net
17 comments
14 participants
participants (14)
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Amy Cann -
Amy Wimmer -
Angela DeCarlis -
Diane Silver -
Gregory Frock -
Isaac Banner -
Isaac Banner -
Jeff Kaufman -
Joe Harrington -
Keith Tuxhorn -
Michael Dyck -
Russell Owen -
Tepfer, Seth -
Woody Lane