English

Welcome to the RSCDS Moscow Branch website! Here you can find information about Scottish Country Dances, which we dance, and why we are dancing them, how to join us and how to have fun with us.

Ask Google:

  • What was danced in Paris last year?
  • When was the last time I used that funny exercise for my class?
  • How many dances did we dance at that Sunday school in Moscow?
  • Which tunes from my collection are good for Aberdeen Hunt?
  • Which figures does my advanced group know?
  • Where is that last autumn's class which will be perfect for today's beginners once I've changed two dances?!
  • What was that amazing tune we had two classes ago?
  • Aren’t there too many reels in my ball programme?

Now close Google and ask someone who knows.

SCD Teacher Tools is a 10 year project. It started back when most Russian teachers used MiniCribs and Word search tools to prepare for classes. And, despite the various sources available today, this tool remains useful. There are a few reasons for it.

Dance search is not the main thing the project offers, even though it has no rivals in terms of speed and usability. The project allows the teachers to combine all the sources they have to make preparing for classes, lectures and balls fast and efficient. Your personal database integrated in a globally available system – that's what the project is, in a nutshell.

Your collection of music, dance descriptions, comments to dances, exercises, warm-up and stretching routines, projects of different classes, most common mistakes, lesson plans for the past years – you will have immediate access to all of that. But it's not just a storage. At each step you will have useful, carefully designed tools at your disposal.

Both the instruments and the database are designed to optimise teacher's work. Hence the name of the project. SCD teacher tools.

FEATURES

  • personal database, updated from the server
  • search, editing and dance analysis tools
  • tools for developing, editing and managing lesson plans
  • search settings for specific dance groups, ball programme analyser, teaching manager
  • search tools for your music collection

BENEFITS FOR TEACHERS

  • get detailed information on dances and music
  • prepare for classes, design and store lesson plans
  • use the programme as their musician and teaching assistant
  • make lists of dances for events and classes
  • swiftly react when the class setting changes

BENEFITS FOR DANCERS

  • make and expand lists of favourite dances after each class and event
  • prepare for balls and social events at home and on the go

MUSIC

The programme scans your collection of music and chooses both suitable and original tunes for each dance. It supports MP3, WAV and AC3 formats. Automated name recognition identifies dances which have their original tunes. Using music search tools, you can play any tune for any dance from your collection. The programme is equipped with speed and volume control.

DATABASE

The database is stored on the server and is regularly updated by users. MiniCrib is chosen as the standard format of text descriptions as the most suitable for users from non-English-speaking countries. A full copy of database stored on your device allows you to use the programme offline.

TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS

OS: Windows 7 or newer
40MB storage space
Version for MAC OS available upon request.

PRICE

Free. You can make a donation to support the project.

Download Windows Installer (34.7 MB)

 

You can support this project by making a donation

 

COMMENTS

This webpage is currently under construction, please come back later.

Please, support the SCD tools software project.

The project's objective

We aim to create non-commercial software for teachers of Scottish country dancing. This project is unique because it has been specially designed for teachers' use. The information in the database, its integration with the user's teaching materials, and the proposed set of tools provide make this software stand out from other similar programmes.

The project enables the users to

– store and find the information necessary for creating lesson plans (descriptions of dances, music, images, comments, warm-ups, exercises, sheet music);

– select the pieces of information relevant for planning or teaching a particular class;

– build up, store and find previously created lesson plans, or event programmes;

– assist a teacher in class, showing the information relevant to the current section of the lesson and timing the lesson;

– update the information in users' personal databases and share the updates with other users.

Software, its Functions and Features

The software provides a set of special tools for a teacher's everyday use:

– an integrated database with a search engine;

– a screen showing information enabling the rapid assessment and selection of dances, music and images;

– a tool for updating and adding information to the database;

– a tool for building up class plans or event programmes and selecting music;

– a tool for searching lesson plans and some particular information from them;

– a screen for controlling the course of the class with on-screen tools for showing relevant information, controlling the music and timing the class.

Database of the Project

The database contains over five thousand verbal descriptions of dances compiled from various sources (Minicrib, Strathspey.org, printed publications) and additional information intended for teachers' use. The diagrams of the dances are downloaded automatically from the Internet sources provided you have access to the Web. The user can control access to his private database of diagrams, music and other materials. We are also planning to establish links to additional information sources (TAC notes, RSCDS Manual, external links to files).

Present State of the Project

A third, redesigned version of the project has been implemented and runs on Microsoft Windows (supported versions 7, 8, 10) and Mac OS platforms. In the near future we are planning to create mobile versions of the software (for iPads or Android devices) and add the function that will allow updating the information from the server and exchanging the updates with other users. Further development of the project will see the establishment of a help system, a toolkit for generating programs of balls and social dances, and Internet database storage with centralised access for data exchange.

Use of the Project

Over the past five years the software has been used on a regular basis by a number of teachers from Russia and the UK. Some European and American teachers have also been introduced to the project.

Support Required

To continue developing the project on Apple platforms (Mac OS, iOS) it is necessary to purchase the equipment that has so far been made available on a short-term lease. We need to raise 10,000 rubles (125 GBP / 140 eur).

 

Goal: 10000 / €140
52% Funded
1000 / €14 Raised
38 Sponsors

 

If you want to support the project, please transfer your donation using the details specified below. Available payment methods: Paypal, SBRF (for residents of Russia). For further enquiries, please, contact us at the email address provided.

 

For enquiries, contact us at email

 

 

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