I started playing the pipes for the Highland Dancers a long time ago.
I wanted to know at least the Highland Fling, so i could understand what it is for the dancers. I learned the Fling from Monique and Yvonne. Yvonne tried to learn me to walz. But that was it for a loong time.
Then in 2008, 2009 we joined a Country Dance group. (Monique, Coline and I)
So I bought some size 45 (11.5) dance shoes.
At least the “little green book” with dance diagrams looks cool.
I’ve been playing a long time for Highland Dancers. And here are my tips for you. If you have additions or corrections let me know.
Practice
Practice, with and without the dancers.
Get to know the tempo the dancers would like. (Have them practice the tempo mentioned in the piping books)
Start in time with practicing (see below)
I wanted to know what it takes to be a highland dancer, to understand what they are doing, so I learned to dance the Highland Fling myself.
Before starting
Alway sing/hum a few bars. So your on the same line with the dancers, and setting the tempo. (If they can’t hear you, use your hand for the tempo) Some dancers are prepared for the dance they have to perform in advance, a change in order can make them nervous. (Check lead dancer for a okay sign, with Anke I had a almost invisible nod, and I could see when she was not sure about the Tempo)
Are the Dancers distracted? Then I would hit the bag of my pipes to get attention.
Face your Dancers if possible. Playing with multiple pipers? Let them face you, ideal would be if they see the dancers also.
Are they doing the sworddance? Hit your bag to make a little drone sound to time their movements to place the sword on the ground. (I’ll post a movie about this when i find it again)
While playing
Watch the group, and look for signs when they are stuggling. When you play too slow, you see them wanting to have more time in the air. (Hangtime) When playing too fast, you will see them making little hops, instead of the higher jumps. (You get angry eyes from the lead dancer 🙂 ) Adjust your speed (but slowly)
Always keep you eye on the lead dancer.
Stopping
Always step forward when planning to stop playing. Sometimes we have to stop when a sign has been given, because of something happening or planned events. Then you will have to end at the end of a part or when playing a set, at the end of the tune. (Practice this!)
Sometimes you or the dancers can be mistaken with the number of repeats. When you or the dancers are messing up. Get a clean ending. When the crowd is unaware, keep it that way. Keep a straight face! When they notice, tell or make I sign that you are sorry. on some occasions you can start again. (Take away any blame from the dancers, they are also nervous, it helps them for the next dance)
Nervous?
Focus on the dancers, not the public. Don’t play tunes you haven´t practiced enough. (This is a common mistake, because the dancers want to perform them before you are ready. When they start practicing a new dance, let them have you informed if possible, so you can practice at the same time)
Tunes I play are in: (links to pipetunesearch, my search engine for tunebooks)
We went to the Old Fruitmarket in Glasgow on 15 August 2008. The Red hot chilli pipers gave a concert here. Wooo!
It was a superb show, great memories. There where camera’s placed all over the place. Apparently they where filming for a DVD.
When we bought the DVD several months later, we where pleasantly surprised! .. When looking at the end credits .. There we where, totally oblivious of the fact that we where filmed.
Maybe you also have a white area to fill, here is a suggestion.
For years we collected picture frames, weird and ugly. We wanted to have a collection of images in our staircase, to fill the white area. The images are all something we like, have interest in or are personal.
It needed to be on 3 walls, so here was my first design.
Most left .. picture around the cornerIn the end a total of 110
I worked for a highly secure position in a financial place.
We had to use so-called RSA keys.
These keys we needed to get access to the servers.
That morning i came in office and had the following conversation with the manager:
ME: It’s far too easy to lose my RSA key, so I left it at home. Manager: So how are you getting any work done? ME: Well … i can get the login codes from here, while opening a browser to a popular social site. Here is my webcam, pointing to my RSA key. (For everyone to see) Manager: …. blank stare ME: Now i can access it from anywhere! Manager: … buttt
I recorded the key, so it displayed only a few old codes. (It was a looping animated GIF, which looked like a webcam picture)
When explaining he laughed. A two minute joke, two hours making it ..
o = out
port 0x0070-0x0071 The CMOS and RTC registers (more info below)
# Does not seem related but it works!
-o 70 2E
-o 71 FF
-q
OR
-o 70 17
-o 71 17
-q
Other fixes i’ve used:
Remove cmos battery .. and short the connections with wire. This CAN completely reset your Bios settings!
0070-007F ---- CMOS RAM/RTC (Real Time Clock MC146818)
0070 w CMOS RAM index register port (ISA, EISA)
bit 7 = 1 NMI disabled
= 0 NMI enabled
bit 6-0 CMOS RAM index (64 bytes, sometimes 128 bytes)
any write to 0070 should be followed by an action to 0071
or the RTC wil be left in an unknown state.
0071 r/w CMOS RAM data port (ISA, EISA)
RTC registers:
00 current second in BCD
01 alarm second in BCD
02 current minute in BCD
03 alarm minute in BCD
04 current hour in BCD
05 alarm hour in BCD
06 day of week in BCD
07 day of month in BCD
08 month in BCD
09 year in BCD (00-99)
0A status register A
bit 7 = 1 update in progress
bit 6-4 divider that identifies the time-based
frequency
bit 3-0 rate selection output frequency and int. rate
0B status register B
bit 7 = 0 run
= 1 halt
bit 6 = 1 enable periodic interrupt
bit 5 = 1 enable alarm interrupt
bit 4 = 1 enable update-ended interrupt
bit 3 = 1 enable square wave interrupt
bit 2 = 1 calendar is in binary format
= 0 calendar is in BCD format
bit 1 = 1 24-hour mode
= 0 12-hour mode
bit 0 = 1 enable daylight savings time. only in USA.
useless in Europe. Some DOS versions clear
this bit when you use the DAT/TIME command.
0C status register C
bit 7 = interrupt request flag
bit 6 = peridoc interrupt flag
bit 5 = alarm interrupt flag
bit 4 = update interrupt flag
bit 3-0 reserved
0D status register D
bit 7 = 1 Real-Time Clock has power
bit 6-0 reserved
0E diagnostics status byte
bit 7 = 0 RTC lost power
bit 6 = 1 CMOS RAM checksum bad
bit 5 = 1 invalid configuration information at POST
bit 4 = 1 memory size error at POST
bit 3 = 1 fixed disk/adapter failed initialization
bit 2 = 1 CMOS RAM time found invalid
bit 1 = 1 adapters do not match configuration (EISA)
bit 0 = 1 time out reading an adapter ID (EISA)
0F shutdown status byte
00 = normal execution of POST
01 = chip set initialization for real mode reentry
04 = jump to bootstrap code
05 = issue an EOI an JMP to Dword ptr at 40:67
06 = JMP to Dword ptrv at 40:67 without EOI
07 = return to INT15/87 (block move)
08 = return to POST memory test
09 = return to INT15/87 (block move)
0A = JMP to Dword ptr at 40:67 without EOI
0B = return IRETS through 40:67
10 diskette drive type for A: and B:
bit 7-4 drive type of drive 0
bit 3-0 drive type of drive 1
= 0000 no drive
= 0001 360K
= 0010 1M2
= 0011 720K
= 0100 1M44
= 0101-1111 reserved
11 reserved / AMI Extended CMOS setup (AMI Hi-Flex BIOS)
bit 7 = 1 Typematic Rate Programming
bit 6-5 = 00 Typematic Rate Delay 250 mSec
bit 4-0 = 00011 Typematic Rate 21.8 Chars/Sec
12 fixed disk drive type for drive 0 and drive 1
bit 7-4 drive type of drive 0
bit 3-0 drive type of drive 1
if either of the nibbles equals 0F, then bytes
19 an 1A are valid
13 reserved / AMI Extended CMOS setup (AMI Hi-Flex BIOS)
bit 7 = 1 Mouse Support Option
bit 6 = 1 Above 1 MB Memory Test disable
bit 5 = 1 Memory Test Tick Sound disable
bit 4 = 1 Memory Parity Error Check enable
bit 3 = 1 Hit <ESC> Message Display disabled
bit 2 = 1 Hard Disk Type 47 Data Area at address 0:300
bit 1 = 1 Wait For <F1> If Any Error enabled
bit 0 = 1 System Boot Up Num Lock is On
14 equipment byte
bit 7-6 diskette drives installed
= 00 1 drive installed
= 01 2 drives installed
= 10 reserved
= 11 reserved
bit 5-4 primary display
= 00 adapter card with option ROM
= 01 40*25 color
= 10 80*25 color
= 11 monochrome
bit 3-2 reserved
bit 1 = 1 coprocessor installed (non-Weitek)
bit 0 diskette drive avaliable for boot
15 LSB of systemn base memory in Kb
16 MSB of systemn base memory in Kb
17 LSB of total extended memory in Kb
18 MSB of total extended memory in Kb
19 drive C extension byte
1A drive D extension byte
1B-27 reserved
1B/1C word to 82335 RC1 roll compare register at [24]
(Phoenix)
1D/1E word to 82335 RC2 roll compare register at [26]
(Phoenix)
28 HP-Vectra checksum over 29-2D
29-2D reserved
29/2A word to Intel 82335 CC0 compare register at
[28](Phoenix)
2B/2C word send to 82335 CC1 compare register at [2A]
(Phoenix)
2D AMI Extended CMOS setup (AMI Hi-Flex BIOS)
(Phoenix BIOS checks for the values AA or CC)
bit 7 = 1 Weitek Processor Absent
bit 6 = 1 Floppy Drive Seek At Boot disabled
bit 5 = 1 System Boot Up Sequence C:, A:
bit 4 = 1 System Boot Up Speed is high
bit 3 = 1 Cache Memory enabled
bit 2 = 1 Internal Cache Memory <1>
bit 1-0 reserved
2E CMOS MSB checksum over 10-2D
2F CMOS LSB checksum over 10-2D
30 LSB of extended memory found above 1Mb at POST
31 MSB of extended memory found above 1Mb at POST
32 date century in BCD
33 information flags
bit4 = bit4 from CPU register CR0 (Phoenix)
this bit is only known as INTEL RESERVED
34-3F reserved
34 bit4 bit5 (Phoenix BIOS)
3D/3E word to 82335 MCR memory config register at
[22](Phoenix)
3D bit3 base memsize 512/640 (Phoenix)
3E bit7 = 1 relocate enable (Phoenix)
bit1 = 1 shadow video enable (Phoenix)
bit0 = 1 shadow BIOS enable (Phoenix)
User Definable Drive Parameters are also stored in CMOS RAM:
AMI (386sx BIOS 1989) first user definable drive (type 47)
1B L cylinders
1C H cylinders
1D heads
1E L Write Precompensation Cylinder
1F H Write Precompensation Cylinder
20 ??
21 L cylinders parking zone
22 H cylinders parking zone
23 sectors
AMI (386sx BIOS 1989) second user definable drive (type 48)
24 L cylinders
25 H cylinders
26 heads
27 L Write Precompensation Cylinder
28 H Write Precompensation Cylinder
29 ??
2A L cylinders parking zone
2B H cylinders parking zone
2C sectors
Phoenix (386BIOS v1.10.03 1988) 1st user definable drv (type48)
20 L cylinders
21 H cylinders
22 heads
23 L Write Precompensation Cylinder
24 H Write Precompensation Cylinder
25 L cylinders parking zone
26 H cylinders parking zone
27 sectors
Phoenix (386BIOS v1.10.03 1988) 2nd user definable drv (type49)
(when PS/2-style password option is not used)
35 L cylinders
36 H cylinders
37 heads
38 L Write Precompensation Cylinder
39 H Write Precompensation Cylinder
3A L cylinders parking zone
3B H cylinders parking zone
3C sectors
"If something is worth doing, it's worth overdoing."