Change Ringing Quebec

We are a small guild, made up of people with a range of ages, trades, and skills, united in one passion.

You can start ringing as soon as you are tall enough to reach the sally, usually about eight to ten years old. You can keep ringing through your 90s. Each person comes with their own background and approach, and contributes their unique skills to the band. Go to the Guild page for more information about us.

We are fortunate to have two working bell towers in Quebec City. In fact, they are the only ones in the province.

There are many church bells in the province, but change ringing bells are not ordinary church bells. They are fastened to wheels and controlled by ropes from below, which enables them to turn full circle and to pause while ringing.

Each of our bell towers contains eight bells. They were made in England in the 1800s.

Eight bells gives a good variation in what methods you may chose to ring, and allows the band to advance in methods. Go to the Holy Trinity page for more information about the cathedral, and to the St Matthew page for more information about the library bell tower.

There are eight working bell towers in Canada.The USA has 48, and England has over 6,600.

Our closest bell ringing friends are far away. We are truly lucky and grateful when they come to play and share their knowledge with us. Go to the May Ringing Weekend page to find out about coming to visit us.

196

Years

People have been ringing in Quebec City for almost 200 years. Hundreds have learned and carried on the art since the bells were installed in 1830.

2

Bell Towers

Cathedral of the Holy Trinity.

St. Matthew’s Bell Tower, in Claire- Martin library.

16

Bells

Eight in each bell tower.

TECHNICAL INNOVATION

Change ringing arose following the invention in England in the early 17th century of bell towers where the bells could make a full rotation when ringers discovered that swinging a bell through a much larger arc than that required for standard ringing allowed them to control the time between successive strikes of the clapper. Normally, a bell will swing through a small arc only at a set speed governed by its size and shape in the manner of a simple pendulum, but by swinging through a larger arc approaching a full circle, control of the striking interval could be exercised by the ringer. This resulted in the technique of full rotation ringing, which allowed ringers to independently alter the speed of their individual bells with precision to combine them by ringing different mathematical permutations, called changes. (Wikipedia)

CALL CHANGES

In call-changing, each sequence of bells, or row, is called specifically by a ringer, the conductor, who instructs the other ringers how to change their bell from row to row. This command is a ‘call’.

A bell can only do three things: move one position forward, one position back in the row, or stay in the same position. Bells can be interchanged multiple times.

Changes are usually referred to as “X to or after Y” or “X and Y”, in which X and Y refer to two bells by their numerical position in the tower (not by their numerical position in the row). (Wikipedia)

METHODS

Method ringing is a form of change ringing that allows for continuous permutations. Each method has a name and its own specific sequence changes.

After starting in ’rounds’ (range from smallest to largest bell), when the conductor calls the method name, the ringers will change the position of their bells according to the method’s instructions. For example, 123456 may become 214365 in the following sequence.

Every bell ringer must memorize the method, as few commands will be given by the conductor. There are thousands of different methods. Learning your methods doesn’t involve memorizing every sequence, but rather using a set of techniques such as:

• Memorize the path of the bell, not the number of bells that will ring after it. This can be done by visualizing a trajectory line on the method diagram.

• or by separating this line into small portions of ‘work’ units, which are paired together.

• and by ooking for certain visual cues, such as when a bell crosses the path of another specific bell.

A CHALLENGE: PEAL AND QUARTER PEAL

For some ringers, the ultimate goal of this type of ringing is to be able to perform all possible permutations without repeating the same row. These performances are called a ‘peal’ or a ‘quarter peal’. A Peal is at least 5,000 permutations of 8 bells, and takes a little over 3 hours. A Quarter Peal is 1,250 permutations of 8 bells, and takes about 45 minutes. The number of possible permutations depends on the number of bells available. (Wikipedia)

When this is achieved is it sometimes commemorated by a plaque on the wall of the ringing room, or nowadays, usually posted on the English Bellboard website.

IN ACTION

The guild holds weekly practices. It also rings for various special occasions. We are featured in the press every now and again. In this section, you will also find several ringing videos to give you an idea of what goes on. Go to the Guild page to get more information about the guild, our calendar of events, and about coming to practices.