Here are some tips on ringing call changes and methods, mostly for ‘early career’ ringers, but with some links to things that may interest more experienced ringers or teachers. The first stages of ringing – rope control – can only be learned in person with an instructor.
CALL CHANGES
First of all, you need to be able to stay in rounds. Notice the speed of the ringing relative to the number of bells – to stay in place, the rounds take the amount of time that it takes to turn over the tenor. If there are more bells, it is still that amount of time, if there are less bells, it is still that amount of time. So the number of bells fitting into that means that more bells will sound quicker, and less bells will sound slower, but it is actually the space between the bells that changes, not the speed. With more bells, you actually have to hold up more, so although it sounds quicker (closer to the bells around you), it isn’t, you just have less leeway.
Next, be able to recognise who you are, and make note of your place (1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8). Once you move, you need to be able to hear yourself and know where you are in the line. Count your place, always. This does not have to be in actual numbers (1,2,3,4,6, 5 in 6thplace,7,8), you can use rhythm and see the other ringers as places in space.
When calls are made, if calling is ‘up’, the bells named are the ones ‘called into action’. So 1 to 2 (from 1,2,3) means that 1 holds up to ring after the 2, and 2 cuts in a little to ring before the 1. So if you are the 3, following the 2, you will now be following the 1, but still in 3rd place. If the calling is ‘down’, only one of the bells named is ‘called into action’. So 3 to 1 (from 1,2,3) means that the 1 holds steady, the 3 cuts to ring after the 1, and the 2 holds up to ring after the 3. So if you are the 4, hold steady, but you will be after the 2 instead of the 3.
Whichever calling is used, you need to – in addition to hearing yourself, knowing where you are in the line, and paying attention to the calls to follow orders – know who the bells in front of you are ringing after. Otherwise, you will often get a little lost, and in call changes a ‘little lost’ is within the listening skills of the passersby. It helps in call changes to turn your head and look at the bell you are ringing after – it helps the conductor and other ringers see who you think you are following.
METHODS
There are a variety of ways that help with learning methods – the common ones being the blue line, the diagram, the circle of work, and the work according to the treble’s activity, (there is also notation, but that is more advanced). Don’t just look at the method. Write out both the blue line and the diagram, and say the work out loud (which means learning the proper terminology from the start). In addition, ringing on your computer or phone with Abel or Mobel, and ringing online with friends in Ringing Room, helps. You don’t always get the amount of time on a practice night to ring your new method, so the better you know it, the more useful will be the in-tower practice.
Blue line: in methods, the bells apart from the treble do the same work, so the line of the work can be learned. In most, you can start from the 2, and you will notice that since at the start the treble moves up to 2nd place, the 2 has to move to lead. Each time the treble leads, you ‘become’ a different bell (the lead end – the backstroke lead of the treble gives you your place). With simple methods you can learn the whole blue line, and as the methods get more complicated, learn by ‘place bell’ – who you are at the lead end. Here is where you will notice the repetition within the method, for example, how in Cambridge, the 2 and 5, the 6 and 8, and the 7 and 4 are the same, just reversed. I find that if I turn the line sideways, I go for a little walk up and down the hills in the snow, so when the bells are the reverse of each other, I can backtrack along the path.
Diagram: write out the whole method – all the bells. This way you can see the patterns – how all the bells weave through the method and interact with each other. You can also notice who you might see in various places throughout. This is where you can find your ‘before bell’ and ‘after bell’ – the people you will see along the way.
Circle of work: be able to say out loud the work of the whole method in words, in order, quickly. You have to learn the terms, as ringers will help you out by giving pointers that they assume you understand.
Ringing according to the treble: look at where you pass the treble and know what to do after that. In treble bob methods, know when you dodge with the treble. In plain hunting methods with a lot of bells, if you lose track of what is going on, you are often safe dodging when the treble is leading. (when you write out the blue line, also include the treble’s line)
Talk with more experienced ringers about the method you are learning. Everyone understands things differently, so sometimes this doesn’t help much. But sometimes it turns on a light of clarity and saves you a great deal of puzzling. A bonus is that you also learn the terminology form them, and learn how to talk about methods with ringers.
Don’t neglect learning the bobs and singles fairly soon when learning the method (there are other calls, but they can wait for bands that use them). If you have figured out the concept of place bells, the work at the bob or single won’t cause you much trouble. Also, as a beginner, it helps to know that the bobs and singles are called just before the lead end, so you don’t have to worry about them popping up randomly. If you know where you are headed, you know if you will be affected at the bob.
TERMS Here are some terms so that you can understand when people are trying to help.
Lead: usually refers to leading ‘full’ that is, a handstroke and backstroke. If if differs, it will usually be specified. Lead right, lead wrong, point lead, Stedman whole lead, etc. Someone helping out will often say ‘lead now’, hopefully just before it is your turn to lead, though sometimes at the last second as they realise that you are missing your lead. Be ready to react, and don’t say anything.
Lie: usually refers to being at the back of the line ‘full’ that is, a handstroke and backstroke. If it is otherwise, that will be specified.
Right and wrong: lead right means handstroke, then backstroke. Lead wrong means backstroke, then handstroke. Similarly, places may be made right (most commonly) or made wrong.
Dodge: step back on your line then continue in the direction you were going. That is, if you are hunting up, dodge down, then continue up. If you are hunting down, dodge up, the continue down. This may be done on backstroke (plain bob) or handstroke (grandsire), and it is best to have a look and know beforehand. So, ‘3-4 up’ means that you are hunting up, make it to 4th place, step back one blow to 3rd, then continue upwards. ‘3-4 down’ then means that you are hunting down, make it to 3rds place, step back one blow to 4th, then continue downwards.
Place: stay in place, usually for two blows. Long places can be three or four blows, and sometimes more with methods that are more exercise than real methods. Someone helping out will say ‘make places’.
Go to jaharrison.me.uk for a full glossary of ringing terms
Go to bell ringing books for Steve Coleman’s books on the ins and outs of bell ringing and its social aspects. There are five beautiful books, and they are the best to get started with. We have the books in our ringing room library, so if you are learning in Quebec, you may borrow the books one at a time.
Since I have mentioned that people may help you out when ringing, here is an article by Don Morrison on Communication While Ringing.
SOME THOUGHTS ON COMMUNICATION DURING RINGING
Don Morrison
Even under the best of circumstances communication during ringing is tricky. Folks are trying to communicate useful information about what is happening right now, or at most a few seconds into the future, while time marches on. And over the din of bells. And possibly conveying different messages to two or more people simultaneously.
Understandably this requires efficient use of the little time and bandwidth available. In particular, it requires voiding some behaviors that might, under other circumstances, be considered appropriate or polite.
We must disappoint our parents, and usually drop the “pleases” and “thank yous” they ingrained into us as such courtesies just take too much time better spent otherwise.
More important, and difficult to get used to, is that communication during ringing is mostly one-way, from someone in a position to help or direct, to someone struggling or otherwise requiring help or direction. While in normal circumstances it might be appropriate to say something implying “yes, I heard you and believe I understand,” doing so during ringing is unhelpful. It consumes too much time, and too much mental effort on both the speaker and the listener, and thus actually reduces the chances of successfully communicating that which is important.
There are many other, related temptations to resist. A few include: It is rarely appropriate to explain why you went wrong.
The time spent virtually assures you continue to be wrong, and cannot possibly hear what is being said to help you. A quiet post-mortem when leisurely time is available at the pub afterward may be helpful if you think it necessary to understand and correct whatever difficulties you are having, but during the ringing is almost always going to cause more harm than good.
It is rarely appropriate even to announce that you believe you are lost. Much better is to concentrate as hard as you can at doing whatever you can to ring as close to the right place as possible. If you are lost, it will be obvious to others. By all means, put a troubled look on your face, that is helpful. But speaking merely reduces the chance of others hearing helpful things that might said, and requires others to put effort into understanding what you have said that would be better spent figuring out how to help you. Even if you feel you are completely lost, at the very least you can concentrate on ringing in the middle of the row, and not speeding up or slowing down so much that you fall out of the row. That is, not ringing before the bell leading, nor after the bell ringing in last place. Normally, you should be able to do far more than that. Try to find a place where it appears no one else is trying to ring, and decide if that is perhaps where you should be. Try to recall which bell you are coursing after, or before, and try to ring in an appropriate position with respect to it. Listen carefully to what is being said. Even if it is not directed at you, perhaps there are clues to where you should be. For example, if someone else is being told to lead you know you should not be! Don’t panic.
Similarly, do not allow yourself to become irritated if someone tells you to do exactly what you think you are doing. The odds are that what your brain thinks you are doing is not having the requisite effect on when your bell is striking. Instead of becoming irritated, or replying, apply some effort to trying to understand what you’ve been told from the perspective of someone that can only see and hear what your bell is doing, and think about what adjustments you may need to make. And, even at worst, it what you’ve been told to do is exactly what you are doing, instead of letting it irritate you take it as pleasant confirmation that you are on the correct path!
While not exactly communication, a related issue is to not allow yourself to become irritated at yourself. Your mistakes are in the past. Any time or thought spent pondering them, or sulking about them, detracts from the effort you can put into going forward, and almost always leads to a snowballing of further errors. Work hard to concentrate on what you are doing, and not worry overmuch about what you may or may not have done
A few further, related points:
It is exceedingly difficult for someone to listen to two different sets of instructions simultaneously, particularly while concentrating on a the difficult task of ringing well, and surrounded by loud bells clanging. Generally there should be only one person putting a lost ringer straight. When half the band attempts to do so simultaneously they are making matters worse, not better.
If a ringer is being stood behind by a more experienced ringer, it is almost never appropriate for someone else to address the ringer being stood behind. behind may be saying things others cannot hear, since he or she is right near the ringer’s ear. Indeed, what you want to correct may just be fine tuning compared to some other issue the stander behind is currently trying to correct, and will simply confuse matters. If you believe the stander behind is confused or not able to correct the problem, address them, not the ringer; but this should really only be a last resort.
As you know, conversations among those not ringing, if loud enough to be heard by the ringers, can be a difficult distraction, and should be avoided. This can be particularly troubling at towers where the bells are unusually loud in the ringing room: because the bells are so loud, it is tempting to carry on such conversations much more loudly, too, in the mistaken, implicit belief that they can’t be heard by the ringers. They can be. can be understood over the bells by someone more than a foot or so away, it will disturb the ringers. If you want to carry on a quiet conversation it is essential to put your heads closely together and speak softly.
[The preceding advice is a slightly edited version of some distributed to students and helpers at the annual Pittsburgh ringing course.]
CHARTS Here are some methods, and Stedman (which is a principle – the treble does the same work as the other bells). The charts show the blue line, the diagram, the place bells, the work relative to the treble, the circle of work with the terminology, and the bobs and singles. (they should download into quite large print)
