What is Bellringing?
Bellringing is an ancient art which uses physical and mental skills to make music to call people to worship and to celebrate individual, family and community achievements
Bells are rung full circle allowing their speeds to be changed and this also allows their sequences to be changed
These changes are controlled by a person and rope
See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4INBO45UEw
There are about 40,000 bell ringers throughout the world as well as in excess of 5,000 bell towers. So, once suitably trained, a ringer can visit towers in the UK, US, France and elsewhere and be immediately in the company of friends.
Click here to read more detail on bellringing
Bell ringing is said to help general fitness and cardiovascular health and other areas of physical and mental wellbeing
The Learning Curve
To compliment the training your are receiving at tower level, the following titles will provide further information on the skills involved in the development of bell handling and ringing
Tips on developing bell handling
Raising and lowering
How to go quicker and slower without effort
Handling bigger bells well
Tips on how to strike properly
Expanding your ringing skills
1) Elementary Change Ringing (developing your rope sight)
Rope sight – What is it?
Rope sight is the ability to see, instinctively, the bell you are following next. Profound apologies, but rope sight is not something you can learn!!! It is a gift which a bellringer suddenly experiences. This section gives some help in developing rope sight using exercises…. more
Expanding your ringing skills
2) Method Ringing – (using your rope sight)
The time has come to concentrate on some Method ringing –
Grandsire and Plain Bob
We’ll start with ‘Ringing the treble to Grandsire Doubles’…
Grandsire Doubles
Ringing inside to Grandsire Doubles
Ringing inside to Plain Bob Doubles
Ringing inside to Plain Bob Minor
All about Conducting
Conducting call changes is more than making calls swapping bells and arriving at a new change. Initially, to become a competent conductor, you have to do a fair bit of homework and learning. Once you decide to become a conductor then such preparation is necessary as the rest of the band is reliant on you!!! As a conductor.…more
All about Conducting
2) Conducting Method Ringing
The section on conducting method ringing will explore how, when armed with a knowledge of where you are, where the treble is and the coursing order, you can ensure the bells are in the correct order and make corrections if mistakes are made.
The examples used, Grandsire Doubles, Plain Bob Doubles and Plain Bob Minor, will readily show how you can begin to build your method conducting abilities.
After going through each method, you should have the underlying skills to conduct quarter peals and have a very good idea, all the time, if the bells are right!
Conducting is more than just calling Bobs and Singles, although exactly where they are made is very important…
As a conductor you are responsible for checking the bells are in the right order after calls are made and correcting any errors…
To be able to do this requires a knowledge of coursing order and how coursing orders change as calls are made…
Once this knowledge is grasped, then knowing where you are as conductor, and where the treble is, you should be able to keep a touch or quarter peal correct even with less experienced ringers.
Here are the new areas that you will explore –
- Coursing order
- Conducting Grandsire Doubles and Plain Bob Doubles
- Conducting Plain Bob Minor
Moving on ..... Advanced Methods and principles
What about becoming an advanced ringer? Well, you can and let’s begin at the beginning with Cambridge Surprise Minor. It is a very popular option to begin with, even though considered a difficult method, it will provide the ground work for all other surprise methods.
Cambridge Surprise Minor
Norwich Surprise Minor
Stedman Doubles
London Surprise Minor
Something different ……
Running Practices and Tower Management
No doubt you have been impressed how the ringing practice sessions are organised and how the chosen tower is always open and ready to welcome ringers from all over.
Have you thought about offering to run the next ringing practice at your tower and also use that experience at your district gathering and why not at association level?
You will be very welcome and there are always vacancies to be filled.
Teaching Ringing
Perhaps you have an interest in becoming a ringing teacher and would like to pass on your new found skills?
The Association of Ringing Teachers is a good starting point: http://ringingteachers.org/
