Steadman Triples has long been one of my favourite methods to ring. I have previously looked at how the method is constructed of sets of six blows, and how to keep track of “quick” and “slow” sixes. I’ve also learnt to call simple touches of Triples, with calls labelled “Q” and “S”. But more complicated touches use a different notation: the blocks of six blows that make up the method are consecutively numbered, and the sixes in which bobs and singles are called are noted. Alternatively the count is of possible calling positions, since a bob or single may potentially be called at the fifth blow of any six, and the caller needs to know which of these positions to actually call.
The challenge then becomes one of counting sixes – with 100% accuracy. Whilst simultaneously counting your place and keeping track of quick and slow sixes. For me this is brain overload, and I cannot accurately keep all this information in my head. The main problem is that I am trying to keep track of two numbers: my place, and the number of the six. And in the first seven sixes these numbers will be in the same range of 1 to 7, so there is an extra risk of confusing which is which, or incrementing the wrong one, and so on.
What then to do? The first thing is – for the moment – to let other people call touches, while I get my head around the counting. And the breakthrough in being able to count sixes has been the realization that I don’t actually need to count my place: I can pretty much ring Steadman by rhythm and by knowing its structure.
First, then, the rhythm. Dee-dah, dee-dah, dee-dah. That’s the six blows that make up the Steadman unit: handstroke, backstroke, handstroke, backstroke, handstroke, backstroke. Dee-dah, dee-dah, dee-dah. So, if you are double-dodging 4–5 up, that would be (4th, 5th), (4th, 5th), (4th, 5th). If you have just gone down to the front three as a slow bell then it’s (3rd, 3rd), (2nd, lead), (lead, 2nd). In each case I have bracketted the handstroke-backstroke pairs, each of which is a dee-dah.
And then the structure. Steadman work is divided inro two parts. Above third place you double dodge out to the back and then back down again, and into the front three. Each double dodge is one six. If you are on the front then you plain hunt for six blows, then change direction and hunt for the next six blows and so on. If you are in 3rd place at the end of a six then you go out to 4th place and start double-dodging. And you have to know whether to start the front work by plain hunting right (a quick six) or wrong (a slow six) – I’ll come to that in a moment. In the back of my mnd while ringing on the front is the superimposed structure of the slow work – the whole turns and half turns – and these reinforce what I am ringing, but at any given point it’s just plain hunting on three, changing direction after six blows. And the six blows felt rather than counted. Plain hunting on three is sufficiently simple that it can be done without counting my place.
On top of this ringing I am trying to count the sixes. At each handstroke, more or less, I think “this is number n”, or just “this is n”, deliberately saying it to myself in a way that I am less likely to confuse with my place. Steadman begins part way through a six, so the first two blows, right at the start, handstroke and backstroke, are the last two blows of the first six, and sixes continue after that. A plain course of Steadman Triples will come round four blows into the 15th six, while a touch with two Q and two S bobs is twice as long, coming round at the fourth blow of the 29th six.
As for keeping track of quick and slow sixes, that is implicit in the count. A six with an odd number (1, 3, 5, 7 …) is quick, and a six with an even number (2, 4, 6, 8 …) is slow. It just needs a tiny bit of extra brainpower to work this out on the fly.
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