An earlier post described the structure of Bristol Surprise Major in terms of either treble bobbing with the treble, or plain hunting right and wrong without the treble. Lancashire Surprise Major is built on the same principles, the primary difference being that plain hunting right and wrong are done the other way round. Additionally, in Lancashire a bell makes 2nd place at the lead end, and the bells in 3–4 continue dodging with each other (and at the half lead a bell makes 7th place under the treble, while the bells in 5–6 continue dodging with each other).
We can show the two methods alongside each other, like this:
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | b | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | ||||||||
| Bristol | Lancashire | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| - | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | h | - | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||||||||
| 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | b | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||||||||
| - | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | h | - | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||||||||
| - | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| - | - | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | b | - | - | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | ||||||||
| - | - | - | 1 | - | - | - | - | h | - | - | - | 1 | - | - | - | - | ||||||||
| - | - | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | b | - | - | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | ||||||||
| - | - | - | 1 | - | - | - | - | h | - | - | - | 1 | - | - | - | - | ||||||||
| - | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 7 dodges down with treble in 5–6; | - | - | - | 5 | 1 | 7 | 8 | 6 | b | - | - | - | - | 1 | 7 | 8 | 6 | |||||||
| 8 & 6 dodge at the back | - | - | - | - | 7 | 1 | 6 | 8 | h | - | - | - | - | 7 | 1 | 6 | 8 | |||||||
| - | - | - | - | 1 | 7 | 8 | 6 | b | - | - | - | - | 1 | 7 | 8 | 6 | ||||||||
| - | - | - | - | 7 | 1 | 6 | 8 | h | - | - | - | - | 7 | 1 | 6 | 8 | ||||||||
| - | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 8 dodges down with the treble in 7–8; | - | - | - | 7 | 6 | 1 | 8 | b | - | - | - | - | 7 | 6 | 1 | 8 | ||||||||
| 7 & 6 dodge in 5–6 | - | - | - | - | 6 | 7 | 8 | 1 | h | - | - | - | - | 6 | 7 | 8 | 1 | |||||||
| - | - | - | - | 7 | 6 | 1 | 8 | b | - | - | - | - | 7 | 6 | 1 | 8 | ||||||||
| approaching half-lead: bell in 5th place drops down to the front 4; bell in 4th place comes out to the back 4 |
- | - | - | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 1 | h | - | - | - | - | 6 | 7 | 8 | 1 | |||||||
| hl | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 7 dodges up with the treble in 7–8; | - | - | - | 6 | 5 | 8 | 7 | 1 | b | - | - | - | - | 7 | 6 | 8 | 1 | treble-bobbing bells change direction | ||||||
| 5 & 8 dodge in 5–6 | - | - | - | - | 8 | 5 | 1 | 7 | h | - | - | - | - | 6 | 7 | 1 | 8 | |||||||
| - | - | - | - | 5 | 8 | 7 | 1 | b | - | - | - | - | 7 | 6 | 8 | 1 | ||||||||
| - | - | - | - | 8 | 5 | 1 | 7 | h | - | - | - | - | 6 | 7 | 1 | 8 | ||||||||
| - | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 8 dodges up with the treble in 5–6; | - | - | - | - | 8 | 1 | 5 | 7 | b | - | - | - | - | 6 | 1 | 7 | 8 | |||||||
| 5 & 7 dodge at the back | - | - | - | - | 1 | 8 | 7 | 5 | h | - | - | - | - | 1 | 6 | 8 | 7 | |||||||
| - | - | - | - | 8 | 1 | 5 | 7 | b | - | - | - | - | 6 | 1 | 7 | 8 | ||||||||
| - | - | - | 6 | 1 | 8 | 7 | 5 | h | - | - | - | 4 | 1 | 6 | 8 | 7 | ||||||||
| - | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| treble goes down; 6 comes up | - | - | - | 1 | 6 | 8 | 5 | 7 | b | - | - | - | 1 | 4 | 6 | 7 | 8 | treble goes down; 4 comes up | ||||||
| back four bells plain hunt wrong | - | - | 1 | - | 6 | 5 | 8 | 7 | h | - | - | 1 | - | 6 | 4 | 8 | 7 | back four bells plain hunt right | ||||||
| (b&h) | - | - | - | 1 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | b | - | - | - | 1 | 6 | 8 | 4 | 7 | (h&b) | ||||||
| - | - | 1 | - | 5 | 7 | 6 | 8 | h | - | - | 1 | - | 8 | 6 | 7 | 4 | ||||||||
| - | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| back four bells plain hunt right | - | 1 | - | - | 7 | 5 | 8 | 6 | b | - | 1 | - | - | 6 | 8 | 4 | 7 | back four bells plain hunt wrong | ||||||
| (h&b) | 1 | - | - | - | 5 | 7 | 6 | 8 | h | 1 | - | - | - | 6 | 4 | 8 | 7 | (b&h) | ||||||
| - | 1 | - | - | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | b | - | 1 | - | - | 4 | 6 | 7 | 8 | ||||||||
| approaching lead end: bell in 5th place drops down to the front 4; bell in 4th place comes out to the back 4 |
1 | - | - | 3 | 6 | 5 | 8 | 7 | h | 1 | - | - | - | 4 | 7 | 6 | 8 | |||||||
| - | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| lead end | 1 | - | - | 6 | 3 | 8 | 5 | 7 | b | 1 | - | - | - | 7 | 4 | 8 | 6 | |||||||
| le | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| new place bells for this lead | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | new place bells for this lead | |||||||||||||||
| back four bells plain hunt right | - | 1 | - | - | 6 | 5 | 8 | 7 | h | - | 1 | - | - | 5 | 7 | 6 | 8 | back four bells plain hunt wrong | ||||||
| (h&b) | 1 | - | - | - | 6 | 8 | 5 | 7 | b | 1 | - | - | - | 7 | 5 | 8 | 6 | (b&h) | ||||||
| - | 1 | - | - | 8 | 6 | 7 | 5 | h | - | 1 | - | - | 7 | 8 | 5 | 6 | ||||||||
| - | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| back four bells plain hunt wrong | - | - | 1 | - | 6 | 8 | 5 | 7 | b | - | - | 1 | - | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | back four bells plain hunt right | ||||||
| (b&h) | - | - | - | 1 | 6 | 5 | 8 | 7 | h | - | - | - | 1 | 7 | 8 | 5 | 6 | (h&b) | ||||||
| - | - | 1 | - | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | b | - | - | 1 | - | 7 | 5 | 8 | 6 | ||||||||
| - | - | - | 1 | 5 | 7 | 6 | 8 | h | - | - | - | 1 | 5 | 7 | 6 | 8 | ||||||||
| - | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 7 dodges down with treble in 5–6; | - | - | - | 5 | 1 | 7 | 8 | 6 | b | - | - | - | 5 | 1 | 7 | 8 | 6 | |||||||
| 8 & 6 dodge at the back | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Some 18 months ago, I described learning Bristol Surprise Major. I haven’t rung very much of it since then, but I want to look at its structure – what the different bells are doing and how it fits together. Because it’s really very simple, and can be described in a few short sentences:
And that’s it. Now you understand how Bristol Surprise Major works.
Before moving on, an explanation or clarification of the words moving from one dodging position to another. The treble dodges 1–2 up, and then moves to dodge 3–4 up, and then to dodge 5–6 up. The four strokes when it is in 3–4 are one dodging position, and the four strokes when it is in 5–6 are the next dodging position. The point at which the treble moves from one dodging position to the next is called a cross-section.
At the lead-end and the half-lead, the method is symmetric as the treble leads or lies at the back, and so the plain-hunting bells do not change direction. The treble is considered to be in the same dodging position (1–2) all the time that it is dodging 1–2 down, leading, and dodging 1–2 up at the front, and similarly in the 7–8 dodging position all the time that it is dodging 7–8 up, lying, and dodging 7–8 down at the back. Expressing that slightly differently, at the front and back, the treble spends eight strokes in the same dodging position: eight strokes in 1–2 (when it is dodging 1–2 down, leading, and dodging 1–2 up); and eight strokes in 7–8 (when it is dodging 7–8 up, lying, and dodging 7–8 down). So when the treble is at the front or the back, the bells that are respectively at the back or the front all plain hunt for eight blows before changing direction. We’ll see this more clearly when we trace out the work of each bell.
It’s also worth noting that “leading” and “lying” are in quotation marks, because this term here includes leading and lying within each group of four. So if while plain hunting you are making two blows in fourth place this is included in “lying” because you are lying at the back of your group of four; and similarly if while plain hunting you are making two blows in fifth place this is included in “leading” because you are leading your group of four.
With that introduction, we can look at how the bells interact with each other and with the treble.
1 CommentI looked recently at the underlying structure of Cambridge Surprise on any number of bells (6 or more), and now I want to do the same with Yorkshire and Pudsey Surprise on any number (8 or more, since they are false on 6 bells, though still ringable as Yorkshire/Pudsey Block Delight Minor). This may well not directly help you to ring these methods, especially if you are just learning them. But understanding the structure of a method helps you know why you’re doing what you are doing, and what other bells are doing around you.
You might think Pudsey is a slightly odd choice to include immediately after Cambridge, but there’s a good reason why. In many ways it is the complement of Yorkshire: the changes each of these methods make, compared with Cambridge, are essentially identical except that they are made in different places.
The basic idea of Yorkshire and Pudsey is similar to Cambridge: the treble always treble-bob hunts in each dodging position (1–2, 3–4, 5–6, 7–8, etc); and wherever possible the other bells treble-bob hunt, but out of phase with the treble.
(See the article on Cambridge structure for a reminder of what it means to treble-bob hunt either in phase or out of phase with the treble.)
But Yorkshire and Pudsey each make one additional change to Cambridge. In each of them there is one bell that treble-bob hunts in phase with and adjacent to the treble, and the other bells have to deal with that bell as well as with the treble. The two methods differ only in which bell is in phase with the treble, and therefore in which places the extra adjustments must be made.
In Pudsey, it is the 3rd-place bell, which treble-bobs up to the back, dodging down with the treble and making places under the treble at the half-lead, and then dodging up with the treble and back down. Except when dodging with the treble at the back it is always one dodging position higher than the treble.
In Yorkshire, conversely, a bell treble-bobs down to the front, dodges up with the treble and makes 2nds place, and then dodges down with the treble and treble bobs out to the back. This bell treble bobs one dodging position lower than the treble. Whereas in Pudsey the work begins and ends when the treble is at the front, in Yorkshire it begins and ends when the treble is at the back, i.e. from the half-lead to the next half lead, and begins as the work of the 5th-place bell, which becomes the 2nd-place bell at the lead-end in the middle of this piece of work.
| Yorkshire | Pudsey | |||
| half-lead end | -----5-1 |
1-3----- |
lead end | |
----5-1- |
-1-3---- |
|||
-----5-1 |
1-3----- |
|||
----5-1- |
-1-3---- |
|||
| treble-bobs down to the front | ---5-1-- |
--1-3--- |
treble-bobs out to the back | |
--5-1--- |
---1-3-- |
|||
---5-1-- |
--1-3--- |
|||
--5-1--- |
---1-3-- |
|||
-5-1---- |
----1-3- |
|||
5-1----- |
-----1-3 |
|||
-5-1---- |
----1-3- |
|||
5-1----- |
-----1-3 |
|||
51------ |
------13 |
|||
15------ |
------31 |
|||
| where it dodges with the treble | 51------ |
------13 |
where it dodges with the treble | |
15------ |
------31 |
|||
| makes 2nd place over the treble | 12------ |
------31 |
makes (n‑1)th place under the treble | |
21------ |
------13 |
|||
| and dodges down with the treble | 12------ |
------31 |
and dodges up with the treble | |
21------ |
------13 |
|||
2-1----- |
-----1-3 |
|||
| and treble bobs out | -2-1---- |
----1-3- |
and treble bobs down | |
2-1----- |
-----1-3 |
|||
-2-1---- |
----1-3- |
|||
--2-1--- |
---1-3-- |
|||
---2-1-- |
--1-3--- |
|||
--2-1--- |
---1-3-- |
|||
---2-1-- |
--1-3--- |
|||
----2-1- |
-1-3---- |
|||
-----2-1 |
1-3----- |
|||
----2-1- |
-1-3---- |
|||
-----2-1 |
1-3----- |
|||
----2--1 |
1--3---- |
These two pieces of work are mirror images of each other.
Next, let’s consider one small but important point. In Yorkshire, the bell treble-bobbing in phase with the treble is below the treble. The other bells must change their behaviour (compared with Cambridge) whenever they meet this bell, and by definition that can only happen below the treble, since that’s where this in-phase treble bobbing happens. Whenever a bell is above the treble it behaves in exactly the same fashion as it would in Cambridge. That’s why Yorkshire is “Cambridge above the treble”.
In Pudsey, on the other hand, the bell treble-bobbing in-phase with the treble is above the treble. The other bells must adjust their behaviour when they meet this bell above the treble, so the changes from Cambridge occur above the treble, but below the treble Pudsey is the same as Cambridge.
Now let’s turn to the other bells. They are trying to treble-bob out of phase, so when they encounter these two bells (the treble and the bell in-phase with the treble) then they must adapt their work.
Because the two bells are in adjacent positions, we will dodge with one and plain hunt past the other, though which of these comes first depends on where we meet them. And in addition, we must also make places adjacent to the dodge to switch phase.
There are two possibilities.
We can either plain hunt past a bell, dodge with the other, and then make places and (now back out of phase) dodge again. Or else we do the opposite of this: after dodging out of phase, we make places to get in phase, dodge with one of the in-phase bells and then plain hunt past the other.
Which we do depends on whether we have already dodged when we meet the first of the two bells.
If we meet the first of the two bells after we have dodged, then they have not yet dodged, so we must make places to wait for them, dodge, and then pass through the next dodging position to get back out of phase, and then resume out-of-phase treble bobbing. (In the following diagrams the treble and the in-phase bell are labelled p and q; in Pudsey p is the treble and q the in-phase bell; in Yorkshire p is the in-phase bell and q is the treble.)
| when going down to the front |
when going out to the back |
||
p-q--x-- |
--x--p-q |
||
-p-qx--- |
---xp-q- |
||
p-q-x--- |
---x-p-q |
||
-p-q-x-- |
--x-p-q- |
||
--p-qx-- |
--xp-q-- |
||
---pxq-- |
--pxq--- |
||
--p-qx-- |
--xp-q-- |
||
---pxq-- |
--pxq--- |
||
---xp-q- |
-p-qx--- |
||
--x--p-q |
p-q--x-- |
||
-x--p-q- |
-p-q--x- |
||
x----p-q |
p-q----x |
||
-x----pq |
pq----x- |
||
x-----qp |
qp-----x |
||
| Alternatively, if we meet the two bells before we have dodged, then they have already dodged and one of them is about to come into our current position so we must miss a dodge and go straight on to dodge with the other one, and having done so, make places to get back out of phase and resume out-of-phase treble-bobbing: | |||
p-q--x-- |
--x--p-q |
||
-p-qx--- |
---xp-q- |
||
--pxq--- |
---pxq-- |
||
--xp-q-- |
--p-qx-- |
||
--pxq--- |
---pxq-- |
||
--xp-q-- |
--p-qx-- |
||
--x-p-q- |
-p-q-x-- |
||
---x-p-q |
p-q-x--- |
||
---xp-q- |
-p-qx--- |
||
--x--p-q |
p-q--x-- |
||
---x--pq |
pq--x--- |
||
--x---qp |
qp---x-- |
||
There’s one more detail before we have enough information to understand each of these methods. If we are about to meet the treble or in-phase bell at the back, when we are in the topmost dodging position, then rather than missing a dodge or making places to get in phase we add an extra dodge. We’ve already seen this in Cambridge when we were about to meet the treble and we were at the back. Yorkshire here is identical to Cambridge (because we are above the treble), but in Pudsey this also applies when meeting the in-phase bell, so we must do these double dodges when about to meet that bell. And because the method is symmetrical, when we said “about to meet”, the same applies when “reaching the back having just met”, as it does in Cambridge.
In the full article, we’ll look at the details of Yorkshire, then at Pudsey, and then do a final comparison of the two methods.
0 CommentsI looked recently at the underlying structure of Cambridge Surprise on any number of bells (6 or more), and now I want to do the same with Yorkshire Surprise on any number (8 or more, since it is false on 6 bells).
The basic idea of Yorkshire is similar to Cambridge: the treble always treble-bob hunts in each dodging position (1–2, 3–4, 5–6, 7–8, etc), and wherever possible the other bells treble-bob hunt, but out of phase with the treble.
(See the article on Cambridge structure for a reminder of what it means to treble-bob hunt either in phase or out of phase with the treble.)
In Yorkshire there is an exception to this out-of-phase treble bobbing: starting when the treble is dodging at the back, one of the bells treble-bobs in phase with the treble and one dodging position below it, making 2nd place over the treble at the lead-end, and continuing in phase until the treble reaches the back again.
Everything else in Yorkshire is a consequence of this change from Cambridge.
The bell that starts doing this in-phase treble bobbing is the 5th-place bell, from the half-lead when it has passed the treble at the back, and continuing as the 2nd-place bell until the half-lead as it approaches the back. For brevity, I call this piece of work the in-phase bell, because it is treble-bob hunting in phase with the treble. (This isn’t a shorthand I have come across elsewhere, but it is a convenient term.)
Because the treble and the in-phase bell are in adjacent dodging positions, the other bells meet the in-phase bell immediately before or immediately after meeting the treble, They must either pass it or dodge with it, just as they do with the treble.
Remember that in Cambridge places a bell dodges with the treble in the middle of the work, making places either side of that dodge in order first to get in phase with the treble, and then to get back out of phase. But in Yorkshire there is immediately another in-phase bell to deal with: so if we have dodged with the treble we must curtail Cambridge places to pass the in-phase bell. Or alternatively, if it’s the treble that is passed, then we must dodge with the in-phase bell and make places to change phase. This changes Cambridge places into Yorkshire places and also adds them in positions where in Cambridge you just plain hunt past the treble.
Let’s see what that means in practice.
0 CommentsI’ve been ringing Cambridge Surprise for quite a few years now. I began with Minor (in 2005), learning the various pieces of work by rote. Then when I could do that I moved on to Major (in 2006), again, learning by rote the bits that were different from Minor. Then I got to the point that I could barely remember how to ring Minor, because I always forgot which bits of Major to leave out. I’ve got over that too, and recently have begun to ring Minor a bit more, because we have ringers who have moved on to learning it.
All of which sparked an interest in learning Cambridge Surprise Royal, i.e. on 10 bells. (Ringing it would be a rather different matter as I’m not a ten-bell ringer, and although I have rung Caters a handful of times, I’ve never rung Royal. But I want to stick with the theory for a bit.)
So I looked up the blue line for Cambridge Surprise Royal, and in searching for it I came instead across descriptions of Cambridge, and I realized I had been missing something about Cambridge all these years. The sort of thing that makes me wonder whether I could have learnt the method in a much better way — rather than learning sections by rote, and then re-learning it by place bells, instead learning it and ringing it from first principles. Because the principle behind Cambridge, on any number of bells, is quite simple.
Here it is:
What do we mean by treble-bob hunting “out of phase”, and what are the consequences of this?
1 CommentHaving more or less successfully rung a Plain course of Bristol Surprise Major last weekend, it’s time — like Dick Whittington — to turn to London: London Surprise Major, that is. London is the last of the “standard eight” Surprise Major methods, and Coleman describes it as the zenith of standard surprise. But he also suggests that it is easier to learn than Bristol, and strongly recommends learning it by place bells. Other London web pages seem to agree, one suggesting learning pairs of place bells together, as in each pair one is the mirror of the other.
The order of the place bells is the same as for Rutland and Bristol: 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 6, 4; with the pairs being: 2 and 4, 3 and 6, and 5 and 8; while 7 is symmetric about the half-lead end.
There are a few familiar pieces of work:
When you meet, or are about to meet, the treble you have to get back into phase with it, either to pass it, or to dodge with it. You do this by making a place, or by doing a Stedman whole turn, or doing fishtails.
Another point to note is that the 4th-place bell and above all start in the opposite direction compared with most methods learned so far. So even bells (≥4) go out, and odd bells (>4) go in. The 8th-place bell strikes an extra blow at handstroke in 8th place before going down.
Other than that it seems that the only way to learn this is by place bells, which we do in the full article.
1 CommentArmed with a continuous blue line, as described in the previous post (but see also this later post), we can write this more compactly as a single lead:
12345678
21436587
12346857
21438675
24136857
42316587
24135678
42315768
24351786
23457168
32541786
35247168
53427618
35246781
32547618
23456781
24365871
42638517
46235871
64328517
46238157
42631875
24368157
23461875
32416857
23146587
32415678
23145768
21347586
12435768
21345678
12436587
14263857
We can also write out what happens when “bob” is called. The front two bells are unaffected, and run in and out as in a plain course to become the 2nd and 3rd place bells. The bell in 4th place, which would have run out to 5th and become the 5th place bell, instead makes the 4th-place bob and becomes the 4th place bell. The bells above 4th place each dodge back one place, which brings them back to their starting positions, so that they simply repeat the same lead as they have just done. Like this:
23145768
21347586
12435768
21345678 bob
12436587
14235678
The bob permutes the 2nd, 3rd and 4th place bells. If called at the end of each of the first three leads this will bring the touch back to rounds – three leads of Bristol.
5 Comments[Edit: Although I learnt Bristol Surprise Major in the way described in this post, I subsequently figured it out in what is to me a much more convenient way. You may find it helpful to read this post on the structure of Bristol Surprise Major instead. I think it’s much simpler. You may or may not agree.]
It’s been a long time since I wrote here about learning a Surprise Major method. In the intervening period I’ve learnt to ring six such methods: Cambridge, Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, Superlative, Rutland and Pudsey. These are six of the so-called “Standard Eight” Surprise Major methods, and in many ways they are quite similar to each other — Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, Superlative and Rutland are all the same as Cambridge when you are above the treble [edit: this isn’t true of Superlative], and Pudsey is the same as Cambridge when you are below the treble. The other two SM methods in this Eight are Bristol and London and they are different from the others, and from each other. Several times I have sat down to learn Bristol, but not got very far. Time to put that right.
So I’ve spent an hour or so looking at the “blue line” for Bristol, as well as a couple of guides. From it I can see that:
I’ll look at each of these in turn.
First we’ll look at fishtails. These are single blows where you reverse direction after each blow, so on the front it might be: lead, 2nd, lead, 2nd, lead:
x-
-x
x-
-x
x-
Next, the frontwork. Bell 2’s work consists of doing half the frontwork one way, and then mirroring it to do it the other way:
and then do the same thing in the opposite direction:
(And then, instead of making 2nd place over the treble, go out to 3rd place and become the 3rds place bell.)
Then there’s “Stedman”. This is like a whole turn in Stedman: lead two blows, point 2nd, lead two blows. As in Stedman, one of the pairs of leading will be right (i.e. handstroke followed by backstroke), and one will be wrong (i.e. backstroke followed by handstroke). But in Bristol this doesn’t just occur on the front. It’s also done in 4ths — 4th, 4th, 3rd, 4th, 4th. And because Bristol is a double method it appears at the back (8th, 8th, 7th, 8th, 8th) and in 5th place (5th, 5th, 6th, 5th, 5th). Each of these pieces of work occur twice, once with the first two blows right and the last two wrong, and once with the first two wrong and the last two right.
Armed with this information we can write out what bell 3 does:
We’re nearly there, and all that remains to do is to look at the “lightning work”:
This path crosses the treble as it does the places in 4th and 5th:
--x-----
---x----
----x---
-----x--
------x-
-------x
------x-
-----x--
----x---
---1x---
---x1---
---x----
--x-----
-x------
x-------
-x------
--x-----
---x----
----x---
-----x--
That crossing point is also one of the pivot points of the method, i.e. the point where you move from doing things on the front to doing things on the back, or where the blue line rotates through 180 degrees.
Bell 5 begins with the lightning work as described above (the first three blows in the diagram are of course the last three blows of bell 3’s work).
After this point we repeat the work already described, but as places from the back, rather than places from the front. This enables us to write out a complete plain course, as is shown in the full article.
2 CommentsClose watchers of the ringing ‘scene’ — or of Songs of Praise — will be aware that there is currently a significant fundraising exercise underway, raising millions of pounds to fight leukemia — by ringing bells.
The campaign was begun by Julie McDonnell, herself a survivor and sufferer from the disease, and also a ringer. She set up a campaign called Strike Back Against Blood Cancer and persuaded some generous sponsors to donate money to the campaign whenever a quarter peal of the new method (or methods) is rung. The new method is fittingly called “Julie McDonnell” and exists for various numbers of bells.
Last night at another tower’s practice the tower captain said she’d like to ring a quarter peal of Julie McDonnell Triples at some point, and pointed to a blue line of the method drawn on the tower whiteboard. After we had looked at it for a few minutes some of us had a go at ringing a plain course, which we did susccessfully at the first attempt.
It’s a fairly simple method, with “frontwork” done by the 4 and the 2, and “backwork” done by the other bells; and 3–4 dodges to transition between “frontwork” and “backwork”
Starting on the 4 do the “frontwork” dodge 1–2 down, lead, make 2nds; dodge 1–2 down lead, make seconds, becoming the 2. Having made 2nds and become the 2, it’s lead, dodge 1–2 up, make 2nds, lead, dodge 1–2 up and out, dodging 3–4 up and becoming the 3. Or to summarize the “frontwork” slightly differently: (dodge 3–4 down), dodge down, lead, 2nds, dodge down, lead, 2nds, lead, dodge up, 2nds, lead, dodge up; (and dodge 3–4 up).
The “backwork” starting from the 3 is: lie, make 3rds, lie, make 3rds, lie, make 5ths, lie make 3rds, lie, make 3rds, lie, dodge 3–4 down becoming the 4. Or, taking the lying and all the intervening plain hunting as implicit: 3rds, 3rds, 5ths, 3rds, 3rds.
The starts are:
2: in the middle of the frontwork
3: at the start of the backwork
4: at the start of the frontwork
5: has just made 5ths in the middle of the backwork; lie, 3rds, lie, become the 6
6: has nearly finished the backwork, so down to 3rds, lie, then dodge 3–4 down
7: has just done the first lot of 3rds; so lie one blow in 7ths, then 3rds, then 5ths
Bobs are the same as plain bob:
About to make 2nds: run out and become the 3 so begin the backwork
About to dodge 3–4 down: run in and become the 2, so lead and do the second half of the frontwork
About to dodge 3–4 up: make 4ths place and become the 4, so turn round and entirely repeat the frontwork.
On a good practice night we have enough ringers able to ring Stedman Doubles, and we are gradually getting better at it, and more people are able to cope with singles so that we can ring an extent of 120 changes, rather than just a plain course of 60.
Singles in Stedman Doubles seem to cause quite a bit of confusion. They also have a number of nicknames or mnemonics which aim to remind the ringer what to do. A common pair of nicknames is “cat’s ears” and “coathangers”, referring to the actions taken by the two bells affected by the call. I could never get used to these, especially “coathangers” and worked out my own way of dealing with singles.
The first thing to remember is that Stedman consists of three bells on the front which plain hunt for six blows, and then change direction, together with pairs of bells above third place which double dodge out to the back and then back down to the front again. In Stedman Doubles the only double dodging is in 4–5 up and 4–5 down. And the important thing to remember is that a single affects only the pair of bells double-dodging in 4–5 up and down. The three bells on the front are entirely unaffected by the call.
The effect of a single is to swap two bells over, and in Stedman Doubles it swaps over the two bells that are double-dodging 4–5 up and down. That’s really all you need to know. The ringer who started out thinking that they were going to double-dodge 4–5 up has to turn around swap places with the ringer who started out thinking they were going to double-dodge 4–5 down. And vice-versa.
Or to put that another way, if you are double-dodging 4–5 up and a single is called then you become the bell double-dodging 4–5 down. And if you are the bell double-dodging 4–5 down then you become the bell double-dodging 4–5 up. (Of course in both cases the double-dodges up and down are not really double-dodges because they are incomplete, but we can gloss over that complexity.)
What does this mean in practice? Let’s consider, first, the bell that would, if there were no single, double-dodge 4–5 up. The ringer will count their place something like this:
and then they will lie at the back and double dodge 4–5 down.
Meanwhile the ringer who would be double-dodging 4–5 down with them will count their place something like this:
and then go down to the front, either as a quick bell or a slow bell.
The effect of the single is to swap the two bells over at the fourth stroke (a handstroke) of these six changes, so that the bell that starts dodging up ends up dodging down:
This bells is now dodging down, so it must next go down to the front.
Meanwhile the bell that starts dodging down ends up dodging up
This bell is now dodging up, so it must lie in 5th place and double-dodge down before joining the front work, either as quick bell or as slow.
As for whether you go in quick or slow: if you are affected by one single (or by an odd number of singles) then you do the opposite of what you would otherwise have done. If you came out quick and would have gone in slow, then after a single you go in quick. Or if you came out slow and would have gone in quick, then instead you go in slow. (That’s because you have swapped places with the the other bell, and it becomes the bell that does what you would have done, and you become the bell that does what it would have done!)
For me, this is where blue lines explaining the single — helpful though blue lines generally are — here just complicate matters. In this instance I find it easier just to switch from ringing one place bell (4th’s place) to ringing another (5th’s). Or vice versa.
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