#change ringing

-Pokemon trainer battle music- You've triggered my Special Interest...

SO I am a change ringer. This is a very old traditional craft/skill connected to the Anglican church. Basically, we have a bell tower, and 8 bells hung in a C major scale (in our case there are 8, but do you have some towers w like 14 bells!! Our nearest tower that I also visit sometimes and rang my first quarter peal on has 10). The highest bell is the treble, the lowest is the tenor. The bells are too large and swing too slowly to make traditional tuneful melodies, so instead we ring methods, which move each bell by one space at a time in a certain order until it comes back to rounds (highest-lowest in order), and tend to sound more mechanical, albeit still nice to listen to. We ring every Sunday before church services, as well as for weddings, funerals, holidays, special occasions, etc. Not all towers are connected to a church, like the one up in Chicago is connected to the university, but most are, due to the origins of the tradition.

The "sheet music", which we ring without (LOTS of memorization and/or tricks to remember your circle of work AKA how you move around the method) is called a blue line:

Each line in the method is called a change, hence, change ringing. You can see in this example of a method called plain bob doubles that the 1 bell (treble) is doing something called hunting, which is just going from first place to fifth place and then back, over and over. But, the other bells are doing something slightly differently, including dodging (the zig-zags) and making places (staying in the same position instead of moving). However, all bells (aside from the treble in this case) will eventually make the same moves at different times. You can also imagine this like a circle or a line dance. The extra single and bob on the side are something the conductor can call out to spice up the method as you ring.

There are two pulls, a handstroke and a backstroke. The handstroke has you pull on a colorful section called the sallie, and the backstroke is when the bell is all the way around and you pull the tail end of the rope.

You should be able to see the hand and back strokes, as well as the position of the bell. The bell is balanced upside-down, and the rope goes around the wheel. The tug pulls the wheel and allows the bell to swing via gravity, all the way back up and around. We call returning the bell to the balance "standing" the bell. At the beginning of rehearsal/ringing, we "ring the bells up", by gradually putting more and more energy into the bell until it sits upside-down. At the end, we ring them down, which is exactly the opposite, of taking energy out until it's resting safely mouth down.

It's got a bit of a learning curve, but it's also one of those skills/hobbies where your only limitation is yourself and how much you want to learn, if ykwim. Like, you can be a very effective bellringer, even if you never learn a method and only ever tenor behind (which is like the typewriter ding reset at the end of a change, not moving places) OR you can be one of the insane people who know 1000 methods and can correct *other people* on their position while still actively ringing your own bell, and everywhere in between. I literally cannot recommend trying it out enough, or just visiting a local belltower as a curious onlooker (ringers LOVE demonstrating). You do NOT need to have any musical background to ring. If you're in North America, you can check out the North American Guild of Change Ringers (NAGCR) website for locations. I am a member, I feel so badass telling folks I am in an actual for real guild in 2026 lol.

I will leave off with this great documentary that I encourage you to watch if the infodump didn't scare you away:

how do the bells work?

'full circle ringing' is exactly that: the bells are on circular pulleys and can rotate approximately 370°. they can be resting in a down position, with the bell facing in the normal way and no momentum in the rope or bell. they can also exist in an upwards position, where the hollow part of the bell is facing upwards - this is the dangerous position, and if you pull on the sally (fluffy bit of the rope), the bell will ring due to stored momentum. the bell can also be upwards but resting on the stay - the bell can still ring from here though!

what on earth are methods?

methods are ways of creating melodies on a set of usually six bells. each method starts in rounds (the bells ring in the order 123456) but then the ringers swap positions in the order to change the melody. for example, to get from rounds to queens, the method would be 123456, 214365, 241635, 246135. each bell can swap one position either side every time it rings, on either the handstroke or the backstroke. essentially the numbers are getting pushed around in the order. take the treble (1) in rounds to queens: it starts in the first position, then goes to second, third, then fourth. a player would be mentally following this 'line' in their head. bellringing patterns can look pretty crazy once you get into advanced methods!!

i have rung a HALF peal of Cambridge Major, but minor is so much faster‽

and i have rung one (1) plain course of Bourne Minor. i did not get through it without making a mistake.

it's for my girlfriend's birthday the following day. last year, we failed to get a quarter of Grandsire Doubles for her birthday. i do not want a recurring failure to be the marker of her birthday???