 Method Diagram |
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Method ringing is a way of ringing English Church Bells so the sound of the bells is constantly changing in a non repeating pattern. The ringers learn the pattern of the changes by heart. These patterns are similar to those of dancing around a Maypole, with the bells weaving in and out with one another. A bell ringing pattern is known as a Method.
There are many tens of thousands of methods that can be rung but many ringers may only learn a few of them. Each method has a name such as Stedman named after its creator, Cambridge after the city and some very odd names too. The generic name is followed by a word describing the number of bells that will be rung to that pattern. So we get Stedman Doubles on Six bells and Stedman Triples on Eight bells.
Bell Music is very different from the normal type of music drawn which is draw on a stave. Below are two examples showing different ways of graphically representing the same method of Little Bob Major. There is a textual way to describe the pattern too which is known as place notation. The place notation for this method is
Method Diagram |
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The simplest method for mixing up the bells is Plain Hunt. Each bell other than the Tenor bell does the same pattern of work however they all start at different points in that pattern. Once they have mastered call changes most learner ringers are introduced to method ringing with plain hunt. The whole sequence of plain hunt on five bells only lasts 20 seconds so it is either rung on a practice night or rung repeatedly to make a longer duration performance for a Church service.
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There are 10 changes in Plain Hunt Doubles, the 10th Change brings the bells back into rounds. Draw coloured lines on a printed copy of the chart, to see the pattern of the bells. Notice how the sixth bell always rings last, this is known as Covering. Here are two very small sample sound files, using the synthesizer in the PC's sound card to simulate the instrument. Both samples are of Plain Hunt on Five with the Sixth covering but on different instruments. When ringing a method, normally Rounds would be rung for 30 seconds or so to allow the rhythm to settle, but in the samples there are only 4 seconds of rounds, then Plain Hunt, which comes back to rounds at the 24 seconds marker. Again the closing rounds would be rung for 30 seconds or so before stopping the bells. |