Reflex and Rhythm (RW Letters)
  • PeterScott
    76
    ... When a learner first starts method ringing we train them to watch for the bell to follow [and] ... we build in a reflex to only ring your own bell once you have spotted the bell to follow. ...that reflex must be overcome before the learner feels free to hunt down to lead even when they cannot immediately see who they should be following. ...
    RogerButton The role of reflex actions in learning to ring RW p1084/18Nov2022
    ...grateful ... for weaning me off [hunting by] numbers at such an early stage. ... when learning to hunt, it is more important to get the rhythm approximately right than to know which bell to follow. ... my preferred way to introduce novices to hunting is to start with Plain Changes (the rest of the band rings rounds but makes room for the treble as it hunts over 2 3 4 5 5 4 3 2 etc.). I might swap a few bells around but I keep emphasising the rhythm ...
    DougBoniface Ropesight and Rhythm RW p1107/25Nov2022

    Yes, we have tried Plain Changes successfully. It's also a challenge for the experienced ringers - for whom making way for a bell hunting down can be a new experience. ...

    So another exercise is to have all the bells coursing in the order 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ... For Doubles use a Grandsire start, then hunt. Or, more generally, ring rounds until the treble passes, then hunt down, and continue hunting.

    We have also tried putting a silencer on the treble, have all the other bells ring rounds, with the learner ringing at the same time as each of the sounding bells in rotation. This practices the changing-of-speed, while the ropesight is odd and there is no auditory feedback ... We have also tried silencing all-but the treble: and if there is a simulator all the other bells can produce a low-volume simulated sound while the learner can listen to their own (loud) bell hunting slowly up and quickly down.

    As with all exercises, not all of them will benefit all learners, and not all experienced ringers will enjoy doing them, or see their value... "Not Another Mexican Wave..._sigh_" ...

    It is fun to experiment, and break down the bigger hurdles into smaller steps ...
    PeterScott Options
  • John de Overa
    490
    ↪PeterScott
    we train them to watch for the bell to follow [and] ... we build in a reflex to only ring your own bell once you have spotted the bell to follow

    Ugh, yes, what you first tell people sticks and is incredibly difficult wean them off. I remember after one particularly disastrous attempt at PH, where everyone was holding up waiting for everyone else, someone saying "If I didn't wait it would all go wrong" :gasp:

    The exercises you mention sound good but I think might be beyond the abilities of many bands, I think you'd need everyone except the learner to be pretty competent for them to work. What I have done for getting people used to speed changes is to use the simulator. I tie two bells, silence the one the learner is on in the sim and then I ring PH on the other one. They then "shadow" me, so all they have to concentrate on is speed control.

    The other revealing exercise is to put people who can already PH on the sim, my experience is lots of them don't hold up enough coming off the lead, or get the bell in properly coming off the back. They then spend the rest of the time between front and back getting back into approximately the right place - it was a salutary lesson for me the first time I tried it!
    John de Overa Options
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