Ringing Forums

With respect to encouraging participation, remembering John Harrison's excellent regular coverage of FirstPeal2015 in the Ringing World, perhaps a monthly update in RW of which areas of the country/world have responded, might engage local associations and help to motivate the towers.

Thanks for all these answers, all throw light on the question and I am very intrigued by the concept of memorising the grid, and DRJA's description of what they visualise as they ring. Definitely a skill to aspire to!

How long do you give someone...?

It sounds as if your rule of thumb is 10 weeks, based on what has previously happened at the School. That sounds like a sensible limit. Perhaps the question should be "under what circumstances would you give someone an extended Level 1 course?". Perhaps if there is an obvious reason such as a physical limitation which could be expected to prolong each phase? If it is a relatively bog-standard adult learner, then why not give the place to someone else?

There are other visual aids - for a learner getting to grips with their first method, it might be helpful to get the treble ringer to wear a red top. This isn't a "cheat" or a distraction - it is an aid that simply encourages the learner to pay particular attention to the treble. It would be particularly useful when ringing an unfamiliar set of bells.

Thank you Andrew. Missing dodges with the course and after bell was something that had not struck me before, but it is just the sort of helpful flag that I seem to need.

Hi John, I have always been after ultra-simple recipes.... but I am resigned to the need to actually learn methods properly these days (pencil. paper. study the place notation. etc). It's just that when I stand up in the tower and there are bells coming at me (albeit in a very logical order, in Yorkshire), it's nice to have something to fall back on when my mind goes dead!

Hi Oliver,
That sounds really frustrating! It's not unusual to find down dodges harder than up dodges. Can you do them OK in the plain course? If so, how do you know what to do?

WhatsApp works very well for informal news sharing, including reminders about District events. It is a lot less intrusive/addictive than Facebook. Posters are also still displayed in towers.

In 2014, Christchurch and Southampton District carried out a survey of members, with 85 responses. The median ringer in that group was in the process of learning their 2nd method, which at that time was most likely a 2nd doubles method, not Bob Minor.
The median age at that time was 62. A fact which I think shocked the District into doing a lot of active recruitment.
One unexpected result was that ringers who were recruited post-1980 were (very) significantly less likely to have mastered any Surprise methods.
For a fuller summary of the report, you can visit https://wpbells.org/2014/05/16/questionnaire-report/

I have never met anyone who is so focussed on the sound of methods to the complete exclusion of understanding the written notation, but I would confess to sharing your learner's awareness of the tunes of plain courses and bob courses of Grandsire. If I am not careful, I zone out and realise I am simply ringing the tune rather than concentrating properly on where I am.

Hopefully, your learner's understanding of blue lines will develop over time, but meanwhile, she needs to start her journey from where she is. A copy of Abel on her computer will enable her to listen repeatedly to simple touches of methods and memorise them, so that she can progress and learn new things. She can also "ring" one of the bells and find out how well she is ringing, from the score at the end of the piece. I find that very useful as I can judge whether it is worth trying a method on practice night.
Using an app such as methodology on her phone will at least enable her to memorise plain courses of new methods.

In time, she may get frustrated because I suspect that it is impossible to memorise a longer touch; but having said that, perhaps it isn't impossible, and there is a future in which she becomes a conductor, who can memorise whole peals and quarters, calls and all?

If your learner finds eventually that she really wants to understand written notation for methods, then I would encourage her to watch Abel ringing things she knows well, but slowed right down, so she can see the relationship between the numbers on the screen, and the sounds she can hear.