Coursing through the veins

As you know, I’ve been #bellringing for 40 years now, almost exactly to the day. I class myself as a middle of the road ringer. There are methods that I know well, there are those I have to learn every time I ring them and methods I stress over learning because I think I can’t. I have called a few quarter peals of Plain Bob Doubles and only a handful of touches of Plain Bob Minor or Grandsire Doubles with someone stood behind me, digging me in the leg to prompt me to shout “Bob”! However, I certainly would not call myself a conductor at any stretch of the imagination.

So, the idea of calling and conducting is something that every now and then I think I ought to do more of, understand more about and push to be allowed to do it.

One of our local ringers asked me the other week if there were any books on Coursing Order. Not to my knowledge specifically about that subject although I’m sure that it’s covered in many other books on calling and conducting. What I did manage to find were two articles from the Ringing World in about 1999 in the Learning Curve series on Conducting and Coursing Order.

The first article discusses the basic concept of understanding what coursing is, one bell following the path of another from front to back and back again. Keeping an eye on the coursing order is what helps conductors check on whether the ringing is still correct, particularly after a call is made, or there’s a bit of a fire up.

The way coursing orders are written is confusing it its own right. It’s written with the Tenor last but omitted and on higher numbers the coursing order of the back bells often (but not always) doesn’t change, so that’s omitted too. Whilst ringing the idea is to work out the part of the coursing order that changes and rely on knowing the order of the fixed bells. Coursing order applies to the whole course and therefore you can use it at any point to check the ringing is still right.

By putting a call in, it changes the coursing order, that the clever amongst us could work out in their heads as they go along. Using coursing orders can help check whether the ringing is correct, help others who go wrong and help the conductor work out where to put the calls.

If you are a very clever person you may want to call quarters or peals. My efforts thus far have been to put the Bobs in. I can’t put people right if they go wrong and if I called a Bob in the wrong place, I wouldn’t know how to correct it. Still, those who do manage it look at coursing orders as part of the composition of what they are conducting. They write it out using a grid with the calling positions across the top then as each course progresses and a call is made, they write the new coursing order under the calling position. I’ve seen C do this a million times. It’s like gobbledegook for the likes of me.

If I sat down long enough with a piece of paper and the right frame of mind, I could probably work it out for a simple method like Plain Bob. For now I’ll let the clever sticks deal with it.

It’s only taken 40 years

I learned to ring when I was eleven years old. Taught by my father at towers that jogged along quite nicely but weren’t particularly high fliers when it came to method ringing and conducting teaching. By the time I was eighteen and left home I could ring Plain Bob Double, Minor, Triples and Major, and Grandsire Doubles and Triples, and the occasional other Doubles/Minor method that we might have learned for a specific occasions such as All Saints Place Doubles for All Saints Day, at All Saints Church. It wasn’t until I left home that I started to venture into other methods like St Clements College Bob Minor, and after a couple of years away started to learn Cambridge Surprise Minor. I may have gone via Kent and Oxford Treble Bob, I can’t remember.

There was never any encouragement to learn how to conduct things. That’s not a gripe, that’s just the way it was at the towers I rang at. I did call Call Changes, but it was never discussed, supported or even suggested that I learn to call or conduct methods.

When I returned back to my home county, I took up ringing at some different towers and my Minor repertoire extended a little bit with St Simon’s, St Martin’s and others. Again, I was never invited to conduct, and it didn’t occur to me to pursue it as there were already those in the tower more experienced who just did it.

Then I met C and my method ringing sky rocketed. I recall one #bellringing holiday where he wrote the line for Stedman Doubles and Triples out on a napkin over lunch during the first day, then for the rest of the tour I rang Stedman at every tower, every day and by the end of the week was ringing touches of it as if I had known it for years. My methods started expanding into Surprise Minor, Major and now Royal and Maximus.

At some point I did learn how to call touches of Plain Bob Doubles. As most people probably do, I started with myself unaffected regardless of what bell I was ringing, then figured out the Make In Out method. I think this was around the time I was ringing St Simon’s et al. I did get as far as calling a few quarter peals of Plain Bob Doubles. I may have even called Go and That’s All for some other methods, but very rarely.

I’ve not really been too worried about conducting as there has always been more experience people around to do that for me. I also feel that I could Call but not Conduct. Me calling a quarter peal of Plain Bob Double relies on everyone doing as instructed and staying in the right place. I wouldn’t be able to sort them out if it went wrong.

I guess with the passage of time, I have more awareness of some methods and although I still don’t ring or learn by place bells, I can see where some of the other bells are and can put people right based on seeing where the treble is or knowing what piece of work I’m doing and whether they should be with me or somewhere else in the change.

In recent years it has become much more noticeable about the lack of female conductors. A piece of research undertaken shared stories on women’s experiences of being encouraged, and learning to conduct. The Women in Ringing research (www.womeninringing.info) explored the gender balance within #bellringing and the barriers to progression and untapped potential which may impact the longer-term sustainability of #bellringing.

Anyway, we had a district meeting earlier this week so I went along to support it. It was a great evening with lots of laughter and learners trying new things. One lady had only practiced Plain Bob Doubles on the simulator, so had her first goes at ringing it with “real people” and did really well. Others were stretched and moved away for their usual bell, and everyone got a go with a strong band around them and someone standing with them if needed. It was a fun practice and the locals really appreciated the support and enjoyed themselves, throwing themselves into whatever they were ringing.

I was asked to call Go and That’s All a couple of times either to Plain Bob Doubles or Minor, and a to a touch of Plain Bob Doubles. When it came to trying a touch of Plain Bob Minor a band caught hold and the ringing master asked several others if they would like to call the touch. Everyone declined citing inexperience. C was sitting this one out and was on the bench behind me. So I volunteered to have a go and he could poke me in the leg when a call was due just to make sure I got it in the right place. I called the very simple touch where a Bob was called every time the bell I was ringing was doing its 5/6 up or 5/6 down dodges. Four calls in total. C did poke me in the leg at the appropriate times, but I was already there, called the Bob and even managed some semblance of being able to see where the Treble was at the time.

That is the first time I have EVER called a touch of Plain Bob Minor. EVER. And I have to say I was rather chuffed.

I would like to call more, and I need to do more homework around that I understand, but there are opportunities on a Sunday morning or a practice night where I could at least say Go and That’s All to plain courses of things.

From the success of last week’s virtual #bellringing session where we all got to have a go at saying Go and That’s All to plain courses of the new method we were learning, and the invigoration from calling my first touch of Plain Bob Minor this week, I might well push to call more, even if I can’t fully conduct things yet. I’ll need to read some more chapters of Calling It Round (https://callingitround.cccbr.org.uk) then just put myself out there.

Calling it Round – Bryn Reinstadler

Not content with bringing the world the virtual #bellringing platform Ringing Room which has been an absolute saviour for many when we were unable to ring real bells, one half of the developer team, Bryn, has now given us the first few chapters of a new “book” entitled Calling it Round, a guide to learning when, how and what to call touches of simple methods. Best of all it’s free and available at https://callingitround.cccbr.org.uk/

Calling and conducting is something that I don’t get to practice too often. Generally, there are only one or two people who call touches in our tower, or even for a plain course it tends to be the same person. And I have to say, men! I’m not hyper feminist, but why can’t the calling be shared out more? Why can’t some of us women do it? The research in https://www.womeninringing.info/ demonstrates the gender imbalances in #bellringing that need to be addressed. I have called touches, and even a few quarter peals of Plain Bob Doubles. I have called a touch of Grandsire Doubles once, with someone standing behind me, nudging me when to shout “Bob”. I have called Bob Courses of Grandsire Caters or Cinques but only from the treble because it’s easy to see when the treble is in thirds on the way to the front.

I can call “Go” and “Stop” for things, but don’t get the opportunity, so have built in some hesitancy about knowing when to say “That’s all”, especially for Surprise methods as I’m never sure when to say it during the dodge. I cannot conduct though. I don’t know what the coursing orders should be, I can’t see what other bells are doing, I only just have a handle on what my bell is doing.

I have tried to read other books on calling and conducting but as they are all text, I find them hard to follow and the tone and language can sometimes be hard to relate to.

I say “book” but this new variation is available on line only and not intended to be released in print, although there are some calls for that. The great thing of it being available on line is that there are interactive elements. After distilling some theory in an interesting and easy manner, your understanding is then tested by some multiple choice questions, videos to watch with questions afterwards and exercises to complete.

This new resource takes it right back to the basics of even how to say “Go”, “That’s all” and “Stand”. When the calls should be made but also how to say it, speaking clearly and how voice pitch has an impact on the effectiveness of the call.

Subsequent chapters look at simple touches, learning how to call a quarter peal, conducting by way of checking the ringing, coursing orders and lots of other resources to help with understanding compositions.

The final sections on choosing the touch whether for practice night or Sunday service ringing, placing bands, giving guidance and handbell conducting give supplemental skills that every Tower Captain, aspiring Tower Captain, or person asked to call a piece a ringing should read and take note of.

I have made it known, on several occasions, about my desire to call more touches and of different methods, but also just to say “Go” and “That’s all” for plain courses. This seems to have fallen on deaf ears over the years.

With this easy to use “book” I will work through the exercises to increase my understanding, knowledge and confidence at calling. I may never reach the dizzy heights of becoming a Conductor, but at least I’ll be able to say “Go”, “That’s all” and “Stand”. I will continue to push to be given more chances to put it into practice.