Method ringing (also known as scientific ringing) is a form of change ringing in which the ringers commit to memory the rules for generating each change of sequence, and pairs of bells are affected. This creates a form of bell music which is continually changing, but which cannot be discerned as a conventional melody. It is a way of sounding continually changing mathematical permutations. It is distinct from call changes, where the ringers are instructed on how to generate each new change by calls from a conductor, and strictly, only two adjacent bells swap their position at each change. In method ringing, the ringers are guided from permutation to permutation by following the rules of a method. Ringers typically learn a particular method by studying its "blue line", a diagram which shows its structure. The underlying mathematical basis of method ringing is intimately linked to group theory. The basic building block of method ringing is plain hunt. The first method, Grandsire, was designed around 1650, probably by Robert Roan who became master of the College Youths change ringing society in 1652. Details of the method on five bells appeared in print in 1668 in Tintinnalogia (Fabian Stedman with Richard Duckworth) and Campanalogia (1677 – written solely by Stedman), which are the first two publications on the subject. The practice originated in England and remains most popular there today; in addition to bells in church towers, it is also often performed on handbells.
Fundamentals
There are thousands of different methods, a few of which are the below.
Plain hunt
Plain hunt is the simplest form of generating changing permutations continuously, and is a fundamental building-block of change ringing methods. It can be extended to any number of bells. It consists of a plain undeviating course of a bell between the first and last places in the striking order, with two strikes in the first and last position to enable a turn-around. Thus each bell moves one position at each succeeding change, unless it reaches the first or last position, where it will remain for two changes before proceeding to the other end of the sequence.
Grandsire
Plain hunting is limited to a small number of possible different changes, which is numerically equal to twice the number of bells that are hunting. However, by introducing deviations from the plain hunt, by causing some of the bells to change their relationship to the others, change ringing "methods" were developed. These allow a large range of possible different changes to be rung; even to the extent of the full factorial sequence of changes. Grandsire, the oldest change ringing method, is based on a simple deviation to the plain hunt when the treble (bell No.1) is first in the sequence or it is said to "lead". The treble is known as the "hunt bell" because it hunts continuously without ever deviating from the path. The diagram for the plain course is shown here. The Grandsire variation on the plain hunt on odd numbers adds a second hunt bell, which is "coursing" the treble: that is, the second hunt bell takes its place at the front of the change immediately after the treble. The single deviation away from hunting for the rest of the bells now takes place as the two hunt bells change places at the front of the lead. Furthermore, because there are two hunt bells, not the second bell but the third remains in place:
13254 – Treble leads 12345 21354 – The second hunt bell, No.2 in this case, leads after the treble. It is coursing it. 23145
This forces a dodge on the other bells in 4/5 positions. After this, the bells immediately return to the plain hunt pattern until the next treble lead. This rule can now be extended to any number of odd bells in changes, making Grandsire an easily extendable method. The hunt bell is changed many times during such ringing to enable the full factorial number of changes to be achieved.
Plain Bob
"Plain Bob" is one of the oldest change ringing and simplest of these, first named "Grandsire Bob". The deviations when a plain course is extended with "calls" are much simpler than those in Grandsire. A "plain course" of plain bob minor is shown in diagrammatic form, which has the following characteristics;
all bells plain hunt, until the treble bell is first, when depending where they are in the pattern, they; perform "Dodges" in the 3–4 position or perform dodges in the 5–6 positions, or sit for two blows if they are just above the treble, then go first again. The red bell track shows the order of "works", which are deviations from the plain hunt.
3/4 down dodge 5/6 down dodge 5/6 up dodge 3/4 up dodge make 2nds place. And then it repeats. Each bells starts at a different place in this cyclical order. A dodge means just that; two bells dodge round each other, thus changing their relationship to the treble, and giving rise to different changes. The plain bob pattern can be extended beyond the constraints of the plain course, to the full unique 720 changes possible ( this is factorial 6 on 6 bells, which is 1×2×3×4×5×6 = 720 changes). To do this, at set points in the sequences one of the ringers, called the "conductor" calls out commands such as "bob" or "single", which introduce further variations. The conductor follows a "composition" which they have to commit to memory. This enables the other ringers to produce large numbers of unique changes without memorising huge quantities of data, without any written prompts. Ringers can also ring different methods, with different "works" – so there is a huge variety of ways of ringing method changes.
Key points
Numbering the bells The highest bell in pitch is known as the treble and the lowest the tenor. The majority of bell towers have the ring of bells (or ropes) going clockwise from the treble. For convenience, the bells are referred to by number, with the treble being number 1 and the other bells numbered by their pitch (2, 3, 4, etc.) sequentially down the scale. The bells are usually tuned to a diatonic major scale, with the tenor bell being the tonic (or key) note of the scale.
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