Last updated on Sunday, 11 February 2007 17:12
NEW
Cakemeg - see below
Change ringing on handbells
Change ringing developed in England and is traditionally associated with tower bell ringing. Many towers also had a set of handbells which were used by the tower bell ringers so they could escape cold and draughty towers and practise their method ringing in pubs and other more comfortable places.
Tower bell ringers are normally only able to ring one bell at a time, but change ringing on handbells is generally done with each person holding two bells. The easiest way to learn change ringing on handbells is to find two people who are very good at it and spend hours practising with them. As it is not always easy to find two such people, I have tried to present sufficient information for you to learn with the computer.
Change ringing on handbells is typically carried out using a distinctive Ringing Style which is unlike the common ringing styles used for tune ringing.
The term change ringing covers both call changes and method ringing. The handbell equivalent of call changes is sometimes called Jump changes.
The following links contain step by step instructions to learn change ringing on handbells.
Method ringing on 6 handbells.
Building blocks for change ringing on handbells.
Basic
patterns to ring plain hunt on 6.
Further patterns for plain hunt on 6.
General information.
How to practice without bells.
(including midi files to practise with)
And for some fun.
Cakemeg, a variation on Grandsire
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Other bell related "stuff".
Number music is an easy way for people who do not read music staff notation to get started on tune ringing
Cross and stretch is a popular activity among tune ringers. It involves a sequence of bell swapping that creates the same sequences as you hear in a plain hunt. Follow this link for a brief description of how to do this.
Links to further information on change ringing.
If
you are interested in Solo Ringing on handbells, you might like to visit
Glen Iris Handbell Ringers - Solo
Ringing
Note for Netscape users. There are a number of MIDI files on this web page. In order to hear them, you will have to download them first. This should not take long as they are quite small.
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copyright Louise Salmon 2000
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