[RWCentenary] First ever change ringing performance on 24 handbells

[RW Centenary News]

The Ringing World’s centenary celebrations on 
Saturday, 26th March 2011 will include an attempt 
at some very special ringing never before seen or 
heard – change ringing on 24 bells.

A touch on 24 handbells will take place in the 
late afternoon at the Grand Ringers’ Gathering in 
Central Hall, Westminster, following the Abbey 
service. It promises to be a spectacular and unique occasion.

The touch is fittingly 100 changes long, 
specially composed for the occasion, and will 
take about 7 minutes to ring. Moreover, the 
composition employs a new musical effect that 
should create a stunning, captivating musical experience.

Music in ringing
Music in change ringing is an interesting topic 
that can provoke a lot of debate. On lower 
numbers such as six bells, ringing “music” tends 
to be thought of in terms of individual pretty 
changes like Queens (135246) or “roll-ups” of 
consecutive bells (eg 234561). As we increase the 
number of bells to Major, Royal and beyond, 
composers typically try hard to maximise the 
number of roll-ups in their compositions.

On “higher numbers” – 12 bells and above – very 
different types of music can come into play. The 
sound of groups of bells moving around together – 
hunting as a pack, if you will – becomes much more apparent.

Turning back to lower numbers, a fixed cover-bell 
in well-struck Doubles can provide a pleasant 
musical structure to a touch. When listening, you 
can simply be drawn to the rhythmic regularity of 
this single bell, and everything else just 
beautifully blends in around it. In a similar 
way, listening to a group of bells “coursing 
around” together on higher numbers can be 
mesmeric. The effect propagates through the 
ringing, lasting much longer than an individual 
pretty change, literally adding another dimension to the experience.

You do need a high number of bells to feel this – 
the more bells, the more pronounced the effect. 
On smaller numbers, bells lead and lie much more 
often, and hence there’s a lot more 
“intermingling” of bells when they turn round. 
This is what is sometimes called an edge-effect – 
a bit like a very small Cornish pasty with no room for filling inside.

Historical perspective
Now none of this is exactly new – in the 18th 
Century composers started producing compositions 
for hunt-dominated methods (such as Grandsire) 
“in the tittums”. In practice this meant the 
biggest three working bells (ie 9, 10 and 11 for 
Cinques) were “coursing” consecutively, or 
following each other around. This was considered 
to provide nicer music compared with previous 
compositions, and indeed to a large degree 
endures in Grandsire and Stedman compositions today.
In truth, though, conventional “in the tittums” 
music can be rather disappointing. Having only 
three bells coursing is not so many, the tenor 
does not get involved, thereby diluting the 
effect, and 11 bells is not really enough for maximum benefit.

Mega-tittums
In recent years, the traditional tittums effect 
has been developed into a magical new concept 
called “mega tittums”, involving many consecutive 
bells coursing. The 24-bell touch we will ring 
has a section where all 24 bells are in the 
mega-tittums, which will bring about some remarkable music.

The touch starts with a transition where the 
bells (starting from the front of the change) 
progressively navigate into mega-tittums 
positions, whilst the back-bells take part in 
more conventional roll-up music. After the full 
mega-tittums position is reached, there is a 
spectacular wall of sound, with a continual, 
glorious transition between what sounds like 
forward rounds intermeshed with reverse rounds. 
Different music pops out, depending on whether 
you focus on the big or little bells. It really 
does need to be heard to be believed. The touch 
concludes by sequentially returning bells to 
their home position, in a true 100 changes.

Uncharted territory
Whilst there have previously been a handful of 
impressive handbell peals in traditional methods 
on 18, 20 and 22 bells, we’re moving into 
uncharted territory with 24 bells. The 
mega-tittums concept has had two public outings – 
on 16 bells at the College Youths’ dinner touch 
in November 2006, and on 20 bells at the wedding 
of Philip Saddleton and Anthea Edwards in August 
2009. By increasing the number of bells to 24, 
next March’s performance promises to be the best yet.

Ringing a touch on such a high number of bells 
undoubtedly poses significant mental, technical 
and even physical challenges, and so a top band 
drawn from around the country – under the 
watchful eye of David Pipe – has been assembled. 
If we can pull it off successfully it should be 
an awesome, unique event. Don't miss it!

PHILIP EARIS


-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://ringingworld.co.uk/pipermail/centenary_ringingworld.co.uk/attachments/20101020/bd879ec5/attachment.htm>