Collection of Useful Resources for New and Improving Church Bellringers
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9 - Call Changes
This collection is about call changes once ringing rounds are mastered. The Limerick towers call down so the method for calling down is the focus here. However, information on calling up is included because it is good to know both ways. Here you'll find change method, and rules to follow, and be reminded of good striking and listening for your bell. Read more ... then scroll down for additional links.
Going from Rounds to Call Changes Explained (2 mins video)
Change Ringing (Ringing Up Example)
Watch the video above and keep listening to the striking, what the conductor is saying at the start and at the end, and begin to focus on how to ring your bell at speed (fast, slow, holding up) and the way to ring after another bell when the conductor calls the change.
The ringers get 'from one change to the next - from one row or ordering to the next - by swapping over two bells that are ringing one after the other (Coleman 2016:318). One bell has to hold up and the other bell has to pull in. In essence, swapping over in a sequence (Coleman 2016:31). The swap, or change, is called by the conductor. When you hear 'stand please' or 'stand on next handstroke' please do that at the next handstroke, so that one bell is stood after the other in turn.
Down Calling Towers (An Example and Rules To Remember)
Bells are called down (to the front) to ring after another bell by the conductor, 'three to one' changes the sequence from ringing rounds to call changes:
1 2 3 4 5 6 (rounds)
1 32 4 5 6 (change)
keep ringing until the conductor calls another change. So, if you hear 'five to one' what happens next? What do you do?
1 2 3 4 5 6 (rounds)
1 32 4 5 6 (change)
1 5 3 2 4 6 (five-one)
There are some basic rules to remember.
Rule 1 - Do nothing until the next handstroke. Calls are shouted at the handstroke before they take effect (a whole pull of the rope later). Concentrate and think about your next move or if you do nothing.
Rule 2 - Think am I the first bell named? The decision is simple you are being told to follow the one bell (treble). Because you are moving down a place, it is important to pull in to ring after the one bell (treble).
Rule 3 - If you are the number 2 bell, carry on following the bell you were following before the change was called. You are unaffected. It was the 5 bell that was called down not you.
Rule 4 - If your bell is not called you might be affected so it is important to concentrate throughout ringing. 'For a good many ringers, this is one of life's great unsolved mysteries. Not only do they not know what to do, they don't even know whether they should be doing something or not' (Coleman 2016:207). So, it helps to memorise a very important rule:
If your bell is not named in a call, you're only affected if you're following one of the bells which is named in the call (Coleman 2016:207). As there are only two named bells only two unnamed bells are affected. (Coleman 2016:2017)
Rule 5 - If you are following the second named bell, the one bell (treble) is second named, and you are the 3 bell you have to change because the 5 bell has been called down in front of you. You now have to move and follow somebody else. Two ringers can't follow the same bell. So you have to move. The general rule is:
If a bell is called down to follow the bell you're following, you must hold up and ring after the bell that has been called down (Coleman 2016:207).
Rule 6 - If you are following the first named bell (5 bell) you only have one bell to deal with. This is the most difficult of all. The rule is:
Follow the bell that the bell it was following was following ... put another way, follow the bell that was previously two in front of it (Coleman 2016:208).
To find the bell that is two in front of you, keep an eye on what is happening throughout by looking to see who the bell in front of you is following when you are ringing. Hint - look to see which rope the ringer you are following is looking at when you are ringing.
If they are called down, follow the person they were looking at. There is no need to pull in or hold up, just follow that bell.
Keep doing this each time a change is called. It's complicated and needs constant recalculating (Coleman 2016:208)
Practice Night Activity:
Write out a few call changes for yourself until all of the above becomes clearer in your mind.
Put it into practice.
Re-read the rules a few times aiming to remember them.
Ring call changes from different inside bells.
Read more about calling down (and calling up just in case it's needed at a tower you visit)
And later you might hear the conductor call Queens, Tittums, or Rounds. Rounds are easy to remember!
Source (Book Reference) - Coleman, S. (2016) The Bellringer's Bedside Companion. 7th edn. Huntley: Sue Coleman and from articles in The Ringing World.
