By Tim Logan and Mary Clark

Our 2004 Southern Baptist Church Music Conference began on a high note (literally and figuratively) with our services and concerts at Washington’s National Cathedral. Not only did we enjoy Evensong with the cathedral, we were treated to an organ concert by Dr. Joyce Jones; the YouthCue Concert closing their 2004 meeting; a concert on the Cathedral Carillon; and the “highest” note of all, for those brave enough to climb circular staircases to the highest point in the Washington area, a demonstration of change ringing on the enormous cathedral bells.

Many of us ring English handbells, which were developed to allow change ringers to rehearse without disturbing the whole town, but the process of change ringing is quite different from the music most of us ring with our bell choirs. We’ve all heard the peals of cathedral bells, if not in a live setting, then through movies or television. If you watched the television coverage of Ronald Reagan’s funeral, which took place in the National Cathedral, you heard the cathedral bells peal following the service. The beautiful sound of pealing bells may sound random, but nothing could be farther from the truth. In fact, Change Ringers ring very precise mathematical patterns, which require hours and hours of rehearsal. It takes many years to refine the technique and to become adept at change ringing.

In the article to follow, by Mary Clark, National Cathedral Ringing Master, you’ll find some historical information on English change ringing, along with a description of the change ringing process. She also provides some sources for further information on English change ringing. If you would like a demonstration of what change ringing is like, and an opportunity to design your own bell tower and ring your own peals, visit http://www.cs.ubc.ca/spider/kvdoel/bells/bells.html (active at the time of this writing). You are encouraged to try the link…it’s AMAZING! What fun! (Tim Logan)

Every Tuesday evening and Sundays following the 11:00 a.m. service, as well as for many holidays, weddings and funerals, you will hear the bells ringing from the central tower of the Washington National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. The 10 Cathedral bells are the heaviest ring of English change ringing bells on the North American continent. Each bell is rung individually by a person pulling a rope and carefully controlling when it is rung.

Change ringing, a uniquely British art and science, developed around the beginning of the 17th century and taken to various British colonies around the world, differs from European bell ringing in that, while European bells are swung randomly in a small arc, change ringing bells are swung in an orderly manner and in a 360 degree turn from mouth up to mouth up and back. This enables the ringer to control the speed of the bell, keeping it in a precise relationship with all the other bells.

The ringers ring methods rather than tunes. Methods (of which there are literally thousands) have wonderful names such as KENT, STEDMAN. GRANDSIRE, LINCOLNSHIRE, SUPERLATIVE, MORNINGSTAR and LONDON, and there are various sorts of methods called PLAIN, TREBLE BOB, SURPRISE, ALLIANCE, AND DELIGHT. The simplest, PLAIN HUNT, is achieved by switching pairs of bells: 12 34 56 78 90 to form 21 43 65 87 09 and then producing a new row by switching the inside pairs 2 41 63 85 07 9, switching all of the pairs, etc., until 1234567890 is once again achieved. From there, one can do other interesting work such as dodging, placing, bobs, singles, fish-tails, snap leads, in quick, out quick, in slow, out slow, first whole turn, last whole turn, etc.—in short, enough terms to fill a dictionary of change ringing (there truly is one!). Once a method begins, every change (row) of the bells will be different. Each bell will have an opportunity to ring once, and only once, in each change (row). The number of orders of bells that can be produced will, of course, increase with the number of bells being rung. On six bells, there are 720 possible orders. This is increased to 40,320 on eight bells and 3,628,800 on 10 bells. To ring all of the changes on 10 bells in our tower would take approximately 100 days of non-stop ringing. While this is impossible, it is within our reach to ring 5,040 changes. This we attempt several times a year, usually for major holidays. It is called a peal, and must be rung with the same ringers on the same ropes throughout—no switching off allowed! It takes approximately 3 to 3 1/2 hours to ring. On many Sundays, and for weddings and other special occasions, we ring quarter peals, which are approximately 1,260 changes and take about 50 minutes to ring.

Change ringing offers the interested participant a lifetime hobby that stretches the mind and keeps the body in excellent shape. The 50+ Cathedral ringers are teachers, attorneys, homemakers, librarians, physicians, computer specialists, scientists, high school and college students, etc. If you are interested in finding out more about us, visit the Washington Ringing Society Website: www.cathedral.org/wrs or the North American Guild of Change Ringers Website: www.nagcr.org. By typing the words “change ringing” into Search, you can get hundreds of bits of information on the subject.
 

Tim Logan is Minister of Music, Beech Street First Baptist Church, Texarkana, Texas, and editor of the SBCMC Journal.

Mary Clark is Ringing Master, Washington Ringing Society, Washington, D.C., ringing at the Washington National Cathedral.