Handbell Compositions: Kent Royal and Maximus

Submitted by simon on

I was looking over my CompLib collection Change-Ringing on Handbells (Favourite Compositions) and realised that it didn't have anything for Kent Royal or Maximus. I added the quarters that I wrote about a while ago and then started thinking about peals.

The reason I haven't written about peal compositions of Kent Royal and Maximus is that we haven't rung them in Glasgow. Actually we did ring a peal of Kent Maximus and I did write about the composition, but it was an unusual composition with 7-8-9-0-E-T all coursing and I'm not sure I would call it again. So what about more conventional compositions?

It isn't possible to keep one of the working pairs coursing in Kent, basically because singles can't be used (because the 3-4 places mean singles immediately produce falseness) and so although you can get 3-4 to the front of the coursing order, they would be stuck there. What you can do is have 3-4 coursing during the main section of each course, from the Middle to the Wrong. Combining that idea with the common handbell-friendly structure of a two-part with 3-4 and 5-6 swapped half way gives this composition, which I think I did call once or twice a long time ago. There are many others with the same features.

5120 Kent Treble Bob Royal
Graham A C John

M  W  H  23456
--------------
      1  42356
   1  2  43526
   2  1  53246
2  2  2  45362
2  2     56423
1  1     24365
--------------
2 part.

For maximus, a two-part of reasonable length would have to be either 5088 or 5184, and we can look for compositions with the same structure as the one of royal and with 3-4 coursing between the Middle and the Wrong. According to my computer search there isn't a 5088, but there are six 5184s. Three of them were already in CompLib (but the one by Michael Wilby is presented as a one-part to make it clear that the Homes at the beginning and end of the part are consecutive):

5184 Kent Treble Bob Maximus
Oliver M Austin

M  W  H  23456
--------------
1  1     54623
1  1  1  23645
   2  2  46325
   1     24365
--------------
2 part.


5184 Kent Treble Bob Maximus
Michael P A Wilby

M  W  H  23456
--------------
      1  42356
   1     54326
1  1     23645
1  2  1  53462
1     1  24365
--------------
2 part.


5184 Kent Treble Bob Maximus Op. 1616
Donald F Morrison

M  W  H  23456
--------------
      1  42356
   1  1  35426
2  1     53462
1     1  24365
--------------
2 part.

Another one is a reversal of the Oliver Austin composition. Two others are reversals of each other and neither was already in CompLib, so I added this one as it has more 4-bell runs than any of the others.

5184 Kent Treble Bob Maximus
Simon J Gay

M  W  H  23456
--------------
1     1  64352
1  1     53246
1  2  2  46325
   1     24365
--------------
2 part.
Handbell compositions
Kent
Maximus (12 bells)