As well as our long-established band with Jonathan and Angela, we have been ringing with the "Edinburgh crossover band" involving Mike and Ian. We are trying to get into a routine of a monthly peal attempt. Towards the end of last year we scored a peal of Yorkshire, and in January we rang one of Cambridge. The next step is Lincolnshire in February, so I started giving some thought to compositions.
There are two classic compositions by William Barton, and another by Simon Humphrey.
5088 Lincolnshire Surprise Major William Barton 23456 B M W ---------------- 35426 2 24653 - - 45236 - 53624 - 2 24536 2 - ---------------- 3 part. 58 CRUs. 6 the extent in 6ths.
5088 Lincolnshire Surprise Major William Barton 23456 B M W H ------------------- 34256 2 45623 - 2 24653 3 - 24536 - - ------------------- 3 part. 58 CRUs.
5376 (5152) Lincolnshire Surprise Major Simon Humphrey 23456 M W H ---------------- 43652 - [ss] 24356 2 s 43526 2 s 56324 - s 23564 - s ---------------- 3 part. 84 CRUs. Tittums. For 5152 omit [ss] in one part.
Three-part compositions are good, but for handbells it's nice to have 5-6 fixed at the part end instead of 2-3. The William Barton compositions can be rotated to get this effect, but not the Simon Humphrey composition.
5088 Lincolnshire Surprise Major William Barton (rotated) 23456 B M W ---------------- 54632 - - 43526 - 32654 - 2 42356 2 3 ---------------- 3 part. 60 CRUs.
5088 Lincolnshire Surprise Major William Barton (rotated) 23456 B M W H ------------------- 54632 - - 43526 - 3 32654 - 2 42356 2 ------------------- 3 part. 60 CRUs.
The rotated versions are better for CRUs, if you like that sort of thing, as well as having a part end that's preferable for handbells. The rotations also make it clearer that the two compositions differ only in the position of a block of three bobs: wrongs or homes. The second version is listed in the collection of handbell compositions at www.ringing.info. While checking with a computer search, I found another composition, which isn't in the collection at www.ringing.org; I don't know whether it has been published anywhere else. It has the same musical properties as the other two (99 runs of four or more bells at the front and back, as well as the CRUs) but is a little more complicated, so it doesn't have much to recommend it.
5088 Lincolnshire Surprise Major 23456 B M W H ------------------- 54632 - - 54326 - - 32546 - - 24653 - 2 25346 2 - - 42356 - ------------------- 3 part. 60 CRUs.