It all started several years ago, when Jonathan Frye and Angela Deakin asked if we were interested in forming a handbell band, including teaching Angela to ring handbells. We had been trying and failing to do just this for many years (for reasons far too boring to go into), so we said ‘YES’.
(Really, it all started when Mike Clay began some regular handbell practices with some of the students in Edinburgh and various other handbell ringers in the area, including Jonathan. One day our schedules will mesh enough to all ring together – but in handbell ringing, patience is everything.)
Our journey from those first beginnings to where we are now has been both fun and interesting. Also, we learned a lot about teaching handbells to people at various levels of ability. Through it all we have discussed theories of how people learn, best methods of learning (we don’t always agree), and how to transfer some of this expertise into the bell tower.
The blogs below are about that journey, our progress and the progress of other bands by guest authors. They describe the ups and downs as they happen, as honestly as we can.
Last weekend was an intensive ringing weekend, although not quite as intensive as originally planned. It all started with an invitation to attempt Cyclic Six Maximus on handbells as part of a weekend of peals celebrating the 25th anniversary of the first performance of David Pipe's classic composition. That was...
I've joined an online band, following a question from David Wilson on the handbell ringers Facebook group. The original query was looking for someone to practise Phobos, but so far we have focused on Bristol Royal, attempting a quarter a couple of weeks ago and then succeeding yesterday. It had...
Yesterday we rang a quarter of Rhodium Surprise Major (diagram from CompLib.org, above), and as I wrote last time, I will explain why later. It's one of the methods named after chemical elements (I believe they were mostly composed by Tony Cox), so we've rung two of them now, the...
Last Monday we finally rang a quarter of Sgurr a' Chaorachain Surprise Royal. It's taken a while - according to the blog, our first practice session was on 19th June 2023. I should say though that we haven't been exclusively ringing Sgurr a' Chaorachain all that time. There have been...
I'm away on a short business trip this week, but the rest of the band were available on Monday, so I left them an assignment: to name Springboig Surprise Major by ringing a quarter of it, which they duly did. The diagram above is from CompLib.org. I've been wanting for...
Yesterday we rang the quarter of cyclic spliced major that I wrote about a little while ago. It was satisfying after two unsuccessful attempts, and we rang it very well. The composition is a miniature version of David Pipe's popular "cyclic six" maximus. Two of the methods were...
This weekend was the annual Inveraray Ringing Festival (the 50th event, in fact) which is mostly a lot of tower bell ringing. We always try to fit in some handbell ringing too (photo by Ruth Marshall, right). This year in the main session of general handbell ringing, I made everyone...
Today we rang a peal at Peter Kirton's house in Perth, which thanks to Simon Aves' research we also know was the first peal in the city (there are no tower bells). It was originally planned to be Grandsire Caters, but Ian Bell had to pull out so we rang...
I have finally run out of interviews, so here are my own answers.
Where are you based?
Glasgow, Scotland.
When and where did you learn to ring handbells?
I learned the basics from my dad, Phil Gay, in my early teens. Up to Plain Bob Minor, say. I don't remember...
Where are you based?
Inverness
When and where did you learn to ring handbells?
Tulloch Ringing Centre in 2016, a latecomer to bell ringing at the age of 56. Having never rung previously, I moved from central England to live in Scotland, 1 mile from Tulloch Farm. Despite only having...