Bells to ring. If you meet short at an eight-bell tower consider ringing these. The Dorian seven. ( ) particularly in Lent or Advent.

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1 The Whiting Society of Ringers Musical Bells by Alec Humphrey Alec Humphrey There are many occasions when we do not ring all of the available bells, whether planned or not. The usual choice is then to ring the back bells, even when it might be better to have a lighter ring. Fortunately, there are several other tuneful options described below which can add variety and interest to ringing. Some of these options produce bright cheerful sounds, others give a more melancholy sound (suitable for the church s penitential seasons without the need to fit muffles). Some of them can reduce the perceived impact of bells clipping - useful if you have a struggling band. Some may initially sound strange, but that is just because we are not used to them - persevere and you will soon learn to appreciate them. If you want to understand why these suggested options sound good while others may not, then you might like to read the notes towards the end of this article, there are also two appendices that follow it. However, you do not need to understand the theory in order to start trying some of the options for yourself. Bells to ring If you meet short at an eight-bell tower consider ringing these. With seven ringers The Archers seven: Miss out the 2nd (leaving the notes that occur at the beginning of Barwick Green, the tune heard daily on Radio 4. Hear it by ringing ). The Dorian seven. ( ) particularly in Lent or Advent. Page 1

2 With six ringers Conventionally the back six bells ( ) Pentatonic sixes ( ) & ( ) The Dorian six ( ) Above all avoid ringing the front six. With five ringers Conventionally the back five bells ( ) Pentatonic fives ( ), ( ), ( ) & ( ) The Dorian five ( ) The weasels five ( ) With four ringers Conventionally the back four bells ( ) Slightly less conventionally the front four bells ( ) Pentatonic fours ( ), ( ), ( ), ( ) & ( ) The Dorian four ( ) melasurej ( ) The Chimes ( ) & ( ) At a six-bell tower try these out With five ringers Conventionally the back five bells ( ) The pentatonic five ( ) The Dorian five ( ) Page 2

3 The weasels five ( ) With four ringers Conventionally the back four bells ( ) Pentatonic fours ( ), ( ) & ( ) The Dorian four ( ) melasurej ( ) The Chimes ( ) No, Nos At an eight bell tower DON T ring the front six; the interval between the highest pair of notes and also that between the lowest pair is a semitone. This combination is less than satisfactory. At a six bell tower, NOT the front four, this ends with a semitone interval not good! Technical stuff Our western music uses a twelve note scale and the interval between one note and the next adjacent, say between C and B, is called a semitone, that between alternate notes, as between B and A is called a tone. By tradition we always ring bells that sound a descending major scale ending with the tonic and a ring of eight bells just doesn t need all twelve of these notes; it is tuned with the following intervals S T T T S T T, a ring of six bells will be T T S T T. In the table below the spaces are for the notes that are not used. S T T T S T T C B A Db C Bb Ab Gb F D C# B G Ab F Gb E D Eb F# Eb T T S T T C Db Db Page 3

4 In any ring of bells pairs of bells that are a semitone apart sound less mellifluous together than bells that are separated by larger intervals so in selecting different groups of bells to ring the most common consideration has been to eliminate semitone intervals by omitting one of the bells involved. With eight bells and six ringers omitting either 1 or 2 and either 5 or 6 will produce the desired result, however omitting 1 and 6 to ring will not sound too good, principally because the eighth strikes the same note as the treble but an octave lower. The interval between 2 and 1 is a semitone which we have tried to avoid, and that between 2 & 8 is a seventh (one note short of an octave); this interval is not regarded fondly and in the rounds at the start and close of ringing it will be emphasised. This means that we could omit either 2 and 6 or 2 and 5 leaving either or These are both pentatonic rings, minor and major respectively. Anyone who has tinkered with a musical instrument will be aware of the twelve different notes in an octave and of the five black notes on a keyboard. Played on their own those black notes constitute a pentatonic scale. They have been highlighted on the two tables below showing major and minor pentatonic scales. The notes F# D# C# A# G# and F# are a major scale and C# A# G# F# D# and C# a minor scale. The gaps show that there are even more notes of our twelve note scale that are not used. 1 ½ T T 1 ½ T T T C A G E D C C# A# G# F D# C# D B A F# D# C# Page 4 F# T 1 ½ T T E A# G# D F# 4 5 T 1 ½ T T T 1 ½ T T C A G F C# A# D B A G F# D# G# F# C# B D# G# F# T T 1 ½ T T D E 6 C C# D

5 Dorian Mode Ringers most usually call these minor. Strictly speaking the modern Dorian mode refers to the white notes on a piano from D to D, but I have used it to describe any octave with the intervals T S T T T S T. Until they were augmented to ten in 2016, these were the intervals of the front eight of the nine bells at Basingstoke that were installed one hundred years earlier as a war memorial. The intention was that a Dorian octave, the front eight and possessing a more mournful sound than the back eight, could be rung at appropriate times and the conventional major octave at other times. Where terms like Dorian 5 have been used in the descriptions and table it has referred to the final notes of this descending scale. Cambridge (or Westminster) chimes These are the notes that have become so familiar to us through radio broadcasts and their use by many church clocks. Dove s Guide gives the notes of the bells used to strike the quarter chimes at St Mary the Great, Cambridge as E#, D#, C# and G#. The intervals between those notes are tone, tone and 2½ tones and at eight-bell towers the quarters will generally be struck on bells 2, 3, 4 & 7. As it happens exactly the same intervals separate bells 3, 4, 5 & 8 or in a six-bell tower 1, 2, 3 & 6 so any one of those groups of four bells can be used to create the same effect. The Cambridge chimes at most eight bell towers will strike the quarters and hours as follows , , 7324, , 4324, 2437, 7324, 8, 8, 8, 8. Page 5

6 Append ix 1 Musical options with eight bells 8 Major Archers Dorian Back Major pentatonic Minor pentatonic Dorian Back Major pentatonic 5s Minor pentatonic 5s (Jingle Bells) Dorian The weasels Back Front Major pentatonic 4s (4 all the saints) Minor pentatonic 4s Dorian melasurej The chimes Page 6

7 Musical options with six bells 6 Major Back Major pentatonic Minor pentatonic 5 (Jingle Bells) Dorian 5 The weasels 5 4 Back 4 Major pentatonic 4 (4 all the saints) Minor pentatonic 4 s melasurej Dorian 4 The chimes Page 7

8 Appendix 2 Quite often people calling changes do so using a set pattern, but if you wish to ring something with musical qualities you could try to ring approximations to widely recognised musical sequences such as Queens, Tittums and Whittingtons. Other sequences can remind us of lines in well-known musical pieces and you may well find that you come across more that are not listed here. Tunes Using 6 bells 8 bells The first phrase of Barwick Green The Archers Pop Goes the Weasel The Weasels Dashing Through the Snow (almost) A minor pentatonic For All the Saints A major pentatonic And Did Those Feet melasurej And probably many more Near misses ringing 7 bells Queens Tittums Whittingtons Kings When ringing fewer than six bells there are no obvious near misses to ring apart from Tittums on 5 (4 o 5 o 6), however choosing any group of bells that are pentatonic will mean that no discordant rows will be rung. On alternative rings of 6 bells at eight bell towers approximations to Queens, Tittums, Whittingtons and Kings may be called as follows: Almost Queens Approximately Tittums Nearly Whittingtons Close to Kings call the 4 th place bell to 5 th place and the 2 nd place bell to 4 th place. call the 4 th place bell to 2 nd place and the 5 th place bell to 4 th place call the 5 th place bell to 3 rd place. call the 5 th place bell to the lead and 3 rd place bell to 2 nd place Page 8