handling – Among Sallies and Bobs

Understanding Bell Handling with One Weird Trick!

Handling a bell is complicated. Part of what makes it difficult to understand is just that it is a series of actions, and many components and consequences of the actions aren’t visible. But we can make visual representations of things, and sometimes that can be a big help with understanding! Look at this cute littleContinue reading “Understanding Bell Handling with One Weird Trick!”

Beware the vicious cycle

At the most recent practice at St Mary’s in Edinburgh, Ian Bell dubbed me Alison “pull the handstrokes less” Stevens. I think he would agree that I’ve been on a mission almost since I moved here to get people to pull less in general! It’s normal in ringing to overpull a small amount most ofContinue reading “Beware the vicious cycle”

Where to aim; or, How to do what you want

Say you’re doing archery, shooting arrows at a target. Naturally you’ll aim at the center, since that’s where you want to hit the target! After you’ve fired your round of arrows though, it turns out they’re all *above* the center. Aiming at the center is pretty reliably getting your arrows…not in the center. So, tryContinue reading “Where to aim; or, How to do what you want”

Thinking Ahead; or, Theory and Practice

An important part of ringing efficiently, ringing without tiring yourself out, is translating the abstract idea of a method into what to actually do physically. The photo above shows a page of my first ringing notebook where I wrote out a plain course of Stedman Doubles, drew a line through the 4, then wrote howContinue reading “Thinking Ahead; or, Theory and Practice”

Change the other stroke

I am on a quest to get ringers at one of my local towers to use as little effort as possible. The more efficient we can be in our ringing, the longer we can continue, and the easier it will be to ring heavier bells. A big part of this quest is teaching people howContinue reading “Change the other stroke”

Let the rope go up

The current crop of learners at St Mary’s in Edinburgh tend to resist the rope on its way up. Telling them to let the rope go up so often has prompted me to ask myself whether *I* am letting the rope go up as much as it can. It turns out, if I simply moveContinue reading “Let the rope go up”

Bell Handling Tricks – Number Four Will Shock You!

I have been ringing for 6.5 years but I am still learning things about handling! Teaching in a tower with a very long draught will cause this. Here are a few of the things I’ve noticed recently (I don’t really think number four will shock anyone but you never know!): Have you noticed any weirdContinue reading “Bell Handling Tricks – Number Four Will Shock You!”