mangoe@umcp-cs.UUCP (Charley Wingate) (12/24/84)
Change ringing is done with a set of four or more bells, mounted to be rung by ropes. Normally eight to twelve bells are used, each of a different size. Each bell is rung by one person. A peal begins with the bells being rung until a rythm is well established. Then the "changes" begin. Adjacent bells are exchanged in the the sequence according the pattern selected for the peal. The result is a constantly varying sequence which continues until a) the end of the sequences is reached, or b) someone messes up and they repeat a sequence. A "full peal" takes the ringers through all the possible sequences; I should point out that at the National Cathedral in D.C., which has a twelve bell peal, a full peal takes several hours. The chances of completing one are fairly small (I believe they've had less then twenty successes). Here in the D.C. area, there are two large peals: the cathedral, as I mentioned above, and at the Old Post Office. It's worth a trip to hear part of a quarter peal and listen for the changes. Charley Wingate umcp-cs!mangoe P.S. A peal makes the bell tower at the cathedral sway back and forth about a foot.
das@ucla-cs.UUCP (12/28/84)
>Change ringing is done with a set of four or more bells, mounted to be >rung by ropes. Normally eight to twelve bells are used, each of a >different size. Each bell is rung by one person. ... > A "full peal" takes the ringers through all the >possible sequences; I should point out that at the National Cathedral >in D.C., which has a twelve bell peal, a full peal takes several hours. Uh, a full peal of twelve bells would take years, not hours. 12! is big. I thought the most ever done was 8 bells, which takes about half a day. I ran across an old book on campanology (sp?) a few years ago which showed a number of the most used patterns for four through eight bells -- it's been a while, but I think the names of the patterns were things like "triple Grandshire" and such. -- David Smallberg, das@ucla-cs.ARPA, {ihnp4,ucbvax}!ucla-cs!das
mangoe@umcp-cs.UUCP (Charley Wingate) (01/09/85)
In article <2971@ucla-cs.ARPA> das@ucla-cs.UUCP (David Smallberg) writes: >Uh, a full peal of twelve bells would take years, not hours. 12! is big. >I thought the most ever done was 8 bells, which takes about half a day. >I ran across an old book on campanology (sp?) a few years ago which showed a >number of the most used patterns for four through eight bells -- it's been a >while, but I think the names of the patterns were things like "triple >Grandshire" and such. They almost never ring all twelve bells; I know they've rung quarter peals with the full set. I believe that most of their "full peals" are rung on either 8 or 10 bells. Most patterns can be extended to any even number of bells. Charley Wingate umcp-cs!mangoe