Ringing Forums

I find 'Relax' is one of the most useful exhortations throughout all teaching of handling — Richard Pargeter

It's certainly one of the most important elements but doesn't seem to get enough attention.

I have a learner who is struggling with dropping the last coil, I often tell them "Relax!" anyway, but I'll make sure so emphasise it at this point in the raise - good tip.

Their handling is good enough that they can complete the raise and set the bell one-handed without dropping the last coil, but I've told them that's not really a good enough excuse! :lol:

Relax! is also a useful reminder for ringers who tend to 'over-think' (e.g. Plain Bob) and worry so much that they forget what they should be doing. It can be difficult to help them to relax, listen and allow the rhythm to guide them.

I struggled to learn to ring up, it's definitely not the best thing I do now - losing my glasses twice to a wild rope I hadn't kept tension in didn't help!

With the last coil, and this is probably a result of seeing a stay broken whilst somebody else was ringing up and reading up on the subject, I realised I never wanted to have "the last coil" in my hand, for fear of being yeeted* into the ceiling, and therefore was jettisoning it too soon!

What I found the worst though, is that the longer I spent trying to get the flippin' bell up (I was doing this after having Covid and whilst we were all wearing masks as a matter of course at the time, so running out of puff), the more conscious I became of the rest of the band waiting to start their practice, and the tenser I became until I was trying to ring up like a robot with no joints in my arms or legs!

Of course, in retrospect, I realise the rest of the band were completely unbothered, empathetic and nobody is anywhere near prima donna status when it comes to practice time being eroded by a learner.

* I'm down with the kids, just so you know!

I think one of the problems with raising and lowering is that many learners are not taught to do it soon enough. Raising and lowering are often seen as peripheral skills rather than esential ones. Confident control of tail end length is a critical skill for good ringing.

When running courses on raising and lowering in peal, I often have to spend the first half of the course making sure that students are competent at raising and lowering a single bell.

With my learners, I introduce lowering without making coils at the end of the first lesson, and raising with coils in the second lesson, initially with me helping by looking after the sally. Learners then do at least two raises and lowers in each lesson. For the first few attempts at lowering I look after the sally a) so that the learner can concentrate on the tail end and coil making, and b) to make sure that the lower doesn't go too quickly.

I think the main cause of problems with the last coil is anxierty about when to do it. Too soon and there is a danger of slack tope at the time when it will cause most trouble, and too late when there is a likelihood that the learner weill be setting the bell with a coil in hand and only one hand on the sally..

Releasing the coil in the way described already is essential if slack rope is to be avoided. It works best if done as the backstoke is being pulled, so that the coil can be sent forwards with a flick of the wrists.

I apologise if the is all old hat, but I suspect it is not.

I think one of the problems with raising and lowering is that many learners are not taught to do it soon enough. Raising and lowering are often seen as peripheral skills rather than esential ones. Confident control of tail end length is a critical skill for good ringing. — Phil Gay

I agree Phil, We teach ringing up first, before the learner can ring. This gives them a feel for the bell and managing the rope. Ringing down follows once basic bell control is established. Ringing up and down are critical safety aspects of ringing. If a novice has a problem e.g. the bell comes down a bit, they must know how to take coils and manage the bell safely.

We teach ringing up first, before the learner can ring. This gives them a feel for the bell and managing the rope ... they must know how to take coils and manage the bell safely — Phillip George

The main learner-outcomes from one of my first-sessions:

• Enthusiasm to return for another session
• tell the family it's "More Complicated Than It Looks" ...
• Nothing Scary happened
• How a Bell Works ... understanding of Scary Things That We Will Avoid ...
• Working 1to1 with teacher feels safe, relaxing, and will need approx another [n] sessions ...
• ... (etc)

Learner will have repeated ringing a backstroke maybe fifty to a hundred times, a dozen or two pulling-off at handstroke, and at least a dozen

• pull-off the handstroke
• successful hand-transfer
• backstrokes-only for a few more pulls

Ringing-up requires lots of different interactions with the rope, is not easily reproducible, and is less likely to have the learner leave with an understanding of the essential arms-moving-up-and-down repeatability of ringing strokes.

I introduce lowering without making coils at the end of the first lesson, ... I look after the sally — Phil Gay

Yes I do this with learners doing well, also as an example of explaining the process while they are doing backstrokes, and testing if they can listen-and-understand while ringing, and then do as suggested ...

I have always taught learners to release the last coil when raising a bell by gripping with the fingers and opening the thumb,... — Richard Pargeter

Releasing the coil in the way described already is essential if slack rope is to be avoided — Phil Gay

Yes: it needs to be laid across the hand properly before starting, and just releasing the thumb-grip at the desired moment.

I struggled to learn to ring up, ... the longer I spent trying to get the flippin' bell up ... the more conscious I became of the rest of the band waiting to start their practice,...I [now] realise the rest of the band were completely ... empathetic — Steve Pilfold

... and were all nodding their heads as you were pulling, in the hope that this energy somehow transferred to just-a-little-more pull :-)

and were all nodding their heads as you were pulling, in the hope that this energy somehow transferred to just-a-little-more pull :-) — PeterScott

Yes, and they like the person struggling are missing the point. People struggling to get up a (normal weight) bell are usually pulling like mad. If the pat were all they did the bell would shoot up. But in their eagerness to pull they start too soon. By applying force on the up stroke they stop the bell rising, and waste the effort put in on the previous stroke.
I see far more problems caused (not just when raising) by failure to let the bell rise than from lack of effort.
When raising I tell people to relax the grip completely on the up stroke so the rope, and only to grip and pull at the top of the stroke when they can feel the bell has stopped rising. And that they should expect the bell to take a little more rope through their hands each time if they are doing things correctly.

I agree. The timing of the pull is critical. As John says, if in their eagerness to get a good pull, they pull even slightly too soon, it is counter-productive, and stops the bell from rising. On the other hand, a delayed pull ,means there is nothing to pull against, so very liuttle effect. This is why very gentle tension is needed in the uoswing, so as not to inhibit it but make it easy to detect when it stops.

Yes, it's the difference between pulling and checking, and to quote an Authoratitive Source :-) :

What is the difference between pulling and checking?
This is one of the most important questions in ringing. You must know when to do which, and train your arms to be able to do one without the other.
- Pulling is applying force as the rope comes down. It makes the bell swing higher and more slowly.
- Checking is the opposite, ie applying force as the rope rises. It makes the bell swing less high and more quickly.

If you pull when you ought to check, or vice versa, you will make the problem worse. If you pull and check all the time, you will rapidly tire yourself but still not be able to control the bell very well.
Separating pulling from checking means you must be able to turn on or turn off the force in your arms between the rope rising and falling. This takes some practice, especially when you want to exert more effort. It is easier just to heave for the whole way up and down, but you must resist the temptation. — The Tower Handbook 13.1d

and the advice applies when the bell is almost-up as well as when ringing full-circle.

I have been scribbling a diagram on our whiteboard to help explain all this. I haven't found a similar diagram published? Have I missed one anywhere?



Ideally it's intended to show

• Check will advance the Bong: Pull has nil/minimal effect on the current stroke (yet to be heard) and influences the next stroke
• Absence of Check may allow more Float, and so a delay to the Bong
• The squiggly-bit between strokes is when there is no effective rope tension and the bell is doing its own thing.
• There are other bells slightly out-of-phase with ours, causing bongs between ours ...
• ... and if we can superimpose their pull-cycle on the diagram, we can show where the conductor says "Three to Four" and what effect this ought to have on Checking Floating and Pulling, and on the order of the bells' Bongs, and why the tradition is "two blows' warning"

Umm, the bong is in the wrong place. It's as the rope is going up, not down.

Check will advance the Bong. ... Etc — PeterScott

It will but I'm not sure that's the best way to explain it. The degree to which the bell is checked, I've the extent to which it is allowed to rise, determines the energy in the bell, and hence its swing period, which affects not just one bong but the rate of all succeeding bongs.
I tell people that you control the bell primarily by how high you let it rise and that pulling is mainly to top up the energy.

Going back to the original query, sometimes people accidentally cross the rope when making coils, and then that is why they cannot release a coil. So they have to be careful to lay the coils flat out on their palm side by side when making coils.

I always insist that you MUST lose the last coil before the bell could reach the top, and in the case of a crossed coil, let the bell come down, sort it out and then raise. I'd rather hear a discordant raise than the sound of an ambulance arriving.

Agreed - the coils need to be carefully placed to start with, and reasons explained. However, even if the coils are laid up correctly, the tail can get tucked under the last coil, and be reluctant to drop out. Which is where I started - if your grip is really loose and relaxed at that point, it does slip out easily, even if it's not quite where you planned for it to be.

When raising I tell people to relax the grip completely on the up stroke so the rope, and only to grip and pull at the top of the stroke when they can feel the bell has stopped rising — John Harrison

As John says, if in their eagerness to get a good pull, they pull even slightly too soon, it is counter-productive, and stops the bell from rising. — Phil Gay

And then there's the issue of getting (and keeping) the bell chiming at the start (tricky with most of ours which are in canon retaining headstocks). This requires a fine balance between checking and pulling, and a good feel for when the bell is about to turn round at the top, and then in addition, judgement and control of how much to follow up the check (for chiming) with a pull. Any ideas on how to get this across most welcome!