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Brian Plummer

BPM (Bell Position Monitor) is a system I developed and built that provides an interface between tower bells and ringing simulator applications such as Abel, Virtual Belfry and BelTower.
BPM consists of opto-sensors on the bell wheels, which determine the position of each bell within its swing. The output from the sensors feeds into a Microcontroller, which generates serial messages that are passed down a cable to the Ringing Chamber. The serial messages are passed on to a computer via a USB interface and are interpreted by the Ringing Simulator software.
I built and installed BPM for my local church tower in Whaplode over a year ago. We use it with the Abel ringing simulator application installed on a Windows Laptop.
We use Abel to assist with the following:

Beginners learning bell control. We tie the Clapper on a bell to inhibit the sound so as not to disturb local residents. Instead, Abel generates a bell sound within the ringing chamber.
To assist ringers to improve their striking. Again, on a bell with a tied Clapper. You ring a bell whilst Abel simulates the other bells. At first this is very difficult to do, because you are ringing from sound alone, without seeing the position of other ropes. This can be done starting with Rounds, then Plain Hunt, and eventually methods. With practice, this can defiantly improve your striking skill.
To monitor striking timing. Where Abel does not simulate any bells, it just monitors striking whilst ringers ring anything from rounds to methods. Abel will then show which bells are striking too early or late, with the intent of helping ringers to modify and improve their bell control.

I initially built a prototype BPM using strip-board, then when I had ironed out all the hardware and software bugs, I had 10 sets of Printed Circuit Boards made. If anyone is interested in installing BPM in their tower, then please email me at plummerbeatgmaildotcom
I can supply everything needed to install BPM in a tower containing up to 8 bells; Sensors, PCB’s, Enclosures, Cable, and fixings.
There are two other commercial systems available that I am aware of, that you may also want to consider, and they are: David Bagley’s Multi-Bell Interface (MBI), and Simbell. They both perform the same function as BPM.
MBI is a wired system, as is BPM. It requires a multi-wire cable from the Belfry down to the Ringing Chamber. It requires a mains driven power supply, whereas BPM is powered from the USB interface on the computer or Laptop.
Simbel is a wireless system, using radio to transmit the sensor data from the Belfry to the Ringing Chamber. This is good for temporary installation in a tower, because it is quick to install and uninstall, but has drawbacks such as possible radio interference or drop-outs, and the need to supply power to the bell sensors either with batteries or have access to a mains supply in the Belfry.
So, for a permanent installation I believe either MBI or BPM is the better option. The advantage of BPM is that no mains supply is required, because it is entirely powered by the 5V available on the USB comms interface to your computer (although it may be necessary to plug your Laptop into the mains supply, depending on the state of the battery). Another advantage of my BPM system is the overall cost which is around half the cost of MBI and Simbel. It would cost about £200 for a typical 8-bell tower (Excluding any installation manpower costs).
I developed BPM as a personal project for my local tower, and I am now in a position to offer it to a few other towers. I am not selling it for profit (although it would be nice to be reimbursed for some of the money that I have paid out for the hardware!).
You can contact me if you want more detailed information, or if you wish to visit Whaplode church in Lincolnshire, to see an installed BPM system working with Abel, and try it out.

Brian Plummer
Email: plummerbeatgmaildotcom

John Harrison

on a bell with a tied Clapper. You ring a bell whilst Abel simulates the other bells. At first this is very difficult to do, because you are ringing from sound alone, without seeing the position of other ropes. — Brian Plummer

I think that is more true of people who have already rung with other people and become dependent on seeing other ropes. I get learners ringing with the simulator on their own before the try to ring with other ringers, and it doesn’t seem to cause a great problem.
Doing that let’s them develop confidence in their rhythm and listening in a controlled environment before they have to cope with the additional task of making sense of lots of ropes, and the pressure of ringing with lots of other people.
IMHO ringing simulators are grossly under utilised. They are cheaper to acquire, and easier to use than when I first rang with one over 45 years ago.

John de Overa

↪John Harrison

it's an incorrect assertion anyway. Abel (and I believe all the other simulator packages) support a "moving ringers" display, where you can ring one bell whilst the simulator provides both the sound and a moving display of the other ringers. It will even highlight the ringer you are supposed to be over. That's how I got my ropesight, particularly on 8 as I don't have access to an 8 bell method band and ropesight has always been a struggle.

Having said that, now I'm further on I practice at least half the time without the visuals. It does mean you really have to concentrate on listening and rhythm as it's all you have, and it's easier to concentrate on navigating the line without having to deal with the visual aspect, as you say. And yes, not having the added pressure of being the crasher-abouter in a real band is also a help :grin:

But I think visuals do have their place, without them my striking accuracy suffers a bit and things like where you pass the treble or who you consistently dodge with at the front/back aren't visible. So it's horses for courses, how you use can best the sim really depends on exactly what which skill you are concentrating on.

I think you are also right about simulators being underused in many towers, ours is used multiple times each week and is the standard learning tool for our ringers who are progressing onto methods. As a band that's attempting to move from 4 call change ringers into 8+ method ringers, it's a vital tool for those starting methods - we don't have a band to put around them and although they all are happy to support earlier stage people at practices, they inevitably spend most of their time at practices in a support role rather than on their progress. The sim gives them a chance to work on their skills, with a "band" that doesn't make mistakes. There are other benefits as well, the simulator has given them confidence to "ring around" others who aren't in the right place which means we can keep going when previously we'd crash out.

Finally, the system we have in our tower is none of the above but is commercially available from John Thorpe. It uses solid state sensors so no dirt/light issues, it has a USB interface, it can be used with multiple laptops/bells simultaneously and it's USB powered so we don't need mains for it in the bell chamber.

John Harrison

it's an incorrect assertion anyway. Abel (and I believe all the other simulator packages) support a "moving ringers" display, — John de Overa

You don’t have to turn it on, and when I started using simulators to teach I didn’t have a screen, let alone pictures of ringers.
For initial teaching I never do turn on visuals because my aim, as stated previously, is to help the learner develop confidence in using their rhythm and listening skills before they are exposed to the visual element, which tends to dominate and crowd them out.

But I think visuals do have their place, — John de Overa

Agreed vision has its place. Ropesight is a most valuable skill for understanding what is happening around you.
Ironically the focus on following the rope in front, which many people teach and learners tend to adopt if thrown in at the deep end without already having developed rhythm an listening, inhibits the development of effective ropesight because narrowing the vision onto individual ropes makes it hard to see the overall pattern.

John de Overa

For initial teaching I never do turn on visuals because my aim, as stated previously, is to help the learner develop confidence in using their rhythm and listening skills before they are exposed to the visual element, which tends to dominate and crowd them out. — John Harrison

I think that's a good idea but we get people ringing Rs & CCs with the band as soon as possible so they then tend to freak out if they can't see bells, even virtual ones. So I get them ringing PH steadily on the sim with the screen on, and then turn it off without warning them :naughty: I haven't found anyone yet who can't keep going, even if they wobble more.

I agree with the rest of what you say about the problems with "by bell number" teaching. As a wise old ringer said to me:

Ropesight is always easier if your rhythm is right, and gets harder the further out you get. No; it's not fair. If you ring at the right speed, you get to the right place at the right time, and, hey presto, the rope you *should be* following will be the rope you *are* following, and will be easy to spot, even though you don't need to, because you've got the bell in the right place anyway. If your rhythm gets a blow or two out, spotting the rope is harder, because it seems not to be where it should be (because you're not where you should be). The better you are at ringing, the easier it gets!

John Harrison

we get people ringing Rs & CCs with the band as soon as possible — John de Overa

How soon? Before they can ring steadily and hold to a rhythm?

they then tend to freak out if they can't see bells — John de Overa

That tends to confirm that they have been conditioned to rely on ‘seeing who to follow’ and then making a last minute action just after they do so, which undermines any sense of rhythm they might have acquired. And when they fail to look at the right rope, or it’s not there, they have no means’s of knowing where to place their next blows, even approximately.

John de Overa

How soon? Before they can ring steadily and hold to a rhythm? — John Harrison

As soon as they can ring steadily and with good control on their own, for a decent stretch.

That tends to confirm that they have been conditioned to rely on ‘seeing who to follow’ and then making a last minute action just after they do so, which undermines any sense of rhythm they might have acquired. And when they fail to look at the right rope, or it’s not there, they have no means’s of knowing where to place their next blows, even approximately. — John Harrison

Absolutely agree but as they start by ringing rounds, seeing / following is inevitable. But CCs are the next step and they are all about following bell numbers. I do know a couple of people who think that CCs should only ever be taught by place, but tradition means that's not realistic in the majority of towers. We have one learner who could cover almost immediately she started ringing with the band because she can hear where she is in the order, we've encouraged her to make the most of her "superpower". We also drill in to people from the very start that ringing by "Follow X" is almost impossible to avoid but it's a dead end, and that they need to focus on rhythm & place.

However in the end you can't force people, particularly adults. I can think of someone who says he can't hear his bell so his striking is poor as he has no feedback loop. He's hyper-bell number focussed, I stopped running sim sessions for him as he insisted on having the visuals on and on knowing the bell numbers beforehand - I repeatedly told him the issues with that to no avail, and I didn't feel I should be an enabler for bad habits.

On the other hand I do understand the difficulties as I was in the same position myself not that long ago and I remember how hard it was to switch to place & rhythm - but I 100% knew I had to, it was the point I nearly gave up. We have someone who is ringing PH after just a few months, but is doing it by bell number. She absolutely knows she needs not to be doing that, last practice she was asking me how to switch to by-place. Straight after that she rang hunt bell to Cloister Doubles for the first time, I stood behind and each time she came off the lead she'd hold up and ask me which bell she was over, which I refused to do. Once she realised I wasn't going to tell her she just "got on with it", and made a decent fist of it.

Learning to ring is just hard. That's one of the attractions for people who stick at it and progress.

John Harrison

as they start by ringing rounds, seeing / following is inevitable — John de Overa

Only if you choose to do things in that order. People I teach become competent ringing rounds before they have to integrate ropesight and coping with the variability of other ringers.

.

CCs are the next step and they are all about following bell numbers. — John de Overa

Which is one of the reasons Gordon Lucas said they were not a sensible step on the route to learning tithe skills to ring methods. Read what he said in the Kaleidoscope book - the rationale not just the popular exercises.

We also drill in to people from the very start that ringing by "Follow X" — John de Overa

We shouldn’t (and I don’t). Blame the teachers not the pupils.

you can't force people, particularly adults — John de Overa

Agreed. But you can expose them to the right things in the right order. I have never had a pupil who couldn’t progress from solo bell control to rounds with a simulator with no visuals.

John de Overa

People I teach become competent ringing rounds before they have to integrate ropesight and coping with the variability of other ringers. — John Harrison

As do we.

Which is one of the reasons Gordon Lucas said they were not a sensible step on the route to learning tithe skills to ring methods — John Harrison

I agree, but we have to ring with the band we have, not the one we aspire to have. When we started out on the journey the band couldn't get past back rounds in PH without firing out, for a whole raft of reasons which were all down to CC ringing. We've had to address those issues *and* keep service ringing going, which currently depends on CCs.

We shouldn’t (and I don’t). Blame the teachers not the pupils. — John Harrison

That was the "we" as in "ringing in general".

I know of one teacher who point blank refuses to teach other than primarily by rhythm, with ropesight second, and CCs are banned. It causes all sorts of problems as soon as they ring anywhere else. They stare at the floor, they can't cope with the inevitable wobbles and tempo changes and they are impossible for the conductor to put right, because "After X" is verboten. It's an approach based on theory than in principle may seem sound, but we have to deal with real ringers, not theoretical ones.

. I have never had a pupil who couldn’t progress from solo bell control to rounds with a simulator with no visuals. — John Harrison

Agreed, and ditto.

John Harrison

I know of one teacher who point blank refuses to teach other than primarily by rhythm, with ropesight second, and CCs are banned. It causes all sorts of problems as soon as they ring anywhere else. — John de Overa

That is clearly wrong. A rounded ringer needs all the skills. I don’t advocate only teaching rhythm and listening, I advocate establishing it first, so it can get a foothold. We are visual animals, and if the first experience of trying to ring a bell related to anything external is being told to ‘pull after that rope’, a reactive action at the last minute, it’s hardly surprising they don’t tend to think several seconds ahead based on what the bell feels like, and find it too difficult to concentrate on a rather confusing sound, at a different time from when they ‘pull’, and which feels like a distraction from the already difficult task of ‘follow that rope’.

John Harrison

we have to ring with the band we have — John de Overa

Yes, we do. And it’s far more difficult to get results with people who didn’t have the ideal skills grounding. But if we keep teaching new ringers the same way we will always be in that position.

John de Overa

That is clearly wrong. A rounded ringer needs all the skills. — John Harrison

I'm with you on that.

But if we keep teaching new ringers the same way we will always be in that position. — John Harrison

We are emphasising the importance of listening & rhythm from the very start and we work hard with people to develop those skills. But we don't "own" our ringers, many who either learned long ago, or at other towers. Previously the whole band were "holder uppers" whereas now the most promising of our ringers, who have worked hard on ropesight & rhythm, have developed both the ability and the confidence to figure out if someone is in the wrong place and to ring around them. That's been transformative, both for them individually and the band overall.

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