Can you ring Plain Bob Minor? Would you like to ring something just a little bit different but without you (and others) having to learn some fiendishly difficult blue line in order to do so? Do you know at least 5 other people who would also answer yes
to those questions? If so, then this could be for you. It's called plain-hunt-with-bobs-in
. The posh name for it is Original
. So, on six, we're talking about Original Minor.
Original is a principle, because every bell follows the same path: a plain course of Original Minor is what we all know and love as plain hunt on six
. So, now, if anyone calls for a plain course of Original, you should be able to get up there and ring it with the best of them. And here it is:
1 2 3 4 5 6 2 1 4 3 6 5 2 4 1 6 3 5 4 2 6 1 5 3 4 6 2 5 1 3 6 4 5 2 3 1 6 5 4 3 2 1 5 6 3 4 1 2 5 3 6 1 4 2 3 5 1 6 2 4 3 1 5 2 6 4 1 3 2 5 4 6 1 2 3 4 5 6
Of course, it's all over pretty damn quick. So, to make it all last longer, we put bobs in. The thing with Original is that you can put a bob in almost anywhere - every two blows, to be precise.
A bob in Original Minor looks the same as a Plain Bob bob, but with one seemingly innocuous, yet major, difference: the treble may not be leading at the time! Early on in your experience of Original this can be very off-putting, as we've all got rather used to the treble leading when a bob is made. But in Original it could be the 5th, the tenor (or the 11th if we're ringing Original Maximus, say). This is because it's a principle, in which all bells are equal. The treble is no longer special (or inferior, as some ill-advised folk consider it); in Original it's just a regular guy, an equal player.
So what do you do at a bob? It is rather easy to dismiss the niceties of Original bobs with a wave of the hand and a just-do-a-plain-bob-bob
type of mentality. Those who perpetrate such myths ought to know better. In most normal methods, a conductor can call a bob whenever he or she feels the treble is vaguely approaching the lead, and the ringers will know what to do and when, taking their cues from the treble and a general awareness of the blue line. In Original there are no such guidelines. In Original, timing is everything. Touches of Original are won and lost according to the timing of the conductor's bob calling.
Provided you are not the conductor, your job is to be alert and to be ready with a quick response, bob-wise. You will be happily ringing away, when suddenly a bob will be called. How you react to this will depend on your personality. There are generally two types of people in this regard:
panicker
Most of us fall into this category. Because bobs can occur anywhere, any time, a passive responder tends to blank out the possibility entirely, so that when a bob is called it usually comes as a complete shock, despite being an expected one. The normal response is one of panic, of the what do I do/where am I?
variety.
stresser
These are the people who, in normal methods, build themselves up prior to each lead end anticipating exactly what they would do should a bob then be called. In normal methods, therefore, such people show heightened levels of stress and anxiety as the treble nears the lead, culminating in a frenzy of highly-focused concentration so as to negotiate a bob that is actually called; or alternatively display considerable relief, accompanied by a noticeable relaxation of facial expression, should a bob not be called.
Needless to say it is very difficult for type 2 individuals to ring Original, as in theory they will be in rapid oscillation between states of stress and relief, as bob-making opportunities come and go every two changes. The only viable strategy for such people is to remain in a state of constant stress and agitation. However, this is very tiring and probably impractical. Extreme cases are best advised to give up trying and go home and have a lie down instead.
The solution, for Original, is to know exactly where you are at all times. While, for some of us, knowing the name of the town or village we are ringing in or even the country in which we are domiciled would be considered a satisfactory achievement, in Original we need to know the exact place we are currently occupying in the change, and whether we are hunting up the change (so our place number is increasing by one each time), or down the change (decreasing by one).
Any conductor of Original on even numbers worth his or her salt will call a bob at backstroke. Any conductor of Original on even numbers who calls a bob at handstroke isn't worth anything and should be discarded as soon as diplomatically possible. (Of course, for Original on odd numbers the opposite will be the case, so don't get rid of such aberrant misfits on a non-recoverable basis.)
So, it is Minor and at a backstroke, and a bob has been called. What do you do? The action all takes place over the next two blows. The first blow (which is the handstroke immediately following the bobbed backstroke) is what those-in-the-know refer to as the preparatory stroke. The next blow - the next backstroke - is the action stroke. Let us look in detail at the various possibilities. Remember, you are counting your place continuously so you will know what place you are in at every successive backstroke. Let's start as if we are ringing the treble in rounds, and Go Original
is called.
| Position of bell at backstroke when bob is called: | 1st's place |
| Hunting up or down | up |
| Change in plain course when bob is called | 1 2 3 4 5 6 |
| Position of bell at backstroke when bob is called: | 1sts place |
| Action over next two changes | |
| Unaffected position, so continue hunting up to 2nd and 3rd place, arriving at the 3-up position at the next backstroke. | |
| Resulting changes | 1 2 3 4 5 6 |
| 2 1 4 3 6 5 | |
| 2 4 1 3 5 6 | |
| Position of bell at backstroke when bob is called: | 3rd's place |
| Hunting up or down | up |
| Change in plain course when bob is called | 2 4 1 6 3 5 |
| Action over next two changes | |
| Make the bob, so lie two blows in 4th place, arriving at the 4-down position at the next backstroke. You are now hunting down to lead. You are also entering a zone of unaffected positions, so you can relax for a bit until the next time you are in the 3-up position at backstroke. |
|
| Resulting changes | 2 4 1 6 3 5 |
| 4 2 6 1 5 3 | |
| 4 6 2 1 3 5 | |
| Position of bell at backstroke when bob is called: | 5th's place |
| Hunting up or down | up |
| Change in plain course when bob is called | 4 6 2 5 1 3 |
| Action over next two changes | |
| Dodge 5-6 up, so go to 6th place then dodge immediately back to 5th place. You are now back where you started two blows ago - i.e. in the 5-up position, so be ready for either: (a) another bob, or (b) no bob. |
|
| If (a) another bob is called, then just repeat the process (i.e. do another 5-6 up dodge). If (b) no bob, you just go back to hunting (so your next move is to lie twice in 6th place, so ending up in the 6-down position at the next backstroke). These options are indicated by the arrows below: | |
| Resulting changes | 4 6 2 5 1 3 |
| 6 4 5 2 3 1 | |
| 6 5 4 2 1 3 1  (a) (b) |
|
| Position of bell at backstroke when bob is called: | 6th's place |
| Hunting up or down | down |
| Change in plain course when bob is called | 6 5 4 3 2 1 |
| Action over next two changes | |
| Dodge 5-6 down, so go to 5th place then dodge immediately back to 6th place. You are now back where you started two blows ago - i.e. in the 6-down position, so be ready for either:
(a) another bob, or (b) no bob. |
|
| If (a) another bob is called, then just repeat the process (i.e. do another 5-6 down dodge). If (b) no bob, you just go back to hunting (so your next move is to hunt down through 5th and 4th place, so ending up at the 4-down position at the next backstroke. These options are indicated by the arrows below: | |
| Resulting changes | 6 5 4 3 2 1 |
| 5 6 3 4 1 2 | |
| 5 3 6 4 2 1 1  (b) (a) |
|
This is the end of my space in this issue, so it's a good time to allow you to digest what's above before we continue to the next part in the July Newsletter.
Robert Chadburn