Avid readers of these columns should be waiting with bated breath for this, my next article about Original, the plain-hunt principle. If, somehow, you missed "An Original Idea" (Parts I and II), then you are strongly recommended (at least by me) to look these up in the April and July issues (Or look up these issues on the FSG web-site. In fact, It has been suggested the whole Original series should be put on the FSG website . . . Ed)
As promised at the end of Part 2, I am now going to show you some more interesting touches of Original Minor, how to do singles, and a quarter peal.
First, another simple touch: pleasant though not outstandingly musical (on 6), but nice because it has a familiar wrong-home-wrong feel. It also extends with increasing musical splendour to Original on all even numbers of bells from Minor to Maximus. So here it is (for key to notation please see previous articles, Part 1, Part 2 )
| Tenor: | 6 4 2 1 3 5 6 | Course end |
| - 2 | 4 1 5 2 3 6 | |
| - - | 3 2 1 4 5 6 | |
| - - | 4 5 2 3 1 6 | |
| 2 - | 2 3 1 4 5 6 | |
| repeat twice |
The next touch, by simple additions of bobs and/or singles, extends to a range of lengths to suit your needs. I think this is one of the nicest touches to ring, and definitely repays the extra effort required in learning it!
| Tenor: | 6 4 2 1 3 5 6 | Course end |
| 2 - - | ||
| - 3 | 3 1 2 5 4 6 | |
| - - | ||
| - | 5 4 1 2 3 6 | |
| - -(1) - | 1 2 3 4 5 6 |
If you don't call anything at (1) then it will come round as shown, and this is the complete touch of 64 changes. If you call a bob at (1), and repeat the whole thing twice more, you then get the touch of 192 changes.
Note that a bob at 3 (in the first and third lines of the touch) will make the tenor make the bob. It is then in 4th position at the backstroke at the end of the bob, so (in line 2) the bob at 4 will follow straight away afterwards. In other words, the bobs at 3 and 4 in lines 1 and 2 are basically two bobs together, and a double dodge will be made by the two bells at the back.
Even prettier tunes can be obtained by using singles. The only bells that do stuff at a single are the bells in 3 and 6 at the backstroke when the single is called.
The bell in 5th place, while its path is unaffected by the single, will be aware that its two blows in th place will be made over the same bell.
The changed paths are shown below in bold, assuming we start a touch with a single called at the backstroke of rounds:
| Resulting changes | 1 2 3 4 5 6 |
| 2 1 4 3 6 5 | |
| 2 4 1 3 6 5 | |
| 4 2 3 1 5 6 |
Now, if we put a single in at (1) in Touch 5 above, and repeat the whole section, you will get 128 changes. You can get the full 384 by calling the 192, replacing the last bob at (1) with a single, and repeating the whole lot again (making a touch of six parts).
384 changes are a bit long for normal purposes, so here is my favourite touch of all, a one-part 192, with all the best music of the 384 included. It is a bit of a tour-de force for the conductor, so it gives you quite a challenge to aim for!
| Tenor: | 6 4 2 1 3 5 6 | Course end |
| 2 - - | ||
| S 3 | 1 3 2 5 4 6 | |
| - - - | ||
| S - | 5 4 3 1 2 6 | |
| - - - - | 2 3 1 4 5 6 | |
| 2 - S - | ||
| S {S 3 | 3 2 1 5 4 6 | |
| - - - | ||
| - | 5 4 3 2 1 6 | |
| {..} = A | - - - -} | 1 3 2 4 5 6 |
| 2 - - | ||
| - A | 1 2 3 4 5 6 |
"I've got five people who can ring Original, and one other who can hunt the treble, what can I do?"
One answer, of course, is Teach him or her how to do bobs and singles
. But, even if this is not possible, all is not lost. There are quite a few really nice touches of Original Minor in which the treble just plain hunts. This next one is my all-time favourite - it has very few calls but lots of really nice music. Having fewer calls can be more relaxing to ring (and call) compared with the more dodgy touches we've looked at so far. For example, the 128 shown above has no less than 30 calls (that's almost one every four changes), while the present touch of 96 has only 12 calls (that's one every 8 changes). So it is highly recommended!
| Tenor: | 6 4 2 1 3 5 | Course end |
| - S | 2 4 1 5 3 6 | |
| - | ||
| - | 5 1 4 2 3 6 | |
| 2 - - | ||
| - - | 1 2 4 3 5 6 | |
| Repeat |
-ooOOoo-
Finally here is a quarter peal of Original Minor. No bell plain hunts all the way through, there are lots of bobs and singles, and so it is lots of fun and a challenge! Good luck!
| Tenor: | 6 2 3 5 | Course end |
| 3 S - 3 | 2 5 4 3 1 6 | |
| {S 3 | ||
| S 3 3 | 5 4 3 1 2 6 | |
| {..} = A | 3 3} | 1 3 2 4 5 6 |
| 3 S - 3* | 3 5 4 2 1 6 3* = single-bob-single | |
| 3{S 3 | ||
| S 2 | ||
| - - 3 | 5 4 1 3 2 6 | |
| {..} = B | 3 3} | 3 1 2 4 5 6 |
| (+) | 3 S 2 | |
| A | 3 2 1 4 5 6 | |
| 3 S 2 | ||
| B | 2 3 1 4 5 6 | |
| 3 S 2 | ||
| A | 2 1 3 4 5 6 | |
| 3 S - 3 | 1 5 4 3 2 6 | |
| 3* B | 1 2 3 4 5 6 |
Note that three bobs in position 3 means you call the tenor to make the bob on three successive occasions, with no other calls being made between them.
| Tenor: | 6 2 3 5 | Course end |
| 3 2 | ||
| - - 3 | 5 4 1 3 2 6 | |
| 3 3 | 3 1 2 4 5 6 | |
| Then continue as from (+) in Touch 8. | ||
With these three articles you have, at least in theory, the information you need to take a band from "plain hunting on six" to rather splendid touches of Original Minor and a quarter peal. It's amazing how much can be done with such a simple framework! And there's more! Next time, in "Original goes fourth", I shall show you Original Triples and its many delights. Happy ringing!
Robert Chadburn