Call Changes

Calling a change is one of the ways in which the order in which bells strike can be changed, methods are another way. A change is called on one handstroke and the bells should effect that change on the next handstoke. The essence of a change is that it simply switches the order of two adjacent bells.

What is the objective?

Unfortunately, there is more than one way in which changes can be called so first lets see what is intended and then look at the ways in which a change can be called to achieve the effect. Assume for the purpose of illustration that we have 6 bells ringing in rounds, i.e.
. . . 1 2 3 4 5 6 1 2 3 4 5 6 . . .
and the desire is to switch the order of bells #2 and #3 resulting in
. . . 1 3 2 4 5 6 1 3 2 4 5 6 . . .
three bells have been affected in some way.

How it is done?

I have come across a number of ways in which this change can be called:

While all these approaches look quite straightforward some of the ways of doing this are trickier to follow than others. The approach of calling the complete new sequence of bells is pretty straightforward but must get tedious with a large number of bells -- I have only encountered this approach on 6 bells. The approach of specifying what the three affected bells need to do is unambiguous and works equally well with any number of bells.

At first sight there would appear to be little difference between the other two approaches. However, since a ringer only tends to take notice of the bell that they are following and not who is following them, this makes a difference between the approaches. Lets look at the above example in detail using the two approaches.

"Calling to the back"
When "2 to 3" is called it is clear that bell #2 is affected since it has been identified in the call change and will have to follow bell #3. It is also clear that since bell #4 is following bell #3 that it is affected and that it will have to follow bell #2. Bell #3 is affected since it has been identified in the call change but it has to figure out what to do as a consequence, it will have to follow whichever bell #2 is following prior to the change being effected, in this case the treble.
"Calling to the front"
When "3 to treble" is called it is clear that bell #3 is affected since it has been identified in the call change and will have to follow the treble. Although the treble is mentioned in the call change it has nothing to do. Although bell #2 is not mentioned in the call change, it is also clear that since it is following the treble it is affected and that it will have to follow bell #3. Similarly, although bell #4 is not mentioned in the call change, it is also clear that since it is following bell #3 it is affected and needs to know that it will have to follow bell #2.

Named Call Changes

Although it is not the call change per se that is named but the sequence of bells that are the result this is how in my experience is it described. There are a large number of named changed, though in my, admittedly limited, experience I have only come across a few of them. There is a long list of named call changes on the site operated by "Andrew C. Poole" .

The most common that I have heard is called "Queens" which applies to an even number of bells.

Queens

There is no defined set of call changes that will result in Queens though sometimes the objective of ringing in Queens will be used in place of a normal call change. This means that the call change could be "go Queens next time". The sequence for Queens on six bells is:
. . . 1 3 5 2 4 6 1 3 5 2 4 6 . . .

The sequence for Queens on eight bells is:
. . . 1 3 5 7 2 4 6 8 1 3 5 7 2 4 6 8 . . .

A Set of Call Changes

At some point I need to be able to call changes and not just follow those called by another. Some day I'll be able to just make them up as I go along, but for now I need to plan them out in advance. I'd like some of the intermediate points to be named changes.

So much for the "cunning plan "! On Tuesday 18th March 2008 I unexpectedly got the opportunity to call changes and had to make them up as I went along. I did manage to include Queens but I can remember little else other than it is harder than it looks and there is more to it than there seems. I followed the normal approach for Harvington, i.e. calling to the front. I also had to think about when exactly to make the call, I had become accustomed to hearing a call and then moving at the right time but it had become automatic. However, I had to make a decision before I could call the first change. I decided to call as the treble was pulling handstroke and this seemed to work out fine, a silent sigh of relief.

Change sequence [1]

Bell position
at call
Change Bell position
after call
Name
1 2 3 4 5 6 1 2 3 4 5 6
1 2 3 4 5 6               Rounds
1 2 3 4 5 6 3 to treble; 2 to 3; 4 to 2 1 3 2 4 5 6  
1 3 2 4 5 6 5 to 2; 4 to 5; 6 to 4 1 3 2 5 4 6  
1 3 2 5 4 6 5 to 3; 4 to 5; 6 to 4 1 3 5 2 4 6 Queens
1 3 5 2 4 6 5 to treble; 3 to 5; 2 to 3 1 5 3 2 4 6  
1 5 3 2 4 6 5 to lead; treble to 5; 3 to treble 5 1 3 2 4 6  
5 1 3 2 4 6 3 to 5; treble to 3; 2 to treble 5 3 1 2 4 6 Kings
5 3 1 2 4 6 treble to 5; 3 to treble; 2 to 3 5 1 3 2 4 6  
5 1 3 2 4 6 treble to lead; 5 to treble; 3 to 5 1 5 3 2 4 6  
1 5 3 2 4 6 3 to treble; 5 to 3; 2 to 5 1 3 5 2 4 6 Queens
1 3 5 2 4 6 2 to 3; 5 to 2; 4 to 5 1 3 2 5 4 6  
1 3 2 5 4 6 4 to 2; 5 to 4; 6 to 5 1 3 2 4 5 6  
1 3 2 4 5 6 2 to treble; 3 to 2; 4 to 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 Rounds
1 2 3 4 5 6               Rounds
Valid XHTML