Teaching Tips

1. Teaching bell handling

Combining strokes

Having got your novice ringer ringing the separate strokes proficiently, it is always a little nerve-racking handing over control of the bell so that they can put both strokes together. We share some helpful tips from Helen McGregor.

A balanced ringing style – which hand is doing most of the work?

Many learners don’t achieve a handstroke where the work is equally shared between the hands. What you often see, to a greater or lesser degree, is the right hand in charge of the sally, taking hold of it before the left, doing most of the pull and releasing it later than the left. Let’s look at the origin of the problem and then some ways to resolve it.

How long do I go on working on improving handling style

To help us as ringing teachers understand how long we should continue to work with learners we need to learn about the learning process. Learners will need a different approach to teaching when they are at the different stages of learning.

Teaching the rhythm of the lead

Helen McGregor explains an exercise which works very well at teaching the rhythm of the lead.

Do your learners struggle with changing the speed of their bell, particularly at backstroke?

By the time learners move onto Plain Hunt they need to be comfortable with speed changes so they can devote their attention to the bell’s path, not being overly distracted by the mechanics of getting the bell to ring in the desired place. This skill starts developing from the earliest handling exercise through to the end of Learning the Ropes Level 1 when the learner can raise, lower and set a bell. Many of the LtR Level 2 exercises contribute to the refinement of this skill and with a little imagination, you can find others too.

1.1. Combining strokes

1.2. A balanced ringing style – which hand is doing most of the work?

1.3. How long do I go on working on improving handling style

To help us as ringing teachers understand how long we should continue to work with learners we need to learn about the learning process.

Learners will need a different approach to teaching when they are at different stages of learning.

The different teaching techniques are all about coaching the learner. Because of this emphasis on coaching, the ringing teacher will be referred to as a ringing coach or coach.

As a learner becomes more skillful through practice, assisted by coaching support, three stages are passed through:

1. Novice (Cognitive)
2. Improver (Associative)
3. Expert (Autonomous)

The Novice

During the cognitive or mental stage, the learner is attempting to understand the basic task and is figuring out the skill. They are learning to identify all the component parts of the skill and forming a mental picture of what is required.

Characteristics of the Novice

• Relevant movements to perform the skill are being assembled
• Major errors can be seen
• The style is fitful and jerky

Coaching requirements of the Novice

Basic instruction of explanation, demonstration and small step exercises to help the learner get the feeling of the actions. These will all help the learner get a mental picture of what is required. This is the time to get the foundation skills accurate. Learners are not aware of what they are doing wrong or how to correct errors.

Good feedback during this phase is important. Correct performances are infrequent at this stage and should be reinforced through external feedback and positive reinforcement from the ringing coach. Words and gestures are both relevant – a quick thumbs up can convey a lot.

The learner needs praise at this stage. This is the time the learner is ringing on an individual bell.

The Improver

This is the phase where the basic skills are becoming refined and the learner is linking the component parts into a smooth action.

Characteristics of the Improver

• Some errors are still evident
• The style is a bit hit and miss [sometimes they get it right and sometimes they get it wrong]
• The learner is starting to feel when they have got it right or wrong. They are starting to be able to correct their own errors

Coaching requirements of the Improver

This is the phase where continued feedback from the coach, coupled with frequent opportunities to practise, gradually shapes and polishes the performance of a learner. Practise on an individual bell is still important to enable feedback and reinforcement to be given. Practise of handling must be performed regularly and correctly.

Learners will be ringing on open bells and they need to ring on a variety of bells to help them develop their skills. The feedback they receive through the rope from the bell is an extremely good tutor.

The Expert

In this final stage of learning, errors are rare and performance has become consistent and fluid. The movements are well learned and stored in the long-term memory of the brain as a movement pattern. Bell handling has become automatic and involves little or no conscious effort.

Characteristics of the Expert

• Few small errors can be seen
• Fluid style
• Can transfer most learning to novel situations [the learner can cope with different bells easily]

Coaching requirements of the Expert

At this point the brain now has spare conscious capacity and it can give this spare attention to focusing on learning new things such as Call Changes, Plain Hunt and method ringing.

It should be noted that not all performers reach this stage,, which may explain why older learners who can be less coordinated than younger ringers can find it harder to develop their method ringing. They still have to use a large part of the brain to consciously control the bell!

To retain the new skilled performance at this level it must be constantly practised to reinforce the movement pattern. At this time coaches can diversify practice conditions; this is the time to take your learner on a ringing outing.

Pip Penney

1.4. Teaching the rhythm of the lead

1.5. Do your learners struggle with changing the speed of their bell, particularly at backstroke?

By the time learners move onto plain hunting they need to be comfortable enough with speed changes so that they can devote their attention to the bell’s path, not being overly distracted by the mechanics of getting the bell to ring in the desired place. Some will inevitably find it harder than others. This skill starts developing from the earliest handling exercise through to the end of Learning the Ropes Level 1 when the learner can raise, lower and set a bell. Many of the LtR Level 2 exercises contribute to the refinement of this skill and with a little imagination you can find others too.

Observation of experienced ringers shows that they do not always change their hand position on the rope when changing speed. When ringing ligher bells they achieve a quicker backstroke by bending their arms a little. Only when ringing a heavier bell do they shift up and down the tail end. The same is true of the handstroke, but here there is likely to be a small change in the position of the hands on the sally.

So, what’s going on? Efficient control of a bell relies upon the ringer having both the skills and experience to deliver the optimum amount of work on the bell, using a personally comfortable amount of physical effort. Simple physics tells us that the work applied to the bell is the force applied multiplied by the distance over which that force is applied. Ringers make changes to both force and distance as required. The experienced ringer does not need to think about doing so any more than a driver has to consider how hard/fast to turn the steering wheel. The novice does need to devote thought to the process and needs to develop a feel for both force and distance. Many start off by applying great force over a small distance, which is tiring and inefficient. Others struggle to apply enough force.

We teach the skill of a long pull to maximise the work achieved by the force applied. This of course has the essential benefit of better rope control and reduces the temptation to “snatch” at the sally.

As the novice progresses on to the stage of needing to make fine adjustments in order to vary speed we must ensure they have the physical skills to control the speed change. These are the same skills as the start of ringing down and the end of ringing up. Ring a bell yourself or have someone else do it and show natural ways of achieving speed, perhaps start by ringing a bell part down and back up again. Have learners watch, discuss and then experiment on single bells, seeking to refine the basic skills they have developed to date. Encourage them to consider the effectiveness of both moving the hands up/down the tail end, altering the positioning of the hands on the sally and ringing with arms straight, moderately bent or very bent. You may find it useful to consciously ring different weight bells for a dodging exercise yourself and discover what you do on various bells.

Having said that, it is absolutely essential that novice ringers learn the skill of ringing with the maximum distance of pull possible and learn to make quick and efficient alterations to their tail end length at the correct point in the pull, i.e. before the rope starts to rise to the backstroke and not whilst their hands are up in the air. It may be that they find this easier on a middle to back bell than on a light one. Having developed this skill they will be able to deal with pulling off a bell which has a tail end that is much too long or with a bell that suddenly drops for whatever reason and they will be well set up to learn to efficiently control bigger bells. Later they will settle to their own comfortable style, using the range of pull-length that suits them and the bell they’re ringing – but they have to “walk before they can run”.

Once the learner can comfortably change speed at will on a single bell, they need to practise it at normal ringing rhythms. There are many exercises which can be used for this – here are just a few:

• Follow the leader: offer a bell to follow who will take the learner on a journey of varying speeds.
• “Hunting” through static bells, i.e. the rest of the ringers stay in rounds sequence and allow the novice to ring in 2nds, 3rds etc between them. Hunting up/down can be separated by instructing the novice to hunt to 5ths and stay there. Then on an agreed cue, starting at backstroke, they hunt down to lead. This is a good way of emphasising the three speeds of hunting without them thinking about finding bells to follow.
• Call changes, changing at backstroke as well as at handstroke.
• Dodgy call changes.
• Long and short place making (Kaleidoscope) again changing at backstroke as well as hand.
• Mexican Wave.

Heather Peachey

2. The foundation skills

2.1. Steps to ropesight

2.2. Developing listening and striking skills

Listening is one of the foundation skills for ringing. Without the ability to hear their bell it is impossible for a ringer to reach their full potential. New ringers frequently find difficulty identifying the sound of their own bell. This article provides a few tips on how to help your ringers hear their bell and develop the good rhythmic ringing we all want to hear.

From the very first lesson

We teach on tied bells so as not to annoy the neighbours with the sound of a random bell or bells ringing. However, we do need to start to make the ringer aware of the importance of listening to and hearing their bell right from the very beginning.

If you have a simulator in your tower and you are teaching a single learner you can provide the simulated sound of that bell ringing during the teaching process. If you are teaching several learners in the tower together this is not possible unless you have multiple computers and use headphones.

So how can we overcome this difficulty?

• Using a laptop with suitable software for the ringer to make the bell sound by pressing a particular key on the keyboard is a good starting point. Headphones can be used and the new ringers can take their turn at listening and striking exercises on the laptop when they are taking a rest from the immediate handling lessons. It is usually easiest for the ringer to hear the tenor to start with. After a session, use the “Review Striking” facility to emphasise the importance of accuracy and to allow the ringer to notice improvement in future sessions.
• While your new ringer is still learning to handle a bell they can attend a practice and ring individual strokes (back or hand) with the band so that they start to be aware of the sound of rounds. In both of these examples encourage them to identify the place in the row their bell is sounding and to start to count that place. If the ringer is struggling to identify the bell they are ringing, try using a familiar phrase to help identify the place. A commonly used one is “we all like fish and chips , I want some for my tea” .In this example the ringer is ringing bell number four in rounds and emphasising the fourth sound in the row with the words fish and for.

Now the ringer can ring an individual bell unaided

Once your new ringer can ring an individual bell without assistance they can start ringing with others. As the teacher you need to be certain that your ringer is identifying the sound of their own bell. One way of doing this is to start the ringer ringing rounds on three bells - start with them on the third and then let them ring the second. You can use the rhyme “Three – Blind – Mice” if they are struggling. The familiarity of the rhyme aids in the identification of the sound of their bell.

Many ringers can perform rounds on three accurately right from the start and can be moved on to rounds on four and then six on the first practice night. However, there are others who may take a few weeks to hear the sound and take ownership of what they are hearing.

At this stage ringing on a tied bell with a simulator is invaluable. If you don’t have a simulator in your tower a neighbouring tower may let you take your ringers to them for a few sessions on their simulator.

Listening and striking exercises with a group

Ideally, these exercises would not be practised on open bells but with a simulator.

• Setting alternate bells at backstroke and then getting your ringers to pull off and ring rounds is a challenging exercise for beginners and sometimes for experienced ringers as well. It provides variety and is fun to do.
• Facing outwards from the circle one ringer at a time so that the ringer is unable to see the bell they are following is useful. Ensure your ringers make the turn when the rope is up at backstroke, this will ensure there is no likelihood of getting tangled with a moving rope.
• Whole pull and stand for a whole pull, keep the tenor ringing for the whole pull while the other bells are standing. Then practice the perfect pull off each time.

An ability to control and hear the bell are both necessary to produce good rhythmic ringing. For rhythmic change ringing a knowledge of theory and ropesight needs to be added into the equation.

• Plain Hunting can be used as an exercise to develop rhythmic ringing; this is equivalent to practising scales on a musical instrument and should be repeated frequently when working towards good striking on a certain number of bells. For instance when a ringer is moving from Doubles to Minor, Minor to Triples or Major.
• Treble Bob Hunt with all the bells following the same line can be used when moving ringers on to Treble Bob or Surprise methods. It is false. The coursing order is Plain Hunt coursing order so there are no ropesight issues and ringers can concentrate on striking and rhythm.
• Kaleidoscope ringing can be used to help develop good striking. Long places [two whole pulls], places [a whole pull] and dodging can be combined to make different exercises. Work is done within two places and the ringing frequently returns to rounds in which it is easier for the less experienced ringer to identify their own bell. The changes can also be started on a backstroke.

Resource tips

The following YouTube resource describes ropesight using a dynamic diagram of Plain Hunt on five bells. At 1:25 in the video there is a slo-mo video recording of Plain Hunt highlighting ropesight from the treble.

Keeping track of where you are in the change. This article explains how ringers keep track of their place in a change through counting places, listening, ropesight and dividing the changes into hand and back. Originally published in The Ringing World.

Pip Penney

2.3. Teaching Call Changes

Call Changes is the skill that most new ringers are taught after learning to ring rounds. It may be thought of as simple but there is more to it than might originally be imagined.

What skills does my ringer need to have or develop before learning to ring call changes?

• To be able to ring rounds
• To be able to stay in the correct place
• To be aware of where their bell is striking in the row
• To be able to hear when the bell is out of place and be able to adjust to get back into the rounds
• Ability to ring quicker or slower [ability to hold up and check in]

Absolute perfection cannot be expected at this stage.

What theory does my ringer need to know before learning to ring call changes?

• Treble/Tenor
• Front/back
• Lead/lie/cover
• Up/down – in/out
• Concept of a row
• Concept of place in the row
• Concept of a whole pull
• Meaning of check/pull-hold up/check in
• Understanding of why change of speed is required to change place in the row

What teaching aids could I use to help my ringer understand?

The Call Change Toolbox has a ready-made PowerPoint presentation for you to use with your ringers to introduce these basic concepts in an interesting way. You will find also find Call Change worksheets for your ringers to use.

A white board is a quick and easy way to illustrate the way in which call changes work. A few rows written out and joined together with arrows can illustrate these concepts in a few moments. By joining the bells with lines you are in fact introducing your ringer to the visual representation of the “blue line” without having to even mention it by name.

What new information do I need to give my ringer before introducing Call Changes?

Before you undertake the teaching of Call Changes with your ringers you need to decide which method of calling you are going to use. The three different calls below all lead to the same change:

Teaching Tip

Whichever method you choose to use it is important that your ringer learns to identify what place in the row their bell is sounding at after every change. As an exercise ask your ringers to say their place number as they strike their bell. This will help reinforce the concept of which place they are ringing in.

Pip Penney

2.4. Teaching Call Changes – putting it all into action

2.5. Teaching Kaleidoscope Ringing

Kaleidoscope ringing is a series of exercises made within two places. It can be started at handstroke or backstroke.

The simplest form is “long places”, 4 blows in one place. This is followed by “place making” with two blows being rung in each place and then by “dodging”. Each one demands a higher level of bell control than the previous one. They are best introduced in this order.

The aim of the exercises are:

• To refine bell control
• To refine listening skills
• To develop accurate striking and good rhythm
• To reinforce the concept of place

If new ringers are to move forward with change ringing they need to be able to hear their own bell and identify which place they are ringing in. Conventional call changes, called by asking two numbered bells to swap places, do not develop these skills.

Why Kaleidoscope Ringing?

In kaleidoscope ringing, the bells move into and out of rounds. As the sound of rounds is familiar to the ringer, any inaccuracies in the striking can be more easily identified. If the ringer is able to identify the sound of the bell in simple changes, he or she will be able to hear their bell in more complex sequences as their ringing progresses. In addition:

• Instructions are easy to follow
• Easy place identification for the ringer
• Changes can be started at back or handstroke
• Practise leading for only one whole pull at a time
• Simple introduction to following a line
• Changes of place can be memorised
• Innovation and variety to maintain and develop foundation skills
• Provides a basis for moving onto hunting on 3 bells

The basic works

1. The conductor calls the bells to start on a handstroke or a backstroke
2. The exercises continue until the conductor calls the bells involved to stop
3. It is advised to start from rounds to begin with, with only one pair of bells working at a time
4. When the striking is good, exercises can be undertaken with two or more pairs of bells involved
5. When these basic manoeuvres have been mastered they can be combined to form a more advanced exercise. Different exercises can be rung at the same time in different pairs of places, not necessarily starting from rounds

Starting at backstroke is good preparation for moving the bell at backstroke when starting to learn Plain Hunt. It can also give practise at backwards leading.

Why not try this with your ringers?

In big change, little change all pairs swop for a whole pull, before returning to rounds for two blows. Then just the inside bells [2,3,4,5] swop places for a whole pull before returning to rounds. More bells are involved with the changes; the ringers have to concentrate hard to know when to move up or down a place. Ringers should be encouraged to think of the place they are ringing in, for example the 4 would be thinking 4th, 4th, 3rd ,3rd, 4th ,4th, 5th 5th, 4th 4th etc. This can be rung for service.

Resource Tips

• Kaleidoscope Ringing – A Change Ringers Alternative to Call Changes is available from the Central Council online shop.
• Images and explanations for you and your ringers are available from the Method Toolboxes.

Pip Penney

2.6. Advanced Kaleidoscope Ringing

2.7. A dedicated foundation skills practice

At Rattlesden, Suffolk, ART Assessor Pam Ebsworth had a number of teachers who hadrecently attended an ART Module 2 Day Course Teaching Elementary Change Ringing. Pam was wondering how to give her teachers more teaching practice. The problem was that these particular teachers were not Tower Captains and were finding difficulty getting opportunities to teach at the necessary level. After discussion with other mentors it was decided to hold a dedicated Learning the Ropes Level 2 practice. In line with the Level 2 syllabus, this practice would concentrate on Foundation Skills and ringing with others. A date was fixed and the day attended by three mentors, five teachers and various new ringers.

3. Teaching method ringing

3.1. How to teach a method

3.2. Teaching ringers to cover

Covering develops a ringer’s ropesight, the ability to see bells changing below them, and gives them a feeling of the rhythm of the change.

Skills

To cover confidently cover well your ringer needs to develop four skills:

• Listening – the ability to hear their bell amongst others
• A sense of rhythm – getting the feeling
• Awareness of their place in the row – place counting
• Ropesight – the ability to identify which bells to follow

Preparation

Your ringer is ready to learn to cover when they can:

• Ring rounds
• Hear what place their bell is sounding in
• Recognise when their bell is out of place in rounds
• Adjust their bell to get it back into rounds
• Ring the tenor

Ringing the tenor in rounds will help the ringer get their ear tuned in to listening to themselves in 6th place. Always make sure the ringer is counting their place in rounds. Using a simulator to allow a ringer to ring rounds in 6th place is a useful exercise. The latest software with moving ringers which can be shown on a screen or large TV are particularly useful at this stage.

There is little theory required when teaching covering. However, remember to point out that when covering to Plain Hunt or methods, the bells change below on a backstroke for odd bell numbers and handstroke for even bell numbers.

Putting it into action

Teach your ringers to cover in graded steps making each step easier to achieve:

• Call Changes
• Place making, dodging, Kaleidoscope sequences
• Plain Hunt on 3, 4 and then bells
• On 8 bells steady ringing with 768 behind to develop 8 bell rhythm
• Methods – plain courses, touches and then different methods

Introductory Exercises

The first opportunity for the ringer to do this is when ringing call changes; the ringer need not be ringing the tenor at this time. Kaleidoscope ringing also provides an opportunity for a ringer to cover to two bells making long places, places or dodging. To find out more about Kaleidoscope Ringing see Level 2 – Teaching foundation skills. Ringing the tenor in rounds will help the ringer get his or her ear tuned in to listening to themselves in 6th place. Always make sure the ringer is counting their place in rounds.

Covering to Doubles

Once the ringer can cover to rounds and Call Changes and Kaleidoscope Ringing they can move on to covering to Plain Hunt. Let them stand behind the tenor ringer to learn to follow the ropesight. If the ringer finds difficulty in covering to Plain Hunt on 5 then it is possible to start with covering to hunting on 3 or 4 bells.

Once the ringer is striking well to covering to Plain Hunt on five they are ready to move on to cover to methods. Start with plain courses moving on to touches when the striking is accurate. Plain Bob has a coursing order most similar to Plain Hunt and may be a good method to start with. However other methods where a smaller number of bells come to the back may also be useful.

Cloisters Doubles or Stedman quick sixes is a method where only three bells (the 3, 4 and 5) come to the back providing easier ropesight for the learner – see diagram to the right.

Can ropesight be taught?

Ropesight is a visual skill. It is a skill learned through experience and cannot be learned from a book. The eyes gradually learn to pick up moving ropes in the periphery of their visual field. For this skill to develop, practice is needed and this takes time. Ringers will need varying amounts of practice to develop ropesightl; some will find it easier than others! It is our job as teachers to provide the amount of practice in the appropriate environment with sufficient support to ensure our ringers gain the skills required.

Teaching Tips

• Get the ringer to stand behind the tenor ringer to watch and learn
• During early attempts stand with the ringer to assist with the ropesight if the striking strays. A visual prompt, pointing or gesturing in the right general direction of the bell which should be followed can assist
• By grading your teaching starting with something the ringer can do easily will enable them to achieve success. Some ringers will not need all the smaller steps or can move through them very swiftly
• Remember all ringers will be different and you need to keep your teaching flexible
• Making sure your ringer experiences success which will boost their confidence
• Some ringers learn to cover by ringing with the rhythm and developing the ropesight over time and some pick up the ropesight earlier but need time to develop the feeling of the rhythm

Ringing a quarter peal on the tenor

You should ensure that your ringer is not merely memorising the pattern of bells coming to the back before they ring their first quarter peal. To be certain that they have developed the skill of covering make sure they can cover to touches of at least two different Doubles methods.

Once your ringer has developed the ropesight for covering and following different bells while staying in the same place themselves they will be ready to move on to developing their ropesight whilst their bell is changing place. They will be ready to move on to learn to Plain Hunt.

Pip Penney

3.3. Teaching ringers to plain hunt

3.4. Introducing Plain Bob Doubles in easy stages

3.5. Introducing the bobs in Plain Bob Doubles

Splitting new skills into smaller bits allows the learner to tackle a new skill in palatable bites. This is valuable for all learning styles, in particular for those whose preference is kinaesthetic learning, i.e. learning more through hands-on experience than by verbal or visual instruction. To have the most flexibility you need to let go of the tradition that suggests that all touches must be true or at the very least start and stop in rounds. Practise what you need to practise in the most time-effective manner.

Here are two strategies for chunking the learning of calls, both involving repeating selected works. Whilst most will teach only bobs, do remember that Plain Bob Doubles does have a specific single (place notation 123). It’s very useful as it introduces the concept of more than one type of call early on and it also permits a wider variety of 120s to be rung. It has featured in the Ringing World Diary for a very long time but many ringers don’t seem to know about it.

Choose to put in calls which have a specific effect on the learner’s bell

The simplest example of this is to call two consecutive bobs.The 2 will run in twice – it merely plain hunts, but the difference is that the ringer must be mentally ready to either dodge 3-4 down OR run in if a bob is heard. Similarly the 3 with either make seconds or run out. The purpose of this exercise is that whenever they approach a piece of work they remind themselves of the work if there’s a call.

This can be developed in several ways. You may decide to call a bell to run in, then let a whole course be rung before again calling them to run in. Once they’ve grasped running in/out you could call a touch randomly requiring their bell to do either piece of work interspersed with plain leads. This clearly requires a longer piece of ringing but, as long as you’ve planned for it, why not? Whoever said Plain Bob Doubles touches can’t exceed 120 changes?

Having dealt with running in/out, move on to considering the work of the other two bells who will repeat a short course of work, i.e. make the bob or long fifths. This is a good time to visit the theory with a reminder that all “work” occurs at the treble’s lead (one ringer told me that before she learned to ring inside she thought “bob” was a reminder to the treble to lead!) The theory will reveal why 2 and 3 hunt through the lead end and “do it next time”, whereas after a bell makes the bob it rings long fifths next. The concept of “place bell” can be usefully established and is good preparation for more advanced methods in the future.

Using “Bayles” or its close relation “Thingummy” – techniques also known as “Groundhog Day”

These are simply ways to start ringing Plain Bob Doubles and then at any point have the band repeat a specific lead over and over in isolation before either calling “stand” or issuing a call that tells the band to drop back into Plain Bob Doubles. A key issue here is ensuring that communication is clear. Some towers use it a lot but in some places there may be hesitance, often due to long-standing ringers being unfamiliar with it or reluctant to try “new-fangled ideas”. If it’s not part of the tower’s regular diet rehearse it first with a band who can ring Plain Bob Doubles and then ask someone to give their rope to the new ringer.

Resource Tips

You can find details of these and other “stepping stone” methods in the Methods Toolboxes.

Pip Penney

4. Looking after the band

Keep your ringers ringing

Your new ringer has learned to handle a bell and is now ready to ring rounds with others.The next stage of their learning experience will be very different. The teacher and new ringer have been working together intensively on a one to one basis, with the ringer at the centre of the teacher’s attention. Now the learning curve will flatten out. As the ringer progresses towards elementary change ringing they will have to wait their turn to ring on practice nights and progress often seems hard to achieve, leading to frustration. Interest and motivation often wane...

Keep ALL your ringers ringing

Every activity wants to keep the numbers of participants as high as possible and keep people involved for as long as possible. Ringing is no exception – we want to retain the ringers we recruit. What is the best way of  retaining and motivating developing ringers?

Are we giving our ringers what they really, really want?

Do our ringers come ringing purely for the pleasure of the ringing itself? The likelihood is that most of them do not. You might think that it will depend on the standard of the ringing they are involved in but it is not that straightforward.

What type of ringers do you teach?

Specific types of ringers need different coaching approaches. Accepting the fact that as a ringing teacher you are unlikely to be able to become an expert coach for all of the different groups, how do you cater for the various coaching requirements of different types of ringers?

Improving retention and extending performance

The latest research shows that more people stay actively involved if their training changes with the developmental stage they are at, and the different rates of progress ringers make. This creates a larger pool of people who remain actively involved, and from whom high-end performers and experts can emerge over an extended period.

Why do ringers lapse?

Alison Smedley has carried out a piece of action research as part of a BA course in Charity and Social Enterprise Management with Anglia Ruskin University in which she identified bellringing as: 'A voluntary activity which seemed to have a particular problem with retention of its participants is that of bell ringing'.

4.1. Keep your ringers ringing

4.2. Keep ALL your ringers ringing

Every activity wants to keep the numbers of participants as high as possible and keep people involved for as long as possible. Ringing is no exception. We want to retain the ringers we recruit. The traditional model in ringing development is the Pyramidal Model.

The Pyramidal Model – high "burn out" rates

In this model there are fewer participants as progress advances. The drive is to improve performance with a wide initial base and an increasing dropout rate. Constant pressure to progress means this model is associated with a high “burn out” rate, with many participants unable to progress and leaving the activity.

The Pyramidal Model is no longer seen as an efficient way of producing high-end performers. Research has shown that early talent is not necessarily a good predictor of eventual performance, with many high performers emerging late.This can be seen in ringing when people return to ringing after many years and then make quick progress with method learning.

There has been a significant amount of research done over recent decades into different approaches to maintaining participant numbers in various activities.

The needs of the participant change as the person grows from child to teenager to adult and then on to older adult. The needs of the participant change depending on the stage of progress they are at, for instance if they are a beginner, a ringer who wants to ring for Sunday service but has no desire to learn more methods, a keen ringer who is developing skills fast or a high performer.

The Participants' Needs Model – increased number of people participating

Researchers such as Professor Istvan Balyi have developed new ideas to encourage lifelong participation and thus to increase numbers of participants. These ideas have been taken on by UK Coaching. Various groups such as The British Canoe Union and British Cycling have applied these research findings to their own activities.

The result of this research has been new ways of thinking about the development of the individual participant, the Participants’ Needs Model.

This model of development is built around the requirements of the individual at every stage of their development. More people stay involved, there are many pathways to excellence and the emphasis is placed on personal goals. The needs of those who wish to participate for mainly recreational reasons are catered for, as well as those who are ambitious to progress.

Both models lead to an equal proportion of those who perform at a high level but the Participants Needs Model leads to a greater number of people participating, via various diverse pathways.

The model develops and recognises various “recreational pathways” which keep people participating without always having to progress at certain particular points in time. Coaches are encouraged to show increased respect for the wishes of the recreational participant and to adapt their coaching style to incorporate their needs. These ringers should be coached with a view to “sustaining participation”. Goals for these ringers would be less ambitious in terms of learning new methods than for those for ringers following a “progressive pathway”. They would include improving performance at current level of advancement, i.e. what has already been learned and diversifying at a similar level, rather than concentrating on advancing to more complicated ringing.

In this manner individuals become free to enjoy their ringing without constant pressure to learn more. At certain stages in individual’s lives the pressure for constant advancement may become more than people want and can prove counterproductive, leading to “burn out” and the loss of that ringer. By providing for the needs of the ringer who has no ambition to advance their method ringing at that point we are more likely to keep them participating in the activity. It may be that later, a time may come when a ringer will become more motivated and move on to follow a progressive pathway again.

By coaching to “sustain participation” of those who have temporarily moved onto a recreational pathway, we will ensure that those ringers will remain involved and will be in a position to return to a progressive pathway at some point in the future moving forwards with their method ringing once more, rather than being lost to ringing.

Pip Penney

4.3. Are we giving our ringers what they really, really want?

Do our ringers come ringing purely for the pleasure of the ringing itself? The likelihood is that most of them do not. You might think that it will depend on the standard of the ringing they are involved in but it is not that straightforward!

In 1993, McCullagh et al published research that studied the deeper reasons for people participating in hobbies and pastimes. These reasons or incentives are:

• Affiliation
• Mastery
• Desire for sensation
• Desire for self direction
• Social comparison

What do these titles actually mean to us when we are teaching in the tower? How can knowledge of them improve our new ringer retention rates?

Affiliation

Affiliation is based on a desire to have positive and friendly relationships with others; to be part of a group or a band.

Many loyal Sunday service ringers will be in this category. These are the ringers who will turn up to ring for Christmas, be it midnight mass or Christmas morning service.

It is the social side of ringing which makes these ringers continue ringing and it may be that progressing to ring more methods and more complicated methods is not their priority; this attitude should be respected. Too much pressure to make progress may prove counter-productive and may actually disincentive this type of ringer.

To incentivise these ringers, ringing teachers should ensure they feel a valued member of the band, perhaps having a special role, be it formal, such as social secretary or informal, such as having responsibility for opening up for visiting ringers or winding the church clock.

Mastery

These ringers wish to improve their skills, master new skills and pursue excellence. These ringers are characterised by wanting to do something well for its own sake.

This is the group from whom our expert ringers are likely to develop. These ringers will be keen to improve their striking, and respond well to goals set to monitor performance, such as ringing quarter peals and peals, which will be taken as an acknowledged measure of their achievements.

Desire for sensation

These ringers are incentivised by a desire for sensation; they gain their pleasure from the very act of ringing the bells and from the sounds, sights and excitement of being in a belfry.

These are the ringers who just want to ring and they will ring as often as they can. Tower grabbers frequently exhibit this motivation. This group of ringers also like variety during practice sessions and will be interested in learning new methods.

To incentivise these ringers, the ringing teacher should at take them to other towers or to group practices and later should arrange outings and tours. Within the practice, novel ringing activities will motivate the early ringer and when they are more experienced, learning a variety of new methods will hold their interest.

Desire for self-direction

Ringers who fall into this category wish to feel a sense of control or to be in charge.

These ringers may attend a practice outside their own tower and start giving advice to the local ringers without the permission of the Tower Captain.

To incentivise the self directed ringer, the ringing teacher should give them a position of responsibility and create situations where they have certain decision making powers, such as standing behind less experienced ringers, calling things or organising quarter peals or special practices.

If the teacher observes that they this type of ringer in the tower they can start to craft them a role that will fulfill this need. If the ringer is not sufficiently competent to take a position of leadership with a ringing related role, other, non-ringing roles will cater for their need. For example they may be made responsible for arranging social activities or ensuring there are sufficient ringers for services.

Social comparison

Some people participate in an activity because it provides them with an opportunity to compare themselves with others.

These people are most happy when they can demonstrate that they are better than somebody else. Such ringers are happiest when they can demonstrate that they are better than somebody else. They will enjoy striking competitions and being high up on the annual list of peal ringers. They may seek out an environment where they are able to demonstrate that they are better than others and may prefer to be a “big fish in a small pond”.

Resource Tips

Have a browse through the recruitment and retention resources to explore practical ways of keeping your ringers interested.

Pip Penney

4.4. Improving retention and extending performance

4.5. What type of ringers do you teach?

Specific types of ringers need different coaching approaches. Accepting the fact that as a ringing teacher you are unlikely to be able to become an expert coach for all of the different groups, how do you cater for the various coaching requirements of different types of ringers?

Performance development coach

If you are teaching ringers who are moving on fast, who are eager to progress, your role is that of performance development coach. You will need to encourage your ringers to ring frequently and once they have reached the standard of the upper end of the home tower they will need to attend other practices to develop their skills. As the coach you can introduce them to other practices, send them on courses or run courses for them, identify a suitable practice for them to attend on a regular basis where their skills can be developed and arrange quarter peals and peals for them. It may be possible to find an advanced ringer who will mentor them and bring them on further.

ART provides off the shelf course materials in the form of Method Toolboxes, which cover from Plain Hunt to Surprise Minor and provide everything you need for your developing ringers. These toolboxes contain teacher resources, student resources, a PowerPoint presentation which covers the theory sections, plus, teacher notes.

Participation coach

If your ringers are not in the mindset to be keen to progress for whatever reason, you must use a different approach. These ringers may be long-term ringers who have got as far as they wish to go at the current point in time or may be just unambitious and not willing to put much effort into self-development. They are often valued Sunday service ringers. Your role will be to coach to “sustain participation”.

The social side of ringing needs to be considered. You as their coach should ensure these ringers have plenty of opportunity to make friends within ringing. It is this which will keep them coming along to practices and Sunday service ringing. You need to ensure that these ringers feel valued, have a role and enjoy themselves. Going down the pub after practice is a good policy, outings to other towers and other parts of the country will provide variety and maintain interest. Summer BBQs and Christmas meals have their role to play.

Other ways to help people feel involved may be to give them a specific role, such as, social secretary, tower treasurer, steeple keeper or Sunday service band organiser.

Children’s coach

Children’s coaching needs are different and may be met by a youth group. If you are coaching children is there a provision for their needs locally? If not could you identify a person who would be willing to establish a youth group?

High performance coach

Once ringers start to be capable of ringing at the expert stage it is likely that to be able to progress to their full potential they will need to ring at a tower with ten or twelve bells and have opportunity to have a high powered band to ring with. These ringers include the “giants of the future", ringers who may become 12 bell striking competition ringers or peal conductors. This level of coaching can only be provided by ringers who are themselves ringing at the expert level and many ringing teachers will be unable to aspire to such a level. In this instance, unless you are a “high performance coach” yourself, you will need to find someone who is and a tower which would welcome your ringer. Your role here as the best coach for that particular ringer is actually to pass them on to a coach with the appropriate skills to take their ringing forward.

How can we develop our skills to cover each coaching role?

One ringing coach may be an expert with children and not so suited to coaching high end performers; others may be good at bringing ringers on and developing performance and others good at maintaining a thriving Sunday service ringing band.

As we continue to teach we can develop our own effectiveness as coaches. Reflective practice, that is to say reviewing what we have done, how successful we consider it to be and how we could improve on it for the future will help us improve our coaching skills.

Coaching skills will develop on an informal level through our own experience and through observing others teach. Group teaching may be useful here. Coaches can also go out to other towers or attend courses as observers as part of the process of developing their own skills. Teaching and coaching skills can be developed through more formal routes such as attending courses and lectures such as those provided by ART at their Annual Conference.

As ringing teachers continue with the coaching process, an understanding of some of the underlying issues will help them to develop their own skills further.

The importance of incremental learning

Whatever level you are teaching at, whether your role is to sustain participation, or improve performance it is necessary to take your ringers through an incremental learning pathway (learning in small stages, each one built on the skills developed at the previous stage). In this way you will ensure that your ringers [whatever level of performance they are at] will have the appropriate theoretical grounding and skills development to allow them to progress to the highest level of performance if they have the will and the capability.

If you are currently training a ringer with a view to “sustaining participation” incremental learning is important. This ringer may, at a later date, move onto the “late talent development route” requiring coaching which is performance oriented and may even move forwards onto a “high performance development pathway” and require the attentions of a “high performance coach”.

Re-entry into ringing

In ringing there are a certain number of ringers who learn as children or teenagers and then stop ringing when they go to university or for other reasons. They may be uninvolved with ringing for years, often many years. When they re-enter ringing, provided their previous training provided them with the appropriate foundation skills built through incremental learning these ringers will be in a good position to move onto a “progressive pathway”. They frequently move through the “late talent development route”, this progress is facilitated by good foundations skills developed many years before.

The Learning the Ropes scheme provided by Association of Ringing Teachers to all those who are ART Members or who have attended a Day Course provides teachers with the resources and guidance to ensure their ringers are well equipped to develop the foundation skills required to move on to progressive pathways of ringing development and have the opportunity to go on to become the top end ringers for the future.

Pip Penney

4.6. Why do ringers lapse?

Alison Smedley has carried out a piece of action research as part of a BA course in Charity & Social Enterprise Management with Anglia Ruskin University – 'A voluntary activity which seemed to have a particular problem with retention of its participants is that of bell ringing'.

Download a copy of Alison's report

5. About teaching and learning

Giving feedback – mind your language

Feedback is an important teaching tool. Without feedback, it is difficult for a ringer to understand and modify their ringing. Learners who obtain feedback tend to perform more consistently over the long term.

Using feedback loops to enhance your teaching – IDEAS for teaching handling

One way of using feedback loops to enhance learning is the IDEAS model – Introduction, Demonstration, Explanation, Action, Summary – which helps to identify learning objectives and encourages focused teaching on key points.

Catch, pull and hold on

Ringing terminology is seductive. The more we use it, the less we are aware that to the uninitiated it can mean something completely different. The worst case is when the intended meaning overlaps the perceived meaning. A good example is ‘Hold’. The dictionary says it is to ‘keep fast; grasp’ Is that really what we want? I know a number of ringers who ‘keep fast and grasp’ the tail end with terrible consequences at handstroke, and others who are so worried about not keeping the tail end fast and grasping it, that they can barely ring as they focus on holding the rope...

Learning how we learn

Teachers increasingly use research from cognitive psychology to inform how they teach. Cognitive psychology covers the study of the mind, including perception, attention and memory. How can this help you?

Get going with goals

Goal setting has been shown to be one of the most important motivational tools a tutor or coach can use when developing the skills of a participant in an activity. The principles of goal setting are generic and apply across the board to many activities including ringing.

Get GROWing with goals

Using goals when teaching is one of the most effective ways to motivate those learning. What factors will make the use of goal setting work better for your ringers?

Score from successful goals

Discover the various types of goals which can be used and when each type of goal might be useful when teaching ringers. Do you have a long term goal for your ringers or for your band? What do you think of when you set goals for your ringers? How do you plan the actions necessary to achieve long term goals?

5.1. Giving feedback – mind your language

5.2. Catch, pull and hold on

5.3. Use feedback loops to enhance your teaching - IDEAS for teaching handling

5.4. Learning how we learn

Teachers are looking more and more to research in cognitive psychology to inform their practice. Cognitive psychology is usually defined as the study of the mind, including perception, attention and memory. This field of research can help us to understand learning by testing hypotheses about learning strategies that are developed based on what we already know about the mind (Weinstein & Sumeracki, 2019). There are four important learning strategies that have recently moved from theory into practice and which have implications for all teachers. These learning strategies are outlined below with suggestions on how they relate to learning to ring.

Cognitive load theory

There are two important components of memory – long-term memory and working memory. Working memory is where thinking takes place, where information that is actively being processed before it moves to long-term memory for hopefully long-term storage. Working memory is finite. On average, your working memory can hold about seven ‘bits’ of information and only holds them for approximately 20 seconds. This limit of working memory means that it can quickly become over-loaded when dealing with new tasks. This is known as cognitive load theory. Structuring complex tasks by limiting the amount of new information can reduce this cognitive load.

One way to reduce cognitive load when teaching ringing is to break down a task so that the student can tackle it step-by-step. The ART Training Scheme already breaks down activities into several small steps. For example, teaching bell handling is broken down into many stages and exercises. More stages than in the way many of us were perhaps taught; by learning the backstroke, the handstroke and then both strokes together.

This theory of breaking tasks down will work for all stages of ringing, such as Call Changes, Plain Hunt and even the most complex of methods. Learning a place bell, calls, circle of work, etc. are all steps that can be learnt in stages rather than everything at once.

It is important to help students to shift learning from working to long-term memory. The next three theories suggest strategies for doing just this.

Spaced review

Learning everything to do with a topic during a single time period is not as effective as distributed learning (Dunlosky et al., 2013). Spaced review involves revisiting a topic after a ‘forgetting gap’ and strengthens long-term memory. A simple way to manage this is to build in review time to each teaching session, including reviewing learning from the previous week, month and/or further ago.

As we all know, intensive sessions work. Less of a gap between handling sessions in particular will help ensure that working memory moves to long-term memory. It is ok to revisit some of the smaller, earlier stages again and build them back together. For example, if a new ringer has managed to ring alone during the previous lesson, a good starting point would be to revisit single strokes at the beginning of the lesson before putting them together again. This will also build confidence. It is also good to review the learner’s logbook to remind them what they have learnt already.

For method ringing, good examples would be to practise a plain course before ringing a touch or waiting until the latest point before adding a call. Practising half a course or ringing a different bell to practise different place bells is also a good idea.

Retrieval practice

Repeatedly re-reading a text is not an effective way of learning. It is much more effective to try to retrieve what you already know from memory (Roedinger & Karpicke, 2006). Retrieval practice involves retrieving something you have learnt in the past and bringing it back to mind. Students are using retrieval practice every time they undertake a test. Using frequent, short and importantly, low-stakes tests causes students to retrieve knowledge on a regular basis. Any activities that require students to draw on past knowledge can have the same effect.

Theory is so important! Ringers will learn methods quicker and move onto more complex methods if they understand them. Writing methods out, the circle of work, treble passing are all good ways to make theory stick, far better than retaining memory from being talked at or reading text. Quick fire questions are also a great way to check understanding and to check reaction times that will need to be much quicker when they are actually ringing. “You’re ringing Plain Bob Doubles, you’re about to do a 3-4 up dodge, you hear the conductor call “bob!”, what do you do?” “Make the bob/make 4ths & in?” “Correct! What do you do next?” If they can recall the correct answers quickly, then they stand a far better chance of being able to remember when ringing it.

Elaborative interrogation

Elaboration involves describing and explaining in detail something that you have learnt. This approach supports learning by integrating new information with existing prior knowledge, helping to embed it in long-term memory. A well-studied form of elaboration is elaborative interrogation, which involves prompting students to generate an explanation by being asked ‘why?’ and ‘how?’ Studies have shown that learning effects are stronger when students generate answers to these questions themselves rather than being provided with the explanations.

In summary, regular reviews of learning, using low-stakes tests and asking students to explain what they have learnt can be very beneficial, helping to move learning from working memory to long-term memory. If they can hold on to that new knowledge and/or skill in their long-term memory then they have really learnt something. This is how we all learn new skills and methods and does not just apply to new ringers.

This theory can be used to check the learner’s understanding of how what they do on the end of a rope affects what the bell does and how a single stroke affects the next one. For example, it is sometimes counter-intuitive that to slow a bell down and ring a slow stroke, that you have to put more effort as opposed to riding a bike where less effort will make you go slower.

You can also check a ringer’s understanding of methods by getting them to recite what to do and randomly shout, “bob!” You can ask them to explain why they have to do what they do at a call. Recite a different place bell, etc. etc.

Jenny Wynn and Moira Johnson

References

Dunlosky, J. et al. (2013). Improving pupils’ learning with effective learning techniques: Promising directions from cognitive and educational psychology. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 14 (1) pp4-58.

Roedinger H. L. & Karpicke, J.D. (2006). Test enhanced learning: Taking memory tests improves long-term retention. Psychological Science 17, pp249-255.

Weinstein, Y. & Sumeracki, M. (2019). Understanding how we learn. Routledge, Oxon.

5.5. Engage in some reflective practice

5.6. Get going with goals

5.7. Get GROWing with goals

5.8. Score from successful goals

In this article we will look at the various types of goals which can be used and when each type of goal might be useful to us when we are teaching ringers.

• What do you think of when you set goals for your ringers?
• Do you have a long term goal for your ringers or for your band?
• How do you plan the actions necessary to achieve your long term goals?

Long-term goals

The long-term goal is the eventual target, in a way it is like an overall strategy. Long-term goals can be set for a band, for example becoming an 8-spliced ringing band or for an individual, for example ringing a first quarter or learning Plain Bob Doubles. It is important to have a long-term goal to aim towards, something to work towards. However, by definition long term goals take a long time to reach and this may make them seem remote and rather unachievable, a ringer may give up trying as there is no immediate success to create confidence and motivation.

Short-term goals

Short-term goals can be used as stepping stones along the way to the long term goal providing recognisable achievements along the way. Short-term goals can be specific and may be designed to work towards a certain part of the overall long term goal. These short-term goals can be used to improve any aspect of performance; handling, bell control, theory and concentration for example.

When each goal is achieved there is a boost to the ringers confidence and therefore to his or her motivation. It feels good to achieve something you have set out to complete.

Achievement Goals

Often ringers think of goals in terms of ringing a quarter peal of a certain method, perhaps a pass of the higher Levels of Learning the Ropes. This type of goal is known as an Achievement Goal. The goal is directed at achieving a target.

The problem with this sort of goal is that all the factors involved in achieving it are not controllable by the individual ringer. That is to say the achievement of the individual ringer is reliant upon the performance of others. Other ringers may go wrong or the quarter may be miscalled for example. This lack of controllability may lead to disappointment and frustration. For this reason focusing only on Achievement Goals may have unpredicted negative effects.

It is important that ringers achieve success, as without success they are likely to lose confidence in their own abilities.

There are other types of goals which are more controllable and can be used along the way to enhance confidence and motivation along the way to the eventual achievement goal.

Performance Goals

Performance Goals focus on improving performance (ringing with rhythm, improving striking, attending more frequently) that is to say on achieving a set of standards. Performance goals encourage the development of mastery of the skill, that is improving the standard of the ringing and can make a ringer feel satisfied with a performance.

These targets can be worked on by the ringer independently and are not reliant on the performance of other ringers. These goals relate to factors within the control of the ringer. Examples include:

• Improve rhythm on six – by ringing lots of Plain Hunt from different bells
• Improve 3/4 up dodge in Plain Bob Doubles – by ringing Bayles Bob Doubles
• Improve ringing up and down in peal – by practising on 3 then 4 then 6 then 8 bells
• Improve striking in Doubles Methods – by learning and ringing four new Doubles methods
• Improve treble ringing to Cambridge Surprise Minor – by ringing Treble Bob Hunt as an exercise

Process goals

Process Goals focus on controllable factors that will result in improvement, they can be used to concentrate on or to emphasise areas where a ringer needs to work to improve technique. For example: bell control, handling style, handling skills – such as pulling right through or catching the tail end after the handstroke pull, or listening skills, using a simulator or learning theory

• Improve dodging striking at backstroke – by practising taking in and letting out rope
• Improve accuracy of moving bell at handstroke and backstroke – kaleidoscope sequences
• Improve ability to set bell – bell control exercises such as "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star"
• Reduce method mistakes – learn theory more thoroughly, using quizzes, questioning, write out on board

Remember as a teacher to give feedback!

Research has demonstrated that by focusing on performance goals and process goals which are controllable rather than just on achievement goals, individuals are more likely to become more confident and better able to concentrate.

It is our responsibility as teachers to help set goals which can be realistically achieved.

Pip Penney

6. Education matters

National Teachers' Standards and Learning the Ropes

Clare learned to ring under those old ways of teaching, and now considers the ART approach – and the Learning the Ropes scheme in particular – against the Teachers’ Standards used in the world of school education.

Responding to the psychological needs of learners

Using Self Determination Theory, Mark looks at the teaching of bell ringing, to understand what motivates people to learn and why the sense of fulfilment or personal flourishing is so important in that process.

An exploration of learning styles

Jenny looks at the VAK learning styles model; its validity and its limitations. See how students learn using a mixture of learning styles and how their preferences may well change as learning progresses.

6.1. National Teachers' Standards and Learning the Ropes

6.2. Responding to the psychological needs of learners

6.3. An exploration of learning styles