Treble's Going

• Alison Stevens is a music theorist and ringer, currently in Vancouver, formerly of Smith College via UMass Amherst.
• We discuss how we approach the teaching of ringing, drawing on experiences in the classroom, in front of an orchestra, and even in dance halls. (You can see an example of contra dancing in this video, and hear more on the structural similarity to ringing in episode 003: Myles Dakan.)
• Despite our focus on methods of teaching, we do discuss many (ringing) methods for teaching, including Bastow*, Penultimus, Very Little Bob Minor, St. Simon's/St. Martin's, and 41 Surprise Minor Methods. (* - Alison and I are, unfortunately, imprecise with our language and use "Bastow" as a catch-all, ignoring the Bastow/Bistow distinction. Please forgive us.)
• Boomwhackers make themselves known! Here is a video of THUD! boomwhacking "Africa."
• Currently, Alison's been busy developing apps for ringing.

Thank you, friends.

• John Bihn learned to ring while at Williams College and is one of the many recent Williams ringers who were introduced to ringing by Casey McClellan. (Casey had learned to ring while on a Florence Chandler Memorial Fellowship.) 
• John is Ringing Master of the MIT Guild of Change Ringers.
• John discusses his first time conducting a quarter peal, in celebration of the 40th anniversary of the MIT Guild.
• We also discuss calling changes and Project Pickled Egg.

Thank you, friends.

• Sarah Moriarty learned to ring at Smith College, of the Five Colleges Consortium. She now splits her ringing among Boston's towers, Orleans, and The Noisy Oyster.
• Sarah was at Smith (majoring in maths) when Alice Dickinson spearheaded a successful effort to bring tower bells to the Mendenhall Center for Performing Arts. Articles in "Smithpedia" and in the Association for Women in Mathematics Newsletter summarize the role of bells on Smith's campus and remember Alice's life and contributions, respectively.
• Sarah also mentions Smith's honor of hosting the first North American Guild Annual General Meeting.
• Sarah describes how Smith ringers have seeded a new crop of "rising stars" in North American ringing. They include Leland Kusmer (episode 001), Bryn Reinstadler (episode 004), Kira Chase (current Trinity (NYC) ringing master), and Alison Stevens (episode 010, upcoming).

Thank you, friends.

• Tom Farthing is the North American Guild's Public Relations Officer. 
• Tom learned to ring at Kalamazoo College, under the tutelage of Jeff Smith, before the tower bells were installed. (Kalamazoo's handbell band is also discussed in episode 005.)
• Tom also rang briefly in Hendersonville, and now in Chicago. We discuss a peal of Cambridge Surprise Major full of firsts, and how he became the erstwhile North American rep for Abel!
• Primarily, though, we discuss the inauguration of North American Guild's Jeff Smith Young Ringer's Award, its 2019 awardees, and how to nominate. (GDoc link)

Thank you, friends.

• Laura Goodin is a writer and a ringer and, luckily for all of us, a remote teacher of ringing.
• Laura first tried her hand at ringing at St. Andrew's, Enfield (Dove's listing, heritage listing). She now rings at the St. James Old Cathedral in Melbourne, Australia.
• Laura is also the founder of the Ringing Room Take-Hold Lounge, a public facebook group (no login necessary to view/read) where hundreds of ringers coordinate online practices, performances, and classes.
• [Note that while the Take-Hold Lounge is premised on the use of Ringing Room (UK server, NA server), interested ringers may want to look at either Handbell Stadium (motion-controller inputs, Unity engine) or Muster (Abel/Beltutor/Beltower P2P coordination) as alternatives. The three are fundamentally-different technologies, designed to serve different audiences and priorities.]
• That's right, classes! In this episode we mainly discuss a class Laura's been teaching introductory ringing, completely online. But that's not all being organized in the Take-Hold Lounge: as of release, a workshop on calls in Plain Bob Doubles has just concluded, and we hear Laura pondering a class introducing Grandsire.
• Finally, Laura tells us a bit about St. James Old Cathedral's upcoming Festival of Bells; to let her know if you incorporate any of these ideas into your next event!
• Finally, I ask you to please consider providing feedback on these first six episodes in this survey.

Thank you, friends.

• John Schreiner is an organ builder, singer, and (luckily for us) a creative ringer.
• John learned to ring at Kalamazoo College; he remembers for us the experience of learning from Jeff Smith both in the classroom and in the tower.
• (Kalamazoo's handbell bands constructed methods including Kalamazoo Treble Bob Minor and Major, Stetson Surprise Minor, Queen's Gate Surprise Minor, Hinckley Delight Minor, Xarifa Delight Minor, Great Lakes Treble Bob Minor, Jeremiah Treble Bob Minor, and Michigan Delight Major.)
• We talk mostly about the construction of Academic Delight Major (on blueline and on complib), which was named at Kent School in memory of Nadia Yovanovitch, faculty emerita and mother of the Hon. Marie Yovanovitch. (Bellboard performance record.)
• We also learn that Martin Treble Bob Major was named for John's son! 

Thank you, friends.

• Bryn Reinstadler is a graduate of Williams College, a graduate student in machine learning and artificial intelligence at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and is the voice (and aesthetic sensibility) of Ringing Room.
• Bryn, with Leland Kusmer, taught MIT's recent course "English Change-Ringing: A Mathematical-Musical Team Sport." (Their reading list for this project is at the end of these notes.)
• If you'd like a short introduction to machine learning, Bryn recommends this two-minute YouTube video. 
• Mostly, though, we talk about permutations, Cayley graphs, and touring permutation groups. You know: ringing.
• For more discussion of the Chandler's 23-band, see the end of episode 001. For more discussion of Academic Delight Major, see episode 005.
• Selected readings:
  • Coleman, Steve. The Ringing in History Companion.
  • Morris, Ernest. The History and Art of Change Ringing.
  • Sanderson, J (ed.). Change Ringing: The History of an English Art, vol I-III (CCCBR).
  • Davies, Michael B. The Unassuming Genius: The Life and Times of AJ Pitman.
  • Shurcliff, Margaret Homer. Lively Days: Some Memoirs of Margaret Homer Shurcliff.
  • Snowdon, Jasper. The Method of Double Norwich Court Bob Major.
  • Simpson, J. Michael (ed.). There Was Life Before NAG (NAGCR, available at nagcr.org).

Thank you, friends.

• Myles Dakan is the Deputy Ringing Master at Trinity, Wall Street in New York.
• Myles is another graduate of the linguistics program at Swarthmore...
• ...and is a shape-note singer...
• ...and is a modern Western square dancer.
• Most of the time, though, we talk handbells.
• RingingRoom gets its due mention.
• Here's a concise introduction to place notation from "The Learning Curve" and the booklet "Place Notation" going into more depth (CCCBR, 1984).
• Trinity has almost reopened.
• (And since Myles was gracious enough to mention it, here's the quarter our faculty kids just rang in tower.)

Thank you, friends.

• Quilla Roth is the Education Officer of the Washington Ringing Society and a proud graduate of the National Cathedral School.
• Quilla has been ringing at Washington National Cathedral since the dedication of its tower.
• A brief overview of Title IX, for your reference.
• Stedman Singles (!) on complib and blueline.
• Ringing Room gets another mention.

Thank you, friends.

• Leland Kusmer is a linguist, a ringer, and (thankfully, for all of us) a bit of a web programmer.
• Leland's tune (handbell) choir: Bell Appeal, out of San Francisco.
• Swarthmore College, where Leland describes enjoying "a combination of social responsibility and academic rigor."
• Ringing at Smith College--as I write this the featured photo includes Leland. Keep reading, and you'll see a photo of an upcoming guest =)
• Ringing Room, the world's premier online ringing website! Try it, and join the thousand-plus ringers using it during social distancing/stay-at-home!
  • Recent BellBoard entries "located" in Ringing Room.
  • Ringing Room Take-Hold Lounge (facebook group)
• Don Morrison's "Build-Up Peals to Chandler's 23" on CompLib.

Thank you, friends.