Change ringing is a style of bell ringing developed for large church bells in Britain several hundred years ago. It does not involve ringing a melody on the bells, but rather permuting the order of sounding the bells according to formal rules called methods. Each person controls one bell using a rope, and the entire bell swings in a full circle. Change ringing is done today both on tower bells and on handbells. To ring handbells several people sit in a circle ringing two bells each. Each person rings their bell or bells at the appropriate time so that the set of bells together produce an interesting and pleasant sound.
We ring handbells every Monday evening at 7:00pm in 5-234, and we welcome beginners at any time. It doesn't take any musical skill or experience to learn change ringing. Contact Amy Moore (amymoore@mit.edu) or visit our web site at http://web.mit.edu/bellringers/www/ for more information. We will also be having an introductory meeting at 7:00pm on the first Thursday of classes in the fall, when you'll have a chance to see (and try!) both handbells and tower bells.
If you are interested in learning tower bell ringing, or you're just curious about what it looks and sounds like, or you want to pretend you're Paul Revere and need an excuse to get up the Old North Church steeple, we can arrange for it. Either drop by on Monday (especially if you also want to learn on handbells) or get in touch with us and we'll arrange a time.
Or...
Want to Join a Handbell Ensemble?
Change-ringing towers are few and far between in America, especially outside New England, so if you've heard or been in a carillon or handbell performance it was probably of a more melodic kind of music. Well, we don't have a carillon (yet), but we do have a three-octave set of tune-ringing handbells that we practice one evening a week. We're looking for people at all levels of experience--many current members had never rung before they joined, and others have rung for years. If you're interested or want more information, email Amy Moore (amymoore@mit.edu) or come to our introductory meeting in the fall.
We look forward to seeing you!