Bellringing and music

The sound of changeringing is familiar to anyone living near a tower where bells are rung in the English style. There are over well 5000 rings of changeringing bells in England and several other parts of the world. Edgard Varèse, defined music as "organized sound" , which definitely encompasses changeringing. (For a fuller discussion, see the entry in Wikipedia.)

I include a brief overview of ringing music in all my talks to non-ringers, but in October 2008, I was invited to give a talk to the annual meeting of the Southeast Region of Making Music (aka the National Federation of Music Societies) (see what I said about it at the time  and the article I wrote for The Ringing World).

Describing ringing to experienced musicians, and trying to do so in their own language was an interesting challenge. The talk was appreciated, and I was subsequently asked to write a series of articles for their Newsletter, which you can download:

• The music of changeringing –1  The origins of English style ringing, how bells are hung, tuned and rung

• The music of changeringing – 2  Ringing 'methods'and how ringers learn them

• The music of changeringing – 3  Ringing compositions

• The music of changeringing – 4  The performance skills used by ringers

For more information on music in changeringing, see the ringing wiki . For a broader overview of changringing, see About Ringing 

Contact me   if you would like to know more.