<br><br><div><span class="gmail_quote">On 12/1/06, <b class="gmail_sendername">Carl S Zimmerman</b> <<a href="mailto:csz_stl@mmSWQAScfpABe2Uj6KH5Tdou2E1cwD5eC5GplSFV3Xyf5UkegbTuB552qBkg51Ijld67P2sHXf-OaDVBBw.yahoo.invalid">csz_stl@mmSWQAScfpABe2Uj6KH5Tdou2E1cwD5eC5GplSFV3Xyf5UkegbTuB552qBkg51Ijld67P2sHXf-OaDVBBw.yahoo.invalid</a>> wrote:</span><br>
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Back to key signatures - of what use are they to ringers? Only to <br>
help explain to non-ringing musicians a very small bit of what <br>
ringing is all about - otherwise, no use at all. Contrary to <br>
Michael's assertion, bells hung for change ringing are NOT musical <br>
instruments in the ordinary sense of the term. They cannot be used <br>
to play music written for other instruments, and the music of change <br>
ringing is of almost no interest to musicians who play other <br>
instruments and are not ringers. Can you imagine playing 5040 <br>
changes on 8 keys of a piano, for example? Indeed, some ringers take <br>
pride in the fact that the music which they make is incomprehensible <br>
to non-ringing players of ordinary musical instruments. So the key <br>
signature that happens to fit the pitches of a particular ring of <br>
bells is irrelevant to how they are actually rung.<br>
<br>
<br>
P.S. If you think that the choice of sharp or flat for note names is <br>
confusing, just try to understand the viewpoint of the non-ringer to <br>
whom bell numbers are being "explained". The relationship of the <br>
number of a bell to its position in the major scale (which itself is <br>
based entirely on the tenor bell) changes not only with how many <br>
bells accompany the tenor in the tower but also with how many bells <br>
are being rung at the moment! Whuf! Oh, and the meanings of "up" <br>
and "down" the scale for a musician are opposite to what they are for
<br>
a ringer. Now that's confusing, innit?</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Tahoma;" lang="EN-GB">Of course Carl wrote much more, but the above is
selected.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Tahoma;" lang="EN-GB">Regarding his P.S. comments:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Tahoma;" lang="EN-GB">I wouldn't have thought that how many bells are
being rung at the moment compared with how many bells are in the tower is much
different from a piece of music written for a quartet not including lines for
all the other musical instruments that constitute an orchestra. Also, the terms
'up' and 'down' are identical when speaking of the sound produced whether on
say a piano or on a ring of bells. What might be confusing to a non-ringer is
that in bell ringing a bell is said to go 'up' because in order to do so, the
ringer doesn't affect the sound of his bell but actually holds it 'up' on or
nearer the point of balance in order to move it 'up' through the sequence of sounds
It is a question not of moving up & down the scale of sounds but of moving
up & down the sequence of positions</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Tahoma;" lang="EN-GB">The following (taken directly from the mss of a book
of mine which will probably never be published) might be of interest: </span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText"><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Tahoma;" lang="EN-GB">"Another instance of mistaken identity is found in a
book on the general history of music, written by Dr. Charles Burney, and
published in 1789. My notes on this are faded, therefore although I quote, it
must be read with caution. I have not come across this book since to allow me
to check punctuation but, in his book, Burney refers to the Tintinnalogia when
speaking of a piece of light music entitled 'A 5 bell Consorte'. (This music,
composed by John Jenkins, is actually reproduced on pages 37-43 of Morris's
'History & Art of Change Ringing.' Ernest notes that there is something of
the music of a course of Grandsire Doubles put to use.) Burney wrote that what
had originally given rise to this Consorte :-</span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText" style="margin: 0in 9pt 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Tahoma;" lang="EN-GB">seems to have been a book
called Tintinnalogia, or The Art of Ringing, published in 1668; a work not
beneath the notice of musicians who wish to explore all the regions of natural
melody, as in this little book, they will see every possible change in the
arrangement of diatonic sounds from 2 to12, which, being reduced to musical
notes, would point out innumerable passages that in spite of all that has
hitherto been written, would be new in melody and composition. The reader will
be able to form some judgement of the wonderful variety which the changes on
bells afford to melody by the annexed calculations, where it appears that even
in the plain and simple arrangements of natural sounds according to the species
of the octave, without the intersection of flats and sharps, eight notes will
produce 40,320 different passages, and on twelve, 479001600. </span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText" style="margin: 0in 9pt 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Tahoma;" lang="EN-GB"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText" style="margin: 0in 9pt 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Tahoma;" lang="EN-GB">Mersennus, in his 'Harmonie
Universelle', published 1636, has enumerated these changes and reduced to
musical notation, those of the hexachord, as an illustration of the amazing
variety, which may be given to the arrangement of only six sounds in melody. It
must not, however, be imagined that all the changes in the Table will be equal
agreeable, or even practicable if introduced in an aire. Yet in an almost
infinite number offered to a musician's choice, many would doubtless frequently
occur which would not only be pleasing but new.</span></p>
<br>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 9pt 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Tahoma;" lang="EN-GB">Out of the
great number of peals, which are given on 5, 6, and 8 bells in Tintinnalogia,
it is extraordinary that melody has not been consulted in the choice of
changes. There seems a mechanical order and succession in them, without the
least idea of selecting such as are most melodious and agreeable. Even the
'clams', or the collision of two bells together in counterpart, has been
settled by ringers without the least knowledge of harmony.</span><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Tahoma;" lang="EN-GB"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Tahoma;" lang="EN-GB">Dr.
Burney
would seem to be referring not to Tintinnalogia but to Campanalogia
because
Tintinnalogia only goes as far as two versions of Bob Minor on six
bells and gives no instructions on how to ring anything on 8 bells. The
term 'clams' is found not in Tintinnalogia but in Campanalogia which
book
introduces many more methods to be rung on up to eight bells."<br>
</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">mew<br>
<span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Tahoma;" lang="EN-GB"></span><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Tahoma;" lang="EN-GB"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Tahoma;" lang="EN-GB"> </span></p>
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