Pitch standards for bells

Mike Chester mike at m...
Fri Oct 1 01:03:22 BST 2004


--- In bellhistorians at yahoogroups.com, "Bill Hibbert" <bill at h...> 
wrote:
> which is usually not necessary) 

Exactly! The vast majority of ringers simply want to know what is 
the nearest key in modern parlance to what they "understand" (i.e. a 
fairly limited understanding regarding keys, based on playing 
chopsticks badly a piano tuned in the "modern" way!) 

They can understand Julie Andrews singing "Doh a deer", etc, in The 
Sound of Music, but could not care less about academic discussions 
about alternatives to equal temperament! 

I am a teacher, (so I am told - well paid babysitter it seems 
sometimes!) Parents want to know, "Has the boy/girl done well or 
bad", not just how well their achievements are compared to the 
average of students (cannot call them pupils any more) in their year, 
allowing for differences in the time of year that they were born. 

Are we not really talking about "horses for courses"? 99% of ringers 
simply wish to have a list hung on the ringing room wall saying that 
their bells are in the key of X. The other 1% can then get technical 
to the nth degree!

Mike 





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