Open handstrokes

[John Harrison]

Does anyone know when ringing with an open hand stroke lead first developed
and why?

It is clearly described in the Clavis Campanalogia of 1788, but I can't
find any mention in Campanologia Improved of 1733. 

I thought the answer might be in the History of Change Ringing, but there
is no mention of it in the indexes, so I suspect not.
 
My guess is that the mechanics biased things in that direction, and that
some sort of innate musical sense helped to formalise it into the
convention we have now of using a single beat, rather
than trying to suppress it.  

I am sure there are people on this list who can give better answers to both
questions.

Regards

-- 
John Harrison
Website http://jaharrison.me.uk

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