[r-t] Spliced triples & surprise major: Thurmott composition & Philip's Christmas challenge
Philip Earis
Earisp at rsc.org
Thu Dec 15 11:15:33 UTC 2005
On Monday March 28 this year I asked:
"Does anyone know of a composition for spliced Stedman triples and
Bristol major? Ideally split into quarters, with just the tenor behind
in the Stedman"
Andrew Johnson replied the next day, saying:
"This is not quite what you wanted but see:
http://www-users.cs.york.ac.uk/~dgh/trimaj.htm
5048 Spliced Triples and Major
(1p/1m: 504 Stedman Triples; 4544 Bristol Surprise Major; 13 changes of
principle/method) rung at St Laurence, York
http://www.campanophile.co.uk/show.html?Code=8679"
I have recently been in correspondence with Maurice Thurmott, who has
very kindly sent me lots of his very interesting compositions. All were
composed completely 'manually' with pencil & paper, mostly in response
to specific requests. I hope to mention more at a later date, but one
that has caught my eye is spliced Stedman triples and surprise major
(6m), with roughly equal quantities of both.
It was composed in February 1994, in response to a request by Paul Smith
for a composition starting with the first half of Slack's Stedman
triples, and followed by surprise major. To the best of my knowledge is
both unrung and unpublished. I believe a peal of it is being attempted
this Sunday at Trumpington, with the great David Brown conducting.
The composition Maurice produced fits the brief perfectly: it starts
with the first half of Slack's notoriously difficult two-part Stedman
triples composition, finishing at the fourth row of the last quick six
to bring up 12347658. There are then 12 (mainly tenors together) courses
of spliced Yorkshire, Superlative, Huddersfield, Bristol, Cambridge and
London surprise major, bringing up 12754638. The peal finishes with 4
courses of Stedman, starting with a full slow six (which starts with a
bob), and coming round at the fourth row of a quick six:
5002 Spliced Triples & Major (7m)
Contains 2794 Stedman Triples; 416 Superlative; 384 Cambridge,
Huddersfield,
London, Yorkshire; 256 Bristol Surprise Major; 67 com
2314567 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0
2316547 s - - - - - - - |
2317564 - - - - - - - - |
6217534 - - - - - - - |
6257431 - - - - - - - |
5237461 - - - - - - - |
1257463 - - - - - - - |
1237456 - - - - - - - - |
1267435 - - - - - - - - |
6217453 - - - - - - |
6217345 - - - - - - - - |
6237415 - - - - - - - |
4317526 - - - - - - |
6417523 - - - - - - - |
6342517 - - - - - - |
6342751 - - - - - - - - |
6345127 - - - - - - |
6347152 - - - - - - - - |
6342175 - - - - - - - - |
6347521 - - - - - - |
6317542 - - - - - - - - |
6341572 - - - - - - - |
6341257 - - - - - - - - |
6341725 - - - - - - - - |
6327514 - - - - - - |
2314576 - - - - - |
2315746 - - - - - - - |
6215743 - - - - - - - |
1265473 - - - - - |
1235467 - - - - - - - - |
1275436 - - - - - - - - |
7235416 - - - - - - - |
6275413 - - - - - - - |
6215374 - - - - - - - - |
6235471 - - - - - - - |
6215437 - - - - - - - - |
6325741 - - - - - |
6315724 - - - - - - - - |
6345712 - - - - - - - - |
4315762 - - - - - - - |
6415732 - - - - - - - |
2316754 - - - - - - |
2314765 - - - - - - - - |
234765 5 B M W H
234756 s YS.SCL
534627 - 2 - - - Y.H.B.H.C.L.
453627 2 - CH.B.HCL.
652347 - s YSS.C.L
326547 2 - s CS.B.HY.L.
536724 s s - Y.S.HC.L
324657 - - s s Y.HS.C.L.
642357 3 s s YS.B.B.HC.L.
532467 3 - - - YH.B.B.S.C.L.
564237 - s s - YS.BSH.Y.L.
245637 - s YHSC.L.
1275463 - s Y.S.HCL
2=ss
3=---
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 E T
2547163 - - - - -
5374261 - - - - - - - - -
6417532 - - - - - - - - - -
(2314567) - - - - - - -
Whilst perhaps lacking some of the elegance of Hull's 7-part spliced
Stedman & Bristol, Thurmott's composition is a very interesting and
valuable contribution to this sadly unexplored genre. Incorporating
roughly equal amounts of triples and major is a good start, though
having four quarters rather than two halves (as is common in spliced
caters/royal and cinques/maximus) might provide a more interesting
framework. As this was not possible with Paul Smith's brief, it seems a
bit churlish to mention it now.
As might be expected in a composition of this type, truth is obtained by
keeping the tenor almost completely away from the back in the major. The
composition is not atw - most bells do most of the work, but the tenor
only rings place-bells 2,3 & 4 in Bristol, 6 & 8 in Yorkshire and
Cambridge, 2 & 5 in Superlative and Huddersfield and 7 in London.
Thus the only times the tenor is in 8ths place in the spliced is for the
row before the wrong in each course, and the coursehead: a mere 24 rows.
And so the 'traditional-style' music occurs mostly in the triples. A
brief summary is given in the table below:
Odd Even Total
xxxx5678 = 9 + 9 = 18
xxxx6578 = 6 + 7 = 13
13572468 = 1 + 0 = 1
xxxx8765 = 0 + 0 = 0
5678xxxx = 2 + 2 = 4
8765xxxx = 1 + 2 = 3
xxxxxx87 = 18 + 0 = 18
CRU = 42 + 45 = 87
According to www.peals.co.uk, there have been 12 previous peals of
spliced triples and major. I have not seen any compositions other than
those mentioned above - does anybody have access to any others?
I'm keen for the concept to be developed from the existing examples. If
the aim was to get the tenor at the back more in the major sections than
it is in Maurice's composition, what approach would people use? Is it
possible to use a different Stedman framework to Slack's, and employ
some trick involving rows of a certain parity to get the tenor at the
back more in the major?
Similarly, as mentioned above, how hard do people think it would be to
have more of a four-part structure (rather than the existing two-part)?
Perhaps using Thurstans' blocks in the Stedman. To repeat my request of
March 28, what I would really love to see is a four-part composition of
just spliced Stedman triples and Bristol major, in an equal Bristol,
Stedman, Bristol, Stedman arrangement. In other words, a composition
roughly analogous to Robin Hall's for cinques/maximus on
www.twiddlepin.org.uk. This is Philip's Christmas challenge.
=====
The Sirilic code for Maurice's composition is copied below:
8 bells
peal=slacks,
c1,c2,c3,c4,c5,c6,c7,c8,c9,c10,c11,c12,
bp,pb,pp,bp,pb,bp,line,
bb,bb,bb,pb,bp,pb,line,
bb,bb,bb,bp,bb,pb,line,
bb,bb,pp,pb,bbend,line
music="default","?5678","?8765","5678?","8765?","?87"
c1=y,+12,s,+1234,s,+12,c,+12,l,+12
c2=y,+14,h,+1234,b,+1234,h,+14,c,+14,l,+14
c3=c,+12,h,+1234,b,+1234,h,+12,c,+12,l,+14
c4=y,+12,s,+12,s,+14,c,+1234,l,+12
c5=c,+12,s,+1234,b,+1234,h,+12,y,+14,l,+1234
c6=y,+1234,s,+1234,h,+12,c,+14,l,+12
c7=y,+14,h,+12,s,+14,c,+1234,l,+1234
c8=y,+12,s,+14,b,+14,b,+14,h,+12,c,+1234,l,+1234
c9=y,+12,h,+14,b,+14,b,+14,s,+14,c,+14,l,+14
c10=y,+12,s,+14,b,+18,s,+12,h,+1234,y,+1234,l,+14
c11=y,+12,h,+12,s,+12,c,+14,l,+1234
c12=y,+14,s,+1234,h,+12,c,+12,l,+12
slacks=+3.1,"@",line,
sb,bb,bb,pb,bp,line,
bb,bb,bb,pb,bp,line,
bb,pb,pb,bp,bb,line,
pb,bp,bb,bb,pb,line,
bp,pb,bp,bb,bb,line,
bb,pb,bp,bb,pb,line,
bp,bb,bb,bb,pb,line,
bp,bb,bb,bb,pb,line,
bp,pb,bp,bb,pb,line,
pb,bp,bb,bb,bb,line,
pp,bb,bb,bb,pb,line,
bp,bp,pp,bb,bb,line,
bb,pb,bp,bp,bb,line,
bb,bb,pb,bp,pp,line,
pb,bp,bb,bb,bb,line,
pb,bp,bb,pb,bp,line,
bb,bb,bb,pb,bp,line,
bb,bb,bb,pb,bp,line,
pb,bp,bb,pb,bp,line,
bp,bb,bb,bb,pb,line,
bp,bb,bb,pb,bp,line,
pb,bp,bb,bb,bb,line,
pb,bp,bb,bb,bb,line,
pb,bp,bb,pb,pb,line,
bp,pb,bp,pb,bp,line,
pb,bb,bb,pb,bp,line,
bb,pb,bp,bp,bb,line,
pp,pb,bp,bb,pb,line,
bp,bb,bb,bb,pb,line,
bp,bb,bb,bb,pb,line,
bp,pb,bp,bb,bb,line,
bb,pb,bp,bb,pb,line,
bp,bp,bb,bb,bb,line,
pb,bp,bb,bb,pb,line,
bp,bb,bb,bb,pb,line,
pb,bp,pb,bp,pb,line,
bp,bb,bb,bb,pb,line,
bp,bb,bb,bb,pb,line,
bp,pb,bp,bb,bb,line,
bb,pb,pb,bp,bb,line,
bb,bb,pp,pb,bp,line,
bb,bb,bb,pb,bpend,line
PP = +7.3.1.3.1.3.7.1.3.1.3.1,"@"
PB = +7.3.1.3.1.3.5.1.3.1.3.1,"@"
BB = +5.3.1.3.1.3.5.1.3.1.3.1,"@"
SB = +567.3.1.3.1.3.5.1.3.1.3.1,"@"
BP = +5.3.1.3.1.3.7.1.3.1.3.1,"@"
PS = +7.3.1.3.1.3.567.1.3.1.3.1,"@"
BPend = +5.3.1.3.1.3.7.1.3.1,"@"
BBend = +5.3.1.3.1.3.5.1.3.1,"@"
line="-------"
s="@ superlative", "[superlative]",&-36-4-5-36-4-5-36-7
y="@ yorkshire", "[yorkshire]", &-3-4-5-6-2-3-4-7
c="@ cambridge", "[cambridge]", &-3-4-25-36-4-5-6-7
h="@ huddersfield", "[huddersfield]", &36-56.14.58-58.36-14-38.16-16.38
l="@ london", "[london]", &3-3.4-2-3.4-4.5.6-6.5
b="@ bristol", "[bristol]", &-5-4.5-5.36.4-4.5-4-1
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