[r-t] Candidate definition #10

[Don Morrison]

On Tue, Aug 12, 2008 at 6:29 PM, Matthew Frye <matthew__100 at hotmail.com> wrote:
> acually ringing these kind of things, we've even managed a couple of courses
> of Dixons at practice nights recently.

Many of these supposedly more esoteric things are really perfectly
practical to ring. They can be entertaining for non-superstar ringers:
even in such a colonial backwater as Boston, Massachusetts both
Dixon's and a variety of treble jump methods have been rung at
practices. And no, I was not the instigator--that was someone who
claims both to not like ringing surprise and that she feels 8-spliced
is out of what she can comfortably learn.

I think they have pedagogic value, too. Dixon's forces a good deal
more concentration and awareness of what others are doing than the run
of the mill Plain Bob band will usually apply. And treble jump methods
encourage more accurate listening and bell control, as well as
stretching the bounds of rope sight in unusual ways. And in all cases
the force the ringers to actually think a little bit more about what
they're having to do, which is always a good thing.


-- 
Don Morrison <dfm at ringing.org>
"No Dogma ever rolled over and died without a fight."
             -- Daniel Dennett, _Darwin's Dangerous Idea_