[r-t] Jump change methods
Philip Earis
pje24 at cantab.net
Sun Apr 3 04:20:08 UTC 2016
Don:
"I know Mersey Ferry, Cambridge Jump and London Jump, but not the other
three. Could someone let me know how they work, please?"
For Double Oxford jump, from memory the idea was analogous to Cambridge
Jump, in that it's a "right place" method where only the treble jumps...here
the treble path is 124356653421. So a lead of the method would be:
123456
214365
243156
421365
243615
426351
243651
426315
241635
426153
412635
146253
142635
Calling a standard WHW extent gives a true 720.
Actually, I've just done a search and you can see the original performance
at http://bb.ringingworld.co.uk/view.php?id=921801
"And is there any particular reason why "Jump Stedman" on five but "Stedman
Jump" on seven? Perhaps that will become obvious when I see what they are"
It's because they are two different methods. I wrote about Jump Stedman
Doubles in the Christmas 2010 issue of the RW, and wrote (with Ander
Holroyd) an article on Stedman Jump triples that appeared in the RW almost
exactly one year ago IIRC. I've reproduced the text of the article below.
As well, you can see these messages posted to this list:
<http://bellringers.net/pipermail/ringing-theory_bellringers.net/2013-January/004626.html>
<http://bellringers.net/pipermail/ringing-theory_bellringers.net/2008-September/002748.html>
To summarise, Jump Stedman Doubles was rung first, the method chosen because
it yields a plain course extent (120). It uses the classic stedman motif of
double-dodging above 3rds place, with the front-work alternating between the
4 "classic" types of 6 (quick, slow, "jump up / cold" and "jump down /
hot").
Stedman jump triples was rung later...this is a very elegant method with
just alternating hot and cold sixes.
With both the triples and doubles, again only one bell jumps per change. Of
course, with unrestricted jump changes there are 120 (5!) ways of arranging
the extent on 3 bells, including the "cross jump" where 123 becomes 321.
Ander - did you look at possible jump stedman arrangements where the method
uses some of these more exotic arrangements?
+++++
Stedman Jump Triples
Stedman Jump
The discovery of an exciting new method related to a traditional favourite.
Ringers can be a conservative lot. Many of today's popular methods and
compositions look much like yesterday's. This is not always a bad thing:
change ringing has a rich history and remains defined by its fundamental
framework of true sequences of rows, which allows almost infinite numbers of
methods. Some traditional methods have stood the test of time for good
reason.
That said, we shouldn't close our minds to the possibilities of something
bigger, better, or simply different. Even, or perhaps especially, if that
means upsetting traditionalists. Innovation and evolution are the sign that
ringing is healthy and alive. And indeed, ideas of what is “traditional” and
by implication good, wholesome and (to some) “permissible” can sometimes be
very misplaced...we should remember how unfamiliar and perhaps shocking
Fabian Stedman's innovations to ringing in the 17th Century must have been
to many ringers at the time.
The spirit of experimentation does seem quite healthy in ringing at the
moment, even if the Central Council often lags behind recognising this.
Still, even recent designer new methods feel like, sound like, and are,
technical variations on a familiar theme. What about pushing the boat out
further? What can we ring that is both genuinely different and worthwhile
whilst still being change ringing?
The long history of jump changes
Jump changes involve one or more bells moving more than one place in a
single stroke. While this causes a range of emotions to some, the idea of
jump changes is actually not at all new. Indeed, jump changes date back
hundreds of years to the beginning of change ringing. Not many ringers know
that in the classic 1671 book Tintinnalogia, published by Fabian Stedman
himself, we read that jump changes were a suggested way of ringing a true
120 of Grandsire Doubles without the need for singles:
==
This Peal may be rang without making any single change therein, which is
done by making a double change to supply the place of it. There are two of
these double changes in each Peal; the first of them may be made at any bob
within sixty changes from the beginning of the Peal, and the second is to be
made just sixty changes from the first. At a double bob, it may be made at
either of the two bob-changes; at the first of them, 'tis made by moving the
whole Hunt down, and the bell in thirds place up over two bells at once into
the tenors place, thus:—
4 1 3 2 5
1 4 2 5 3
==
It is especially interesting that singles in Grandsire were considered
perhaps distasteful in Stedman's time. Today, most ringers don't give
singles a second thought because they are so familiar, and any new attempt
to “outlaw” them would be considered crazy. We should similarly question
our own modern prejudices: unfamiliarity does not mean that something should
be banned or considered inferior or unacceptable. Jump changes are easy to
describe in the same framework as more familiar methods. Methods which
include jump changes are very much part of the change ringing family and
deserve to be described and recognised as such.
Jump for joy
In theory, we could go from any row to any other row in one jump change. In
practice, that could be unrealistic in terms of bell control (it is
particularly hard to make big bells jump many places, especially down).
Besides, it can be helpful to have some framework to inspire creativity.
One constraint a composer might impose would be that a bell jumps by at most
two places, and perhaps that only one bell jumps in a change. This means
that when a bell jumps, two others must move in the opposite direction to
make room for it. So for example we could go from
rounds 1234567
to 2315476
(here bell 1 jumps, bells 2 & 3 “accommodate” the jump, and bells 4567 swap
in the normal way). Note bell 3 rings over bell 2 in both rows, even though
both move position between the rows)
An Exciting New Method
Recent years have seen some tentative exploration of jump changes of this
kind, with some new jump methods being rung, including some peals and
quarters. Discussions between Ander Holroyd and the late Eddie Martin in
2011 led to an idea for an exciting new jump method related to Stedman. This
was quickly named Stedman Jump for obvious reasons.
The familiar method Stedman comprises alternating quick and slow sixes, and
hence when a bell comes down to 3rds place it will either “go in quick” or
“go in slow”. The new method Stedman Jump comprises alternating “cold”
sixes (consisting of 5 consecutive changes of the kind illustrated above,
with a bell jumping up from lead to 3rds place), and “hot” sixes (the
reverse, where a bell jumps down from 3rds place to lead). The bells above
3rds double dodge just as in familiar Stedman.
This results in an elegant principle with two front works, hot and cold (see
diagram). In contrast with the familiar Stedman, in Stedman Jump the two
front works are the same length (three sixes each), meaning the coursing
order is not disrupted, and half way through the course all the back bells
return to their home positions.
Miraculously, the front 3 bells end up on the front in the other possible
order, so truth is maintained, and Jump Stedman works on any odd stage.
Jump in!
Stedman Jump is a hugely enjoyable method to ring, and is both accessible
and a good challenge. The method was first pealed in Cambridge in January
2013, and thoroughly enjoyed by the band. Give it a go!
Compositions
• Stedman Jump triples uses conventional Stedman bobs and singles, only
affecting the bells dodging in 4-5 up and 6-7
• An elegant, true peal composition of 5040 Stedman Jump Triples can be
obtained. The extent below is a perfect 7-part based on a palindromic
21-part structure (effectively a 42-part composition) – very nice properties
indeed.
• The existence of a bobs-only extent of Triples is as yet unknown.
• A true 5-part extent of 120 Stedman Jump Doubles is easily obtained by
calling a 3rds place bob (place notation 3 instead of 5 between two sixes)
every 4 sixes.
• Regarding Caters (respectively, Cinques), composers might want to start
with the observation that the four-course block with each course called 5.6s
(6.7s) contains all the 56 rollups.
• (An earlier method foray in the same direction, named Jump Stedman
Doubles in 2008, combined hot and cold sixes with conventional quick and
slow sixes to obtain an attractive plain course extent of 120 doubles, but
this method does not extend naturally to higher stages. This method was
described in more detail in the Christmas 2010 issue of the Ringing World).
ALEXANDER E HOLROYD and PHILIP EARIS
5040 Stedman Jump Triples
Alexander E Holroyd
1234567890 1234567
-------------------
- s ss 6273145 |A
sss-sss: 4736251 |
-------------------
A 6135724
-------------------
- s s 2147653
-------------------
- 5372164 |D
- s s - 1562347 |
-------------------
s: 2456137
D 4312756
s: 2531476
D 5742631
sss-sss 6712345
-------------------
7 part
Non Association
Cambridge, Cambridgeshire
St Andrew the Great
Saturday, 12 January 2013 in 3:02 (10-3-1)
5040 Stedman Jump Triples
Composed by Alexander E Holroyd
1 Philip J Earis
2 Elizabeth A Orme
3 Alexander E Holroyd
4 Rebecca A Woodgate
5 Thomas M Perrins
6 Jonathan A Agg
7 Phillip M Orme
8 J Robert Johnson (C)
First peal in the method.
+++
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