[r-t] Musical new peals of Stedman Triples

[Richard Pullin]

A. J. Pitman composed a peal of Grandsire Triples where all the 678s, 468s
and 748s are at backstroke. For some time I'd wondered if the same had been
done or could be done in a peal of Stedman Triples. My interest was
rekindled recently when I had to call a half-muffled peal of Stedman
Triples and wondered if a peal would be possible with all of these row
types at handstroke (which theoretically is no different to the
earlier question)

Well the answer is 'yes' as I've recently put together some peals with
these qualities. All of the peals can be adapted to half-muffled ringing by
starting at backstroke:  https://complib.org/composition/150782
As bells 4,5 swap over at the part ends, all of the 568s and 758s also all
occur at back. This further adds to the attraction of the half-muffled
versions, with all 7568s being at hand.

I've no idea if these are the first peals with this feature as it's not
easily searchable in collections. Certainly none of Pitman's published
peals seem to share it. I suppose if there was great demand it would have
been done already.

Using the B-block plan was clearly by far the easiest way of achieving
these compositions. The starting point was to ensure that a q-set was
plained on bells 4,6,7 at the end of the first course, and also a q-set on
bells 5,6,7 at the beginning of the course with the stipulation that the
part ends 2314567, 3215467, 3214567 and 2315467 were used to ensure that
the true partner courses are matched up for these opening courses.
These few simple requirements were all that was needed to ensure all 678s,
468s and 748s occur at back, and from there it was simply a case of
plaining-in the remaining 16 courses to finish the part. This required some
careful navigation as the partner rule dictates which B-blocks can
truthfully be included based on the part ends. Consequently, there were
many nice symmetrical patterns in the joining of blocks based on the
pivoting of 23, 45, and 67.

The first version I produced can be rung with just 2 singles, giving an
exact 2-part with one single in each half (at the expense of an exact
4-part). As this is the same breed as Slack's 2-part, I'd be interested to
know of other examples that come this close to being a 4-part with only 2
singles in each half. Are there any?
https://bb.ringingworld.co.uk/comp.php?id=2309465

Two more versions of this peal (both exact 4-parts) add in more omits, but
are forced to have more singles. Swings and roundabouts! The last version
has 600 calls, which was the best I could manage.
https://complib.org/composition/150818

Being B-block peals there is no escaping the fact that the 678s, 468s and
748s are all confined near to the end and beginning of the parts, despite
my efforts to break them up in versions 2 and 3. Can a better B-block peal
or even a non B-block peal be found?

Another musical advantage of these peals is that all of the 76s off the
front occur at handstroke in the half-muffled versions, meaning that you
get back rounds at hand (several other types of roll up also occur at
hand.) In the normal versions for unmuffled ringing, all of the 76s off the
front are at backstroke giving many nice wraps off the tenor's
handstroke blow.

People don't seem as bothered these days about having 468s, etc at back as
they maybe once were, but I hope that some conductors might at least be
tempted by what the half-muffled peals can offer.

Finally, it was satisfying to have produced these peals entirely with pen
and paper. Fortunately - unlike Noonan - I didn't need so much paper as to
cover the inside of St Giles-in-the-Fields.
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