[r-t] And now for something completely different

[Matthew Frye]

On 2 Jan 2015, at 22:35, Don Morrison <dfm at ringing.org> wrote:
> What's the most notable innovation in ringing in the last 100 years?

I might nominate the idea of an "architectural" view of composing. I can't remember who proposed this idea (on this list, I think. It may well have been PJE), but it refers to the idea of developing the structure, concept and/or outline (the architecture) of your composition before looking at the details such as methods and calls (presumably the bricks you build your architecture with) and putting those together to achieve your particular effect. I suppose this idea has been around somewhat for many years, but it has now been pushed to quite extreme lengths.

Link methods embody this idea very well, "methods" that were designed for a specific point and purpose in a composition, not compositions built of existing methods. I suppose the cyclic trend also fits in here - the method(s) rung is/are often secondary to the fact that it is cyclic - and similarly with ideas such as mega-tittums (whether or not used as a cyclic shift), in those cases it is more the calls rather than the methods that are the focus and basis of the design of the composition.

Alan Reading's recent "magnificent 96" spliced major composition, discussed here early December, is an excellent example. As is the Particles peal composition, and to greater or lesser extents many of the earlier cyclic max peals, particularly link methods as mentioned earlier.

Admittedly, this is something that focuses a lot on the top end of ringing, but the question is phrased "most notable" not "most widespread", and we can hope such ideas continue to grow.

MF