This week we have been trying to perfect the “stoppy starty thing” during practice. We even had an attempt whilst service ringing, which was probably unfair on those that enjoy listening to some decent ringing at 10.15am on a Sunday morning.
I am sure that some of you are intrigued as to what exactly the SS Thing is and why, when we can ring a respectable course of Plain Bob Minor, we resort to such antics. The purpose of the SS Thing is to reinforce an awareness of place, and of keeping one’s bell in the same place, when instructed to do so. In our context it involved moving from hunting to making a place, a place as long as the conductor insisted on, and then moving off seamlessly into hunting again, without muddling oneself up as to which direction was involved.
It works like this
- the band rings a method. We kept it simple and rang plain hunt
- at some point the conductor calls “pause, next backstroke”
- everyone remains in the place that they have reached next backstroke
- “resume, plain hunt” and we all launch back into the fray at the next handstroke
The actual execution took us a few attempts because of various misunderstandings.
To make it “obvious” the first experiment we were held in Back Rounds before resuming Plain Hunt. This meant that we did all “pause” in unison, but the “resume” instruction was lost in translation. We have never heard a “resume” command, so half of us ignored it. Perhaps we did not know what it meant?
Having had an explanation of what “resume” means (definition: Resume – to begin again after a pause or interruption), we still found it tricky to all move as one into the hunt again. Some went a tad earlier than others, and then held up waiting for something to happen. Even a very inexperienced ringer can guess the something.
Depending on what goes on in your brain while you are counting your place, some found it trickier than others to move off in the correct direction. I am quite comfortable with the concept, but others not so familiar.
When the conductor calls “That is all” you do not attempt to continue into rounds. S/he may have decided to finish in an unorthodox order. My apologies and then further apologies for excusing my idiocy by saying “But I thought you had made a ridiculously early call….” The particular conductor does not make ridiculously early calls.
It keeps on going until the conductor says to stop. Sorry (again). When trying something new, I tend to regress spectacularly and revert to previous behaviours that one hoped I was long past.
It is worth introducing to a fairly inexperienced band as an interesting exercise to see who is really counting their place and who is relying on memory of bell order. Do not expect it to work smoothly at the first attempt and, for best results, perhaps agree on your language before you start.
Something else for the tool box, although The Stoppy Starty Thing is a bit of a mouthful.
The Accidental Ringer 