Listen & Strike - 8 Sep 2018

On a rainy Saturday in September, I attended St Mary’s church, Sandbach, for a Listen and Strike workshop. Throughout the day there was a variety of different activities completed to help fine tune our listening skills.

The day began with several ringers doing lots of fun exercises to improve their ability to listen to each other, without even touching a rope. We used clapping and speaking our places to different methods to help get our timing correct. Next, half of us rang rounds and the others had to say if we made a fault and whether it was on our handstroke or backstroke. Following on from this everyone listened to a recording of ringing from other towers. The task was to try and identify the number of bells which were being rung. We also had to work out the method they were ringing by listening for the tenor and where it sounded in the sequence. Finally we had to say if there were any faults made. During the afternoon we had access to the simulator. This meant that we could analyse our strokes and how we ring. We spent time finding out if our backstroke or handstroke was stronger of the two and then developed strategies on how to improve them. One of the many highlights of the day was the chance to ring methods on hand bells.

I discovered lots about my own style of ringing. I have developed lots of good strategies on how to improve both my striking skills and my ability to listen to the rhythm of the bells when I am ringing.

Thank you to all the teachers and other members of the course for making it a really successful day.

Leona Edge

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Course Tutor: Barbara Le Gallez

» What is a Listen and Strike Workshop?