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Sep. 26th, 2021 10:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sorcyressI think today was the fourth time I attempted a quarterpeal of Stedman. Twice pre-pandemic, once in RingingRoom (our online source), honestly maybe one more time in the during-pandemic, somewhen since the spring? But I'm not as certain of that, so let's go with fourth time.
Which is apparently the charm. Fourth time went, and that means I now have a nice quarter of Stedman with lots of bobs and me affected for bunches of them just sitting there on Bellboard. This is my fourteenth successful quarter, and apparently my twelfth in tower --I should maybe try to do more handbells sometime to balance it out.
It is, realistically, the hardest thing I've ever rung, especially since I trebled a 720 of mixed doubles immediately beforehand, and did both hours of service ringing immediately before *that*. So like, that took care of physically wearing me out beforehand, the emotional worn-out was caused by a trip to the ER yesterday (not for me, everyone's fine now), and the mental wear was because it was _quite a lot of Stedman_. I had Ed just next to me though, and he put me straight once I realized I didn't actually know the work for the 4-5 updodge1.
(I confused it for cat's ears, which is the work for a single in Stedman doubles. I worked it out pretty fast, thank god, because it would've been an exhausting peal if Ed had to fill me in the entire time.)
I did just fine with the rest of the work when I came to it, aided by the fact that Austin was calling a comp where you always had four bobs in a row, which meant I didn't have to track parity (beyond the normal part of tracking parity). This also means it was a composition where you'd just be idly hanging out in 6-7, maybe giving your dodging partner a nice nod of the head...and then suddenly realize yinz gonna be dodging with each other for another 24 changes. HAVE FUN COUNTING! (Naw, it was fine--I got pretty good at counting "6-1 7-1 6-2 7-2..." in my head.)
Also it meant I got to go through the slow work for Stedman a *bunch* of times, which is always Good Days for me. I have started paying more attention to the sixes, which means I'm doing slightly worse at the line, but slightly better at...everything else with it? Being able to consistently count to six is certainly a Useful Stedman Skill, and honestly, getting my subconscious to know what the different sixes sound like is an _excellently_ useful skill, because that + ropesight + a strong band = it's okay if I don't actually know if I'm going in slow or quick. Yes really, I think I had two instances of that total, and managed to figure it out fast enough to not sound like I'd known all along.
I'm feeling pretty good about it. I've realized, in during-pandemic ringing times, that I'm reasonably competent about making the bell be mostly in the position I want it to? It took me yonks to get here, but now that I am, taking a break for the better part of a year didn't really throw me off. I'm definitely not as perfect as I could be, but I'm loads better than I was, and taking in/letting out tail feels really good and natural these days.
Which does mean I can ~focus on learning methods~ which is such a funny prospect because like...methods are hard, yo, but also because I more or less refuse to admit I ever know any. This has been most evident with Grandsire, which Phoebe sorta decided last week it was Time For Me To Learn and we did a fair chunk of practice with it, because apparently it's unreasonable for me to know Stedman super well and Grandsire not at all?
(To be fair, I don't know Grandsire, or at least not to my Standards. I actually don't know the bobs for Grandsire (which is to say I've learned them and tried a few times but not enough to do them correctly yet) and I legitimately haven't learned singles yet. Which reminds me that I should learn singles for Stedman trips, because the quarter didn't use those.
Part of the problem really is that my Standards for having actually learned a bells thing are _much_ higher than anyone else's standards for me (except maybe Laura's). "Oh come on, you have definitely done that before" may be a true statement, but it doesn't mean I think I've learned it. So singles for Stedman fall into that category, and also any of the SMOE methods (Simons, Martins, Osmunds, Eynesbury). And basically all of Grandsire, and calls for Cambridge minor --yes, I know they're just the same as in plain bob and I've successfully quartered Cambminor, but that was on the ~computer~ and doesn't mean I actually ~know~ anything.)
Anyways.
I should draw more things on the graph paper, because that is how I actually learn methods --that and just ringing them a fuckton with the blue line rattling in my head, but it's much easier to learn place bells if I draw them out. I think the aforementioned SMOE are high on the list for "stuff to do soon" and then also London minor and starting in on some surprise major. A wicked part of me wants to skip Cambridge major and jump straight into London and Bristol and Superlative instead, because I think it'd be _very funny_ to insist to people that I can't do the easy one, just the harder ones, but I will probably not be organized enough to actually do this.
And that's where I'm at with this whole thing. It took me about two years and four months to go from first plain course to first quarter, but in my defense, I wasn't ringing for literally a full year of that.
Practice makes continuing to improve, change by change.
~Sor
MOOP!
1: "oh not much, what's up with you?"
Which is apparently the charm. Fourth time went, and that means I now have a nice quarter of Stedman with lots of bobs and me affected for bunches of them just sitting there on Bellboard. This is my fourteenth successful quarter, and apparently my twelfth in tower --I should maybe try to do more handbells sometime to balance it out.
It is, realistically, the hardest thing I've ever rung, especially since I trebled a 720 of mixed doubles immediately beforehand, and did both hours of service ringing immediately before *that*. So like, that took care of physically wearing me out beforehand, the emotional worn-out was caused by a trip to the ER yesterday (not for me, everyone's fine now), and the mental wear was because it was _quite a lot of Stedman_. I had Ed just next to me though, and he put me straight once I realized I didn't actually know the work for the 4-5 updodge1.
(I confused it for cat's ears, which is the work for a single in Stedman doubles. I worked it out pretty fast, thank god, because it would've been an exhausting peal if Ed had to fill me in the entire time.)
I did just fine with the rest of the work when I came to it, aided by the fact that Austin was calling a comp where you always had four bobs in a row, which meant I didn't have to track parity (beyond the normal part of tracking parity). This also means it was a composition where you'd just be idly hanging out in 6-7, maybe giving your dodging partner a nice nod of the head...and then suddenly realize yinz gonna be dodging with each other for another 24 changes. HAVE FUN COUNTING! (Naw, it was fine--I got pretty good at counting "6-1 7-1 6-2 7-2..." in my head.)
Also it meant I got to go through the slow work for Stedman a *bunch* of times, which is always Good Days for me. I have started paying more attention to the sixes, which means I'm doing slightly worse at the line, but slightly better at...everything else with it? Being able to consistently count to six is certainly a Useful Stedman Skill, and honestly, getting my subconscious to know what the different sixes sound like is an _excellently_ useful skill, because that + ropesight + a strong band = it's okay if I don't actually know if I'm going in slow or quick. Yes really, I think I had two instances of that total, and managed to figure it out fast enough to not sound like I'd known all along.
I'm feeling pretty good about it. I've realized, in during-pandemic ringing times, that I'm reasonably competent about making the bell be mostly in the position I want it to? It took me yonks to get here, but now that I am, taking a break for the better part of a year didn't really throw me off. I'm definitely not as perfect as I could be, but I'm loads better than I was, and taking in/letting out tail feels really good and natural these days.
Which does mean I can ~focus on learning methods~ which is such a funny prospect because like...methods are hard, yo, but also because I more or less refuse to admit I ever know any. This has been most evident with Grandsire, which Phoebe sorta decided last week it was Time For Me To Learn and we did a fair chunk of practice with it, because apparently it's unreasonable for me to know Stedman super well and Grandsire not at all?
(To be fair, I don't know Grandsire, or at least not to my Standards. I actually don't know the bobs for Grandsire (which is to say I've learned them and tried a few times but not enough to do them correctly yet) and I legitimately haven't learned singles yet. Which reminds me that I should learn singles for Stedman trips, because the quarter didn't use those.
Part of the problem really is that my Standards for having actually learned a bells thing are _much_ higher than anyone else's standards for me (except maybe Laura's). "Oh come on, you have definitely done that before" may be a true statement, but it doesn't mean I think I've learned it. So singles for Stedman fall into that category, and also any of the SMOE methods (Simons, Martins, Osmunds, Eynesbury). And basically all of Grandsire, and calls for Cambridge minor --yes, I know they're just the same as in plain bob and I've successfully quartered Cambminor, but that was on the ~computer~ and doesn't mean I actually ~know~ anything.)
Anyways.
I should draw more things on the graph paper, because that is how I actually learn methods --that and just ringing them a fuckton with the blue line rattling in my head, but it's much easier to learn place bells if I draw them out. I think the aforementioned SMOE are high on the list for "stuff to do soon" and then also London minor and starting in on some surprise major. A wicked part of me wants to skip Cambridge major and jump straight into London and Bristol and Superlative instead, because I think it'd be _very funny_ to insist to people that I can't do the easy one, just the harder ones, but I will probably not be organized enough to actually do this.
And that's where I'm at with this whole thing. It took me about two years and four months to go from first plain course to first quarter, but in my defense, I wasn't ringing for literally a full year of that.
Practice makes continuing to improve, change by change.
~Sor
MOOP!
1: "oh not much, what's up with you?"
no subject
on 2021-09-27 05:49 am (UTC)There is a lot to be said for everyone worldwide knowing some of the same things. Grandsire is generally one of those, despite the sneakiness of the calls. For surprise, Cambridge is the one most people know, so it's the one you'll be expected to know, and it extends cleanly up to however many numbers one can do. There are arguments for Yorkshire Major before Cambridge Major, and other people would suggest Cornwall. I'd support you going to Superlative first if that's what you want. But the ringing world (lower case) will expect you to be able to ring Cambridge if you ring much surprise. That kind of thing is what led to the Standard Eight surprise methods (everybody at a high-ish skill level knew them, so everybody at that level had to know them), and then eventually to rebellion of the Pickled Egg starter Seven, which were chosen to be more worthy in some (very clearly stated) ways, although there is a lot of overlap.
no subject
on 2021-09-27 05:57 am (UTC)no subject
on 2021-09-27 02:22 pm (UTC)You probably *could* just skip directly to Superlative if you wanted to: it is (although not everyone realises it) actually easier than Cambridge major. You basically just take the line for the 3rd- and 4th-place bells in Cambridge and then flip it and reverse it repeatedly. (And add some extra dodging and whole turns, but we've just established that you're good at keeping count of dodges.)
Bristol would be...harder.