A 'Prime Ring'
“The opportunity given to one ringer to have a go at what they want or need most, surrounded by a competent band. No other learners involved. They may well chose to have a stander behind person as well.”
The benefits of a prime ring are obvious.
If you could have a prime ring what would you want it to be? The chances are, you have already thought of that before you leave home. You have looked something up and you really hope the ringing master gives you the chance to have a good go at it. When you arrive at the tower, it’s busy. Fourteen or more people are crammed into our little ringing chamber and each and every one of them has come prepared and hopeful of their own Prime Ring.
The ringing starts. First of all a method is chosen, each rope needs a ringer, each ringer needs to check their start. Do we need standers? Anyone want a box? Do you need a knot in that rope? Yes? Ok, wait while people settle down. The ringing begins. It’s not well struck. Maybe there’s a bit of shouting in the middle, and it all ends. The whole process took ten minutes. The person for whom it was rung is a little disappointed and hopes to have another go later.
A practice is 90 minutes long. With so many people it’s not possible for everyone to have their go and those that do can be a little frustrated, especially when the touch failed and it wasn’t even their fault. This is a dilemma for Ringing Masters at each and every practice, not least of all because they’ve undoubtedly come with a plan of their own about who should be ringing what, and new methods to introduce. These plans go out of the window when people arrive who were not expected, or key people suddenly are not there.
People are keen and have looked up something specially, and the last thing you want to do is put someone off of coming! Most of all as the ringing Master, you know that this person is asking to ring something beyond their capabilities, and perhaps there are steps in between that you would prefer to take them through first.
So if the ringing fails and everyone goes home feeling frustrated and grumbling about the bad striking, then it may not to be long before our practices topple under the weight of its own success. People may start to drift away to other towers.
With 90 minutes of practice and 10 minutes a go, who should our practice time be given to? Which nine people should we be concentrating on? Our Advanced ringers, without whose help we would really struggle, especially on Sunday mornings? The new recruits who need as much practice they can get so that they can better support the Service ringing? Just the Sunday service Band? Well that’s quite an ability range, so again, what do we practice?
And what of our visitors, without whose help we would really struggle to give anyone a Prime Ring. Don’t they deserve a thank you? The role of the Ringing Master, as defined in our Tower Constitution is:
“To ensure a good standard of ringing and to facilitate improvement of the bands ringing standard.”
We all ring for our own pleasure and want to advance as individuals. But we are also a team, and it’s the job of our ‘coach’ to see that we advance as a whole. We would all be a bit shocked if we were told we can only ring plain hunt until the striking improves. But sometimes, that’s exactly what we need.
As a Ringing Master myself I have found this an impossible situation. The old adage “You can’t please everyone all of the time.” is true, and I often go home feeling I’ve failed. Vowing to get it right next week, I spend hours trying to work out what to ring and how to take the band forward. Only to be told, no I don’t want to ring that I have learnt this.
My solution is to pick just 5 methods that I think best suit the needs of the band as a whole and ring them until everyone can join in at least in part. Either by drumming behind, ringing the slow course bell, hunting the treble or ringing an inside bell. Perhaps what I’m not good at is explaining to the band why I’ve chosen these methods. For my part, I will try to communicate more.
Anyone got any thoughts?
