Bob Doubles is a big deal.
Almost everyone rings this as their first ever proper method. Not only are you learning a whole load of new jargon, it’s the first time you will have a sequence of ‘work’ to remember. Understanding the significance of the treble, its passing places, why and what it means to you.
That’s an awful lot of theory even before you go near a rope.
An lot of people who learn to handle a bell, drop out of ringing at this stage, because they simply don’t get it. They think learning every method is going to be this hard and don’t feel they want to do battle with each new stage. They get despondent and give up.
But it doesn’t have to be that way. The trick is to LEARN THE THEORY! I can’t stress this enough. You are not learning how to ring Bob Doubles, you are learning how to learn methods in general. How to read and understand a diagram. The fact that its bob doubles is kinda beside the point. It could be any method, but Bob doubles is considered the easiest and therefore normally the one that is taught first. So don’t focus on remembering the method. Focus on learning how it works, why it works, what the rules are.
Once you have your head round the theory, the practical side of it is easy. And the lessons learned here, don’t need to be taught again. You will have those skills already so the next method will be easier. As you progress you will find you are working it out for yourself and no longer need the same level of support from your band members.
So, get down the pub, grab a pint and pencil and paper. Get an experienced ringer to explain it to you. Go home. Revise what you have been taught. Go back, ask questions, do the tests. Get it wrong. Try again. No one cares how long it takes you, or how many times you have to ask. They just care that you do the homework, learn it properly.
NOTE TO TEACHERS
I have never been comfortable with going from Plain Bob to Grandsire. The bells come in a different order. There’s two hunt bells to worry about, the dodges are upside down compared to what they know, and the bobs are all different.
Yes it sounds pretty. Yes, it’s a popular method. It’s also a dead end.
Teach them St Simons, St Martins, St Osmunds etc.
The work is the same as Plain Bob. The treble passing places are the same. The bobs are the same. Once they’ve got one, all they have to do is change the front work and they’ve got them all.
Learners judge their own progress by how many methods they can ring. So why make it hard for them? Give them things that follow on naturally and get them ringing lots of stuff. When they do finally come to learn Grandsire, they will have understood how methods work and be a more willing and able learner.
