PLAIN BOB DOUBLES - TOUCHES 2

 

In this session we will be looking at the calling positions in Plain Bob Doubles and other doubles methods where the Tenor is affected by the bobs. We will see that the underlying theory is exactly the same as that for bobs at Home and will find out how the 5th's position at the start of the coursing order is maintained.

 

Calling Positions

 

The following diagram shows all the calling positions along with their usual names:

 

12345                          13524                          15432                          14253

21435                          31254                          51342                          41523

24153                          32145                          53124                          45132

42513                          23415                          35214                          54312

45231                          24351                          32541                          53421

54321                          42531                          23451                          35241

53412                          45213                          24315                          32514

35142                          54123                          42135                          23154

31524 *                       51432 *                       41253 *                       21345 *

13254                          15342                          14523                          12435

13524 4                       15432 O                      14253 I                        12345 H

 

   *       =          Bob called here

   I        =          In

  O       =          Out (more correctly: Before (B))

   4       =          Fourths (often in Doubles this is called Make)

 H   =    Home

 

                                    Fig. 1  - Plain Bob Doubles calling positions.

 

Points Arising From The Diagram

 

Terminology

 

Bobs at Home are so called because the Tenor ends up in its home position, i.e. in the position where it started the course.

 

Bobs at 4ths are so called because the Tenor makes 4ths and ends up as 4th's place bell.

 

Bobs at In are so called because the Tenor "runs in" at them and ends up as 2nd's place bell.

 

Bobs at Out are so called because the Tenor "runs out" at them and ends up as 3rd's place bell. Strictly speaking this calling place should be called "Before" because this term is used for methods where the Tenor leads immediately before the Treble and would have made 2nds but for the bob. The term "Out" is usually applied to methods where the Tenor would have hunted out anyway, such as Kent or Bristol.

 

It is important to realise that it is the position that the Tenor ends up in as a result of the call that gives the calling place its name and not where it would have ended up otherwise.

 

Touches Of Plain Bob Doubles

 

There is a limited number of touches of Plain Bob Doubles. Basically there are just 4 different true touches. These are: a 120, a 100 (not very well known) a 60 and a 20, as follows:

 

  20                                60                              100                             120

 

2345                            2345                            2345                            2345

                    -   2354                        -   2354                            3524                            3524

                    -   2345                            3425                        -   3542                            5432

                                                           Twice                            5234                            4253

                                                         Repeated                    -   5243                        -   4235

                                                                                                2354                           Twice

                                                                                              Repeat                       Repeated

 

"But there are 4 ways of calling 120!" I hear you exclaim. Well, yes there are but it is the case that the calling for any touch that starts and ends at exactly the same place in the method can be started from any lead head. So, using B as an abbreviation for Bob and P as an abbreviation for Plain, we can say the following for each of the above touches:

 

The 20 - Since there is a bob at each lead end (can be written as B B) there is only one way to call this.

 

The 60 - Since the touch as written consists of a bob followed by a plain lead (B P) it can be called in two ways: starting with a bob as shown or starting with a plain and ending with a bob (P B).

 

The 100 - This can be called in 5 different ways by starting at any of the 5 lead heads shown. These are B P B P P, P B P B P (as shown), P P B P B, B P P B P or P B P P B.

 

The 120 - As with the 60 and 100 this can be started at any of the four lead heads to give the four 120s: P P P B (as shown), P P B P, P B P P or B P P P.

 

Touches of 120 of any Doubles method are knows as "Extents" because they contain all the 120 arrangements of 5 bells that exist.

 

Quarter Peals

 

A quarter peal is a touch of at least 1260 changes and as such it must consist of ten 120s and one 60. The 120s can be any 120s whatever and the 60 can be either touch of 60 and can be called wherever seems easiest. Sometimes a quarter peal of 1320 is rung which consists of eleven 120s.

 

There is a serious pitfall that many budding conductors fall into and that is the error of not finishing one extent before starting the next. This happens when the first call of the next extent is at a later calling position than the last call of the previous extent. Thus, if the first call of the next extent is a Home then the previous extent must be allowed to finish with Rounds before calling this Home. Similarly, if the first call of the next extent is an In and the last call of the previous extent is an In or a Before then the previous extent must be allowed to finish with Rounds before calling this In

 

Transposition Of Bobs At In

 

This section and the following two might terrify some people. If this applies to you then skip to the section "Summary Of Transpositions For Each Calling Position". Even though the following sections will give you a better understanding you will still become a competent conductor without reading them if to do so would give you nightmares.

 

We must look at the third lead continued into the last lead of a plain course and compare it with the third lead followed by the lead produced after a bob. Look at these figures:

 

         Plain Lead                Bobbed Lead

 

15432                             15432

51342                             51342

53124                             53124

35214                             35214

32541                             32541

23451                             23451

24315                             24315

42135                             42135

41253                             41253

14523                             14523

14253 *1                    -   15423  *2

41523                             51243

45132                             52134

54312                             25314

53421                             23541

35241                             32451

32514                             34215

23154                             43125

21345                             41352

12435                             14532

….                                  ….

 

If we compare rows *1 and *2 we can see that:

 

In row *2 the 3rd is where it is in row *1

In row *2 the 5th is where the 4th is in row *1

In row *2 the 4th is where the 2nd is in row *1

In row *2 the 2nd is where the 5th is in row *1

 

Considering the coursing order:                                    (5)3 2 4

Following the bob:

 

            The 3rd remains where it is:                               * 3 * *

The 5th takes the place of the 4th:                     * 3 * 5

The 4th takes the place of the 2nd:                    * 3 4 5

The 2nd takes the place of the 5th:                    2 3 4 5

Rotate to get 5 to the start:                               (5)2 3 4

 

The new coursing order is therefore:    2 3 4

 

Put more generally, A B C has become B A C, or we can say that the first two bells have swapped places.

 

Notice the extra step that was not present when we looked at the transposition of a bob at Home. This step is the rotation of the new coursing order to get the 5th back to the start. Also notice that the overall transposition BAC is the combination of both the main transposition followed by the rotation and is actually just a case of swapping the first two bells in the coursing order. For reasons which will become clear in later sessions this transposition can usefully be thought of as putting the second last bell first.

 

Transposition Of Bobs Before

 

We must look at the second lead continued into the third lead of a plain course and compare it with the second lead followed by the lead produced after a bob. Look at these figures:

 

Plain Lead                Bobbed Lead

 

13524                             13524

31254                             31254

32145                             32145

23415                             23415

24351                             24351

42531                             42531

45213                             45213

54123                             54123

51432                             51432

15342                             15342

15432 *1                    -   13542  *2

51342                             31452

53124                             34125

35214                             43215

32541                             42351

23451                             24531

24315                             25413

42135                             52143

41253                             51234

14523                             15324

….                                  ….

 

If we compare rows *1 and *2 we can see that:

 

In row *2 the 2nd is where it is in row *1

In row *2 the 3rd is where the 5th is in row *1

In row *2 the 5th is where the 4th is in row *1

In row *2 the 4th is where the 3rd is in row *1

 

Considering the coursing order:                                    (5)3 2 4

Following the bob:

 

            The 2nd remains where it is:                              * * 2 *

The 3rd takes the place of the 5th:                     3 * 2 *

The 5th takes the place of the 4th:                     3 * 2 5

The 4th takes the place of the 3rd:                     3 4 2 5

Rotate to get 5 to the start:                               (5)3 4 2

 

The new coursing order is therefore:    3 4 2

 

Put more generally, A B C has become A C B, or we can say that the last two bells have swapped places.

 

Notice the extra step, the rotation of the new coursing order to get the 5th back to the start. Also notice that the overall transposition ACB is the combination of both the main transposition followed by the rotation and is actually just a case of swapping the last two bells in the coursing order. For reasons which will become clear in later sessions this transposition can usefully be thought of as putting the last bell second.

 

Transposition Of Bobs At 4ths

 

We must look at the first lead continued into the second lead of a plain course and compare it with the first lead followed by the lead produced after a bob. Look at these figures:

 

Plain Lead                Bobbed Lead

 

12345                             12345

21435                             21435

24153                             24153

42513                             42513

45231                             45231

54321                             54321

53412                             53412

35142                             35142

31524                             31524

13254                             13254

13524 *1                    -   12354  *2

31254                             21534

32145                             25143

23415                             52413

24351                             54231

42531                             45321

45213                             43512

54123                             34152

51432                             31425

15342                             13245

….                                  ….

 

If we compare rows *1 and *2 we can see that:

 

In row *2 the 4th is where it is in row *1

In row *2 the 2nd is where the 3rd is in row *1

In row *2 the 3rd is where the 5th is in row *1

In row *2 the 5th is where the 2nd is in row *1

 

Considering the coursing order:                                    (5)3 2 4

Following the bob:

 

            The 4th remains where it is:                               * * * 4

The 2nd takes the place of the 3rd:                    * 2 * 4

The 3rd takes the place of the 5th:                     3 2 * 4

The 5th takes the place of the 2nd:                    3 2 5 4

Rotate to get 5 to the start:                               (5)4 3 2

 

The new coursing order is therefore:    4 3 2

 

Put more generally, A B C has become C A B, or we can say that we have put the last bell first.

 

Notice the extra step, the rotation of the new coursing order to get the 5th back to the start. Also notice that the overall transposition CAB is the combination of both the main transposition followed by the rotation and is actually just like a backwards Home transposition. For reasons which will become clear in later sessions this transposition can usefully be thought of as putting the first two bells last.

 

Calling From Other Bells

 

If you want to use a bell other than the 5th as the reference point, say the 2nd, then everything that applies to the 5th's coursing order also applies to your own personal coursing order. From the 2nd the coursing order is 4 5 3. Transpositions for the calling positions where the 2nd is running in, out or making the bob are just the same as for the 5th when it does them except that the ringer of the 2nd now uses the 2nd's personal coursing order.

 

Thus:

 

For an In, 453 becomes 543

For a Before, 453 becomes 435

For a 4th's, 453 becomes 345

 

Summary Of Transpositions For Each Calling Position

 

Really, the following information is all you need to become an expert conductor of Plain Bob Doubles. For the standard coursing order taken from Tenor we have the following transpositions:

 

Calling Position          Fancy Transposition              Plain English (learn these!)

For a bob at Home       ABC => BCA                          put the first one last

For a bob at In             ABC => BAC                          swap the first two

For a bob Before          ABC => ACB                          swap the last two

For at bob at 4ths         ABC => CAB                          put the first two last

 

If the coursing order from a different bell is being used the transpositions are exactly the same for that bell's coursing order when they do the work above as they are for the Tenor's coursing order.

 

Examples Of Coursing Order Transpositions For Some Complete Touches

 

The following examples take us through the coursing orders that will come up, using the transpositions above, during the calling of each of the four extents. They assume that the 5th is being rung:

 

1. Three Homes

 

Starting from 324 the first Home produces 243 (BCA), the second Home produces 432 (BCA) and the third Home produces 324 (BCA).

 

2. In, Out and Make

 

Starting from 324 the first call, an In, will produce 234 (BAC), the second call, a Before, will produce 243 (ACB) and the third call, a 4ths, will produce 324 (CAB) which is the plain course and so the ringing will come round at the end of this course.

 

3. Out, Make and In

 

Starting from 324 the first call, a Before, will produce 342 (ACB), the second call, a 4ths, will produce 234 (CAB) and the third call, an In, will produce 324 (BAC) which is the plain course and so the ringing will come round at the end of this course.

 

4. Make, In and Out

 

Starting from 324 the first call, a 4ths, will produce 432 (CAB), the second call, an In, will produce 342 (BAC) and the third call, a Before, will produce 324 (ACB) which is the plain course and so the ringing will come round at the end of this course.

 

One final example will show how the system works when used from a bell other than the Tenor, say the 2nd for which the plain course coursing order is 453.

 

5. Make, In and Out

 

Starting from 453 the first call, a 4ths, will produce 345 (CAB), the second call, an In, will produce 435 (BAC) and the third call, a Before, will produce 453 (BAC) which is the plain course and so the ringing will come round at the end of this course.

 

Additional Useful Terminology

 

Extent                           -           All the changes that can be rung on a given number of bells.

Observation Bell           -           The bell that the conductor is using as the reference bell and from which the bobs are

called and the coursing order is being taken.

Round Block                -           Any piece of ringing which returns to its starting point.

 

Notice that in the summary above we talk about bobs at In, 4ths and Home but we talk about bobs Before instead of bobs at Before. Similarly we would usually call a particular bell In or Before but we would call it at Home or at 4ths or to make 4ths.

 

Summary

 

We have gained a complete collection of touches for Plain Bob Doubles.

 

We have seen that the transpositions for those calling places where the Tenor is affected by the bob require an additional transposition to restore the Tenor to its position at the start of the coursing order. The final transposition that is actually used is the sum of the basic BCA transposition plus the rotation of the new coursing order to return the 5th to the start.