A bell-ringer is a person who rings a
bell
A bell is a directly struck idiophone percussion instrument. Most bells have the shape of a hollow cup that when struck vibrates in a single strong strike tone, with its sides forming an efficient resonator. The strike may be made by an inter ...
, usually a
church bell
A church bell in Christian architecture is a bell which is rung in a church for a variety of religious purposes, and can be heard outside the building. Traditionally they are used to call worshippers to the church for a communal service, and t ...
, by means of a rope or other mechanism.
Despite some automation of bells for random swinging, there are still many active bell-ringers in the world, particularly those with an advanced ringing tradition such as
full-circle or Russian ringing, which are artistic and skilled performances which are difficult to automate.
The term campanologist is popularly misused to refer to a bell-ringer, but this properly refers to someone who studies bells, which is known as
campanology
Campanology () is the scientific and musical study of bells. It encompasses the technology of bells – how they are founded, tuned and rung – as well as the history, methods, and traditions of bellringing as an art.
It is common to collect ...
.
Although in some places
carillon
A carillon ( , ) is a pitched percussion instrument that is played with a keyboard and consists of at least 23 cast-bronze bells. The bells are hung in fixed suspension and tuned in chromatic order so that they can be sounded harmoniou ...
s are used to sound bells, they are "played" by carillonneurs, not by bell-ringers, and are associated with the ringing of tunes in the Western musical tradition.
Full-circle ringing
English full-circle ringing
In England, it is estimated there are about 40,000 bell-ringers ringing on
rings of bells in the English
full-circle style. This type of ringing cannot be automated because of the large rotating masses of the bells and the exact regulation in speed of striking that is required.
The high level of control exerted by ringers means the bells can be struck with both accurate and equal spacing, and can change their striking pattern at each stroke. In addition the
Doppler effect
The Doppler effect or Doppler shift (or simply Doppler, when in context) is the change in frequency of a wave in relation to an observer who is moving relative to the wave source. It is named after the Austrian physicist Christian Doppler, who d ...
due to the movement of the bell when it is struck, and the sharp attack of the strike and the fast die-away due to damping by the clapper, imparts a unique musical sound.
This style of ringing takes place every week in several thousand belfries in England, and to a lesser extent other English-speaking nations. It is supported by the
Central Council of Church Bell Ringers, founded in 1891, which is dedicated to representing change ringers around the world.
Bolognese full-circle ringing
This system originated during the
Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...
, and was perfected in the 19th century. It is a form of
full circle ringing
Full circle ringing is a technique of ringing a tower bell such that it swings in a complete circle from mouth upwards to mouth upwards and then back again repetitively.
Technique
Full-circle tower bell ringing in England developed in the ea ...
which requires the bell ringers to manually swing the bells whilst standing beside them in the bell chamber. It was originally designed for an ensemble of four or five bells, nowadays it is also sometimes used for a set of six bells.
The bells are never counterbalanced. They are mounted on a wooden structure called ''the castle'', and flanked by a wooden support called ''the goat''. The bells are not very heavy, as the rotation has to be fast. Generally, every bell that weighs less than 800 kg (16 cwt) is rung by one person. The heaviest bell used with this system is in
Bologna Cathedral
Bologna Cathedral ( it, Cattedrale Metropolitana di San Pietro, ''Cattedrale di Bologna''), dedicated to Saint Peter, is the cathedral of Bologna in Italy, and the seat and the Metropolitan bishop, metropolitan cathedral of the Archbishop of Bolog ...
, and is called ''la Nonna'' ("the Granny") and weighs 3.3 tonnes. Thirteen people are needed to ring a ''scappata'' or a ''calata'' with it. The bell ringers have to be in contact with the bells and mechanical devices are not allowed.
Veronese full-circle ringing
This method of full circle ringing is similar to English full-circle ring, in that it uses ropes to enable the bell ringers to manipulate the bells. It is not clear whether hanging the bells in this way was independently developed at San Giorgio or whether the method was imported from England where bells are also hung for full circle ringing.
Chiming
Chiming is the art of ringing bells which are "hung dead" or stationary.
Russia
Bell ringing saw a spectacular revival in Russia with the growth of the
Russian Orthodox Church
, native_name_lang = ru
, image = Moscow July 2011-7a.jpg
, imagewidth =
, alt =
, caption = Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow, Russia
, abbreviation = ROC
, type ...
(see
Russian Orthodox bell ringing
Russian Orthodox bell ringing has a history starting from the baptism of Rus in 988 and plays an important role in the traditions of the Russian Orthodox Church.
Theology
The ringing of bells is one of the most essential elements of an Orthodox ...
).
Technically, bells rung in the Russian tradition are sounded exclusively by
chiming (i.e., moving only the clapper so that it strikes the side of a stationary bell) and never by swinging the bell. For the Russian tradition a special complex system of ropes is used, designed individually for each belltower. All the ropes are gathered at approximately one point, where the bell-ringer (''zvonar'') stands. Some ropes (the smaller ones) are played by hand, the bigger ropes are played by foot. The major part of the ropes (usually - all ropes) are not actually pulled, but rather pressed. Since one end of every rope is fixed, and the ropes are kept in tension, a press or even a punch on a rope makes a clapper strike the side of its bell.
The secrets of this technique have passed from generation to generation, but by the 20th century this art was almost lost. Training took place only at workshops until 2008, then the first permanent traditional bell-ringing school opened in Moscow, under the leadership of
Drozdihin Ilya.
Ellacombe apparatus
The
Ellacombe apparatus
The Ellacombe apparatus is a mechanism devised for performing change ringing on church bells by striking stationary bells with hammers. It does not produce the same sound as full circle ringing due to the absence of Doppler effect as the bells do ...
is an English mechanism devised for performing
change ringing
Change ringing is the art of ringing a set of tuned bells in a tightly controlled manner to produce precise variations in their successive striking sequences, known as "changes". This can be by method ringing in which the ringers commit to memor ...
on
church bell
A church bell in Christian architecture is a bell which is rung in a church for a variety of religious purposes, and can be heard outside the building. Traditionally they are used to call worshippers to the church for a communal service, and t ...
s by striking stationary bells with hammers. It does not produce the same sound as full circle ringing on the same bells due to the absence of the Doppler effect as the bells do not rotate, and the lack of a damping effect from the clapper after each strike. As it requires considerable expertise for one person to ring changes on several bells, it is rarely used for change ringing, and usually a set sequence or a tune is played.
Small-arc swinging
The swinging of bells through a small arc of movement does not allow the ringer to control the speed of the bell striking. Thus a number of bells rung together in this way results in an uncoordinated sound as the bells each swing at their own speed dictated by the physics of a simple pendulum. Sometimes the bells are spaced out, and sometimes they strike simultaneously. This randomness also occurs with motorised bells ringing together. This a common method of ringing where full-circle bells do not exist, and requires little skill.
Historical hazards
In the
Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...
, it was believed that the sound of a bell could disperse thunder. Many bell-ringers were electrocuted as a result. In France between the years 1753 and 1786, 103 bell-ringers were killed during thunderstorms as a result of holding on to wet bell ropes. The
Parlement of Paris
The Parliament of Paris (french: Parlement de Paris) was the oldest ''parlement'' in the Kingdom of France, formed in the 14th century. It was fixed in Paris by Philip IV of France in 1302. The Parliament of Paris would hold sessions inside the ...
enforced an edict in 1786 to prohibit the practice. Deaths likely continued until the 19th century, when the
lightning rod
A lightning rod or lightning conductor (British English) is a metal rod mounted on a structure and intended to protect the structure from a lightning strike. If lightning hits the structure, it will preferentially strike the rod and be conducte ...
came into general use.
Decline
By the late 1940s, the
Church of Sweden
The Church of Sweden ( sv, Svenska kyrkan) is an Evangelical Lutheran national church in Sweden. A former state church, headquartered in Uppsala, with around 5.6 million members at year end 2021, it is the largest Christian denomination in Sw ...
increasingly began to automate the ringing of its church bells, and dismiss its employed bell-ringers.
See also
*
Theodore the Bellringer
*
List of bell ringing organizations
The following is a list of bell ringing organizations
List of change ringing organizations
Below is a list of all currently known ringing societies around the world. This includes societies affiliated to the Central Council of Church Bell Ringers ...
*
Quasimodo
Quasimodo (from Quasimodo Sunday) is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the novel ''The Hunchback of Notre-Dame'' (1831) by Victor Hugo. Quasimodo was born with a hunchback and feared by the townspeople as a sort of monster, but h ...
– famous fictional bellringer
References
External links
Animation of English full-circle ringingat Washington Ringing Society
{{Bells
Campanology
Occupations in music
Articles containing video clips