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Basics

In a touch, the roles of the bells change (including possibly yours), so which bells are your course and after bells can change. It is helpful to consider what can't change.

1. The treble. The treble is unaffected by calls.
2. The order of the landmarks. A call may change where you are in the sequence of landmarks, but after the change the sequence (beginning from your new starting point) remains constant.
3. What passing the treble signifies. The relation between where you pass the treble on the way out and which landmark you reach next remains constant, except of course when a change affecting you is called after you passed the treble but before you reached the landmark.

   Pass the treble (going up) in:	Then do:	Then pass the treble (going down) in:
   At the back = 4-5	Dodge 3‑4 Down	3-2
   3-4	Long 5ths	4-3
   2-3	Dodge 3‑4 Up	5-4 = At the back
   1-2	Make 2nds	2-1
   Underscored places are those in which you ring over the treble.

4. You always Make 2nds over the treble.
5. You always pass either the treble or the other bell in 2‑3 (going out) and 3‑2 (coming in). Your dodges are with this other bell. Which bell is the other bell may change, but that you will pass your other bell in 2‑3/3‑2 will not change.
6. What you do with your course and after bells does not change (even when which bells they are changes):
   • Long 5ths is over course-after-course-after.
   • You always turn your course bell (= take your course bell off lead) (= ring in 2nds over your course bell before ringing your first lead) except before you Make 2nds.
   • You are always turned by your after bell (= your after bell takes you off lead) (= ring in 2nds over your after bell after ringing your second lead) except after you Make 2nds.

Bob

Calls are made coming up to a lead end, the pull at which the treble strikes its second blow in leads and thus ends its lead.

Figure 1. No bob called

Figure 1 shows a lead end at which no bob was called.

1. Green is Making 2nds and will then continue the 2nds work (Dodge 3‑4 Down). It will dodge with Orange, the bell it passes in 2‑3 on the way out.
2. Fuchsia is Dodging 3‑4 Up and will then continue the 3rds work (Make 2nds).
3. Blue is Dodging 3‑4 Down and will then continue the 4ths work (Long 5ths).
4. Orange is making Long 5ths and will then continue the 5ths work (Dodge 3‑4 Up).

Figure 2. Bob called

Figure 2 shows the same lead end with a bob called. The bob is called before the handstroke at which the treble comes into lead; the lead end is the subsequent backstroke.

1. Green was going to Make 2nds and then continue with the 2nds work.

   Instead, Green Runs Out (what hunting out is termed at a call) and thus is in 3rds at the lead end and does the 3rds work: it hunts out to the back, in to the lead, passes the treble in 1‑2 and Makes 2nds (as though it had just done Dodge 3‑4 Up).

   Later, it will be dodging with Fuchsia, whom it passed in 3‑2.

2. Blue was going to Dodge 3‑4 Down. Instead, it Runs In and thus is in 2nds place at the lead end and does the 2nds work: it continues in to lead, hunts out to the back (passing the treble in 4‑5), and does Dodge 3‑4 Down (as though it had just done Long 5ths).

   It dodges with Orange, whom it passed in 2‑3.

3. Fuchsia was going to Dodge 3‑4 Up. Instead, Fuchsia rings a second blow in 4ths (Make the Bob) and thus is in 4ths at the lead end and does the 4ths work: it hunts in to lead, then hunts out to do Long 5ths (as though it had just done Dodge 3‑4 Down).

   Later, it will be dodging with Green, whom it passed in 2‑3.

4. Orange was going to do Long 5ths, and that's what it does. Orange is unaffected by the call.

   Later, it will dodge with Blue, whom it passed in 3‑2.

The least information to memorize:

An additional conceptual step, but more useful in the long run:

As while ringing the rest of Plain Bob Doubles, where you pass the treble is always the same at a bob, no matter which other bells are doing what work:

Acknowledgments

I thank Ed Milner who kindly made suggestions for improvement.

• thomas · alspaugh @ acm · org
• 
• 2024Aug06Tu17:24
• Attribution