The initial pitch


Everyone is different

Everyone must have good rhythm and handling but then differentiation is important. How you start and how you progress depends on the needs of the individual ringer and the capabilities of the supporting band. There is no handbell ringing pathway. Some will make huge strides very quickly and some intermediate steps may be missed. Some lack confidence at the beginning and need to be guided slowly via. small easily-achievable steps. Some have lots of knowledge of method structure; others don't.

Here are some suggestions for how you might introduce handbell ringing to different people.

Child learner
Games, call changes, walk-through

Adult with no tower experience
Rhythm exercises, rounds and tunes

Tower bell call change ringer
Plain Hunt with one bell

Tower bell method ringer
Plain Hunt Minor learning the three basic patterns

Conducts peals of surprise
Tenors to Plain Bob Minor

Starting with minimus

When introducing ringing two bells, a good starting point for young children or those lacking in confidence is to ring on four rather than six bells.

» Starting with minimus