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 memory the rules for generating each change, or by call changes, where the ringers are instructed how to generate each change by instructions from a conductor. This creates a form of bell music which cannot be discerned as a conventional melody, but is a series of mathematical sequences.
Peal board at St Peter and St Paul Church, Chatteris, Cambridgeshire, commemorating the ringing of a peal in 1910; 5,040 changes were rung in two hours and forty-nine minutes.
Bell ringing at St Mary and St Gabriel’s Church, Stoke Gabriel, Devon, England. This is in the "ringing chamber".
The bells of St Bees Priory in Cumbria shown in the "down" position, where they are normally left between ringing sessions. This is in the "bell chamber".
The bells of St Bees Priory shown in the "up" position. When being rung they swing through a full circle from mouth upwards round to mouth upwards, and then back again.
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 internal "clapper" or "uvula", an external hammer, or—in small bells—by a small loose sphere enclosed within the body of the bell.
13th c. BC bell, Shang dynasty
Chinese bronze bell, 18th-16th century BC
Bianzhong of Marquis Yi of Zeng, dated 433 BC.
English full-circle bells shown in the "down" position, in which they are normally left between ringing sessions.
