The Albany Quadrant weekly band and our experience at learning together is what inspired the beginnings of this blog. Starting with a very wide range of experience (from none to quite a lot), we have all expanded what we can ring in different ways. Besides learning as individuals, there is a separate 'band' entity, which has a dynamic of its own, different from when we each ring with other bands. Our weekly band consists (most of the time) of Simon, Tina, Angela and Jonathan, with occasional visits from Marcus and Nick.
On Saturday we had another successful Scottish Handbell Day, which Tina will write about soon. On Sunday we had a session of trying to make progress with our 8-spliced project. As we have been out of practice over the summer, rather than going for a peal we decided to ring...
Yesterday evening we rang with Marcus; we had agreed to go for a quarter of Pudsey. I decided that we all need more practice at all the positions in Pudsey, so I put together a composition in which each handbell pair rings at least a whole course of every position...
This morning I came across an interesting blog post on productivity, which is titled 'The McDonald's Theory' (there's a link at the bottom of this post). The theme is how to get started on a project, particularly a difficult, long, or still rather amorphous project. The conclusion: just start, even...
In the face of tonsilitis, winter vomiting bug, holiday schedules, the midwinter bellringing blues and the continued absence of our increasingly awesome head conductor, we met again to ring handbells with Marcus.
(I know it is April and therefore technically spring. But, you know, only technically. The body clock is...
One of the things that came out of the aftermath of Roger Bailey's death and subsequent memorial arrangements was that Marcus Wheel has officially come out of handbell retirement.
Four of us met last night for a pretty lighthearted evening of ringing, which included courses of Cambridge, Yorkshire and Lincolnshire...
... Jonathan has a lovely new Whitechapel set, which he brought with him yesterday evening. It's a 12, size 15 in C, with a flat 6th to give a light 8, size 12 in F. We christened the light 8 with a nice quarter of 8-spliced; usual band placing, we...
Yesterday we rang a quarter of Cambridge Royal, getting us to the milestone of 100 quarters in the house. A total of 33 people have been involved, which we are pleased with as part of the point of the Scottish handbell days is to increase the number of people...
Yesterday we finally did it: the classic 41 Surprise Minor. We've been going for it, on and off, all year, and sometimes it seemed as if we would never be able to get it. But yesterday, after at least half a dozen false starts (one of them lasting almost an...
Last night I manged to have dinner before the handbell ringers turned up - which was a bit stunning. Thursdays are one of those days where I am always on the way to somewhere else, coordinating several schedules, and let's not mention the 'your homework is due tomorrow' threats to...
Sometimes you are really ready for a handbell session: you have done your homework, you managed somehow to leave work on time, you feel fed, relaxed and focused. When does that ever happen?
Certainly not last night: one of those slightly crazed evenings where nothing quite went to plan, and...