A bell-ringer is a person who rings a bell, usually a church bell, 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 difficult to automate.
The term campanologist is popularly misused to refer to a bell-ringer, but this properly refers to someone engaged in the study of bells—which is known as campanology.[1]
Although in some places carillons 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.
- ^ From Glossary of the Central Council of Church Bell Ringers 2016; " Campanologist - One who studies campanology, (popularly mis-used to refer to a ringer).