Call change ringing is a branch of the art of change ringing, in which a group of English-style full-circle bell ringers are instructed continually to create different sequences, or changes, of the bells' striking order. Each command from the leader or "conductor" of the ringing results in a new sequence of sounding the bells. Each sequence is repeated until the next command or "call".
The technique was probably developed in the early 17th century in the early days of change ringing.[1]
Call change ringing requires one ringer to give commands to change the order of the bells, as distinct from method ringing, where the ringers memorise the course of bells as part of a continuous pattern.[2]
- ^ Change ringing – the history of an English Art. Vol 3, W T Cook & Cyril A Wratten. Pub Central Council of Church Bell Ringers, 1994. P90-93 “A recent examination of a number of call change ‘peals’ still practised at Totnes in the South Hams …including the ubiquitous ‘Sixty on Thirds’ discloses a remarkable affinity with the seventeenth century Plain Changes described by Duckworth and Stedman. The avoidance, where possible, of repetition and the use of hunts, half-hunt and extreme changes are all features of their construction, and together suggest a basically uninterrupted descent from the earlier system, unbroken by the intrusion of change ringing..."
- ^ Bell ringing- the English Art of Change Ringing. Ron Johnson. Pub Viking 1986 P 89.