Method ringing (also known as scientific ringing) is a form of change ringing in which the ringers commit to memory the rules for generating each change of sequence, and pairs of bells are affected. This creates a form of bell music which is continually changing, but which cannot be discerned as a conventional melody. It is a way of sounding continually changing mathematical permutations.
It is distinct from call changes, where the ringers are instructed on how to generate each new change by calls from a conductor, and strictly, only two adjacent bells swap their position at each change.
In method ringing, the ringers are guided from permutation to permutation by following the rules of a method. Ringers typically learn a particular method by studying its "blue line", a diagram which shows its structure.
The underlying mathematical basis of method ringing is intimately linked to group theory. The basic building block of method ringing is plain hunt.
The first method, Grandsire, was designed around 1650, probably by Robert Roan who became master of the College Youths change ringing society in 1652.[1] Details of the method on five bells appeared in print in 1668 in Tintinnalogia (Fabian Stedman with Richard Duckworth) and Campanalogia (1677 – written solely by Stedman), which are the first two publications on the subject.
The practice originated in England and remains most popular there today; in addition to bells in church towers, it is also often performed on handbells.