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In The Unlikely Event...
In bellringing, little local difficulties can occur from time to time. You'll recognise them when you come across them - you're playing a piece for the umpteenth time and all of a sudden, out of the blue, comes a truly horrendous racket where the tune should be (known technically as a Wonky Bit). Now we all know that ringing is about teamwork, but the motto of ringers everywhere should be 'All for One, and Me for Myself', so the important thing, when these occasions arise, is to go into self-preservation mode - fast. Here is AKR's 7 - Point Plan for Coping with Unlikely Events. You may care to commit it to memory, so that you're well prepared when the inevitable happens.
WHEN A WONKY BIT OCCURS......
- Pained innocence should always be your starting point, so begin
by looking shocked and concerned, and asking loudly what on earth has
happened. If you're the one who starts making a fuss, everyone will
assume that it's someone else's fault.
- Check your bells - surreptitiously, of course. To do it openly
is tantamount to admitting that you could possibly be the guilty party
- and we don't want to do that, do we? So say something like "I
thought it started to go wrong around Bar 48, didn't you?" Then while
everyone is busy looking for Bar 48, have a quick butcher's at the old
handles, and quietly make any necessary adjustments.
- If you are now sure that your bells are OK, it is safe to say
"Has anyone got the wrong bell, by any chance?" With luck, someone
else will have, and the moment will pass amidst much laughter, backchat
or stony silence and grinding of teeth, depending on the importance of
the rehearsal.
- If no iffy bells are found, you need to go on to page-checking.
It could be that someone has failed to turn over (like at practice the
other night when a certain nameless party put down her bell to turn
over, grasped the corner of the page, let it go and picked up her bell
again - then wondered where the music had gone. It's called Sudden
Attention Deficit Syndrome - or having the SADS).
- Or perhaps someone has taken up a favourite occupation of ringers
- turning over two pages. A clue to this is when the conductor /
leader says, in the midst of the Wonky Bit, "Bar 31 - Now! 2,3,4" and
you are on Bar 65. If you're not fortunate enough to get such an
indication, you should quickly look at the bar numbers on your
neighbour's music and make any necessary adjustments (pretend to be
looking back at an earlier bit while you flip the pages - oh, come on,
I don't need to tell you that, do I? It's a basic survival tactic
which you should have learnt in the first two weeks!) .
- Or you may have failed to follow the required page-turning
pattern - start on the second page, turn back, then forward two, then
to the end. Oh, sorry, forgot to say - there's the repeat on Page 2
that continues on to Page 1, so you'll need to go back, forward, back
again then forward two pages. Got that? Good.
- If it's neither bells nor pages, something more drastic has gone
wrong. Ask the conductor which piece he / she thinks you're playing.
Do a quick headcount to see if anyone has sloped off to watch the
semi-final, leaving their next-door neighbour to cover their bells. Is
anyone on their mobile phone, or eating (crisps and dips are a real
challenge in a fast piece, aren't they?). The more outrageous the
suggestion you can make, the less likely it is that the finger will be
pointed at you - so you can quietly put away your knitting and bring
yourself back into the swing of things!
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15th International Symposium
Days to go....
31.07.2012 12:00
71
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