New Musical Group Rings in the New School Year

For the first time in nearly 10 years, the eight tower bells in the Mendenhall Center for Performing Arts were rung by a band of Smith students. Since the last change-ringing group disbanded, the bells have only occasionally been used by visiting ringers. The newly formed change-ringing society assembled under the tutelage of Marjorie Batchelor '73 and Alan Winter, two highly experienced change-ringers from Cambridge, England.Over the past three weeks, Batchelor and Winter have worked with a group of about 12 students and faculty members. The idea of re-forming the change-ringing band was proposed last year when Batchelor gave a workshop at the Center for Women and Mathematics called, "Change-Ringing: Theory and Practice on Handbells." Professor Jim Henle of the mathematics department said the art of bell ringing is "a task with all sorts of.mathematical permutations." The complex art consists of ringing bells in different rearrangements, the most basic of which are descending scale rounds.

"It takes two to three weeks just to learn the absolute basics," said Winter. "The speed at which the students learn is absolutely amazing. We've made more progress in the first 10 days than I thought was possible."

Batchelor and Winter credit first-year student Kirby Russell with a portion of the group's success. "Having one person who is an experienced ringer really makes the project viable," Batchelor said.

Russell has been ringing since the seventh grade and currently rings at two towers when she is at home. "Once I decided I was coming [to Smith] it was mostly my parents idea to get ringing started.and most of the rest of the ringing community jumped on the idea because we don't really like having towers that aren't used," Russell said.

Currently, Russell helps Batchelor and Winter with handling instruction and general ringing. However, once they leave she will take on a larger leadership role within the band. "I'll probably run practices and work with people on handling. A few of the teachers my dad and I worked with over the summer are getting to the point where they can watch others and correct them," she said.

Batchelor and Winter hope the Smith change-ringers will develop into a self-sustaining band. "When a band is centered on students who are, at most, here for four years, you must recruit and train every year if you are going to have any continuity. It's hard to remember in a time of plenty that you have to recruit, train and pay attention to recruits," Batchelor said.

A change-ringing band can fall apart in as little as two years. Winter suggested recruiting four people from each first-year class to maintain a society of at least 12 people. "As soon as you let these bells stand idle, that will be the end of it," he said.

On Saturday, Sept. 13, change-ringers from the New York and Boston areas gathered in the Mendenhall Center for the Performing Arts for an open ringing session in celebration of the reformation of the Smith band. For many members of the Smith society, it was the first time they had seen live change-ringing.

"I find the whole idea fascinating," said Henle. "Bell ringing is a way of studying mathematics.it's a way of doing math with people."

"I'm starting to see the math in it," Russell said, "Math certainly isn't necessary in change ringing, certainly not for the first section of it. The patterns get progressively more complicated, so you can ring the simpler patterns.without bothering with mathematics at all.