Complete Encyclopaedia of Music/B/Bell ringer
Bell ringer. One whose occupation is-to ring a bell or bells. A company of Swiss bell ringers visited many of the cities and large towns in the Eastern and Southern States in 1844, and with their unique performances excited considerable attention. Four of these men had be-gun to practise their difficult art seven years before. At first they used but seven bells, but gradually increased the number to twenty-six. The company consisted of seven, and they used forty-two bells, varying in size from a large cow bell to the smallest dinner bell. The clappers are upon a spring. A piece of leather goes through the ball of the tongue ; the leather strikes the bell, and renders the tone more soft and sweet. The lowest bell is the lowest C of the treble clef, and they run up three octaves and one fourth, with all the semitones. Four of them played the air ; the others played a harmony in the lowest octave of the bells, similar to a guitar accompaniment to a song. They trilled notes beautifully. Every piece of music is necessarily arranged for them. Being unable to read music, they learned it altogether by the ear But nature and art have made them so perfect in this matter, that one of them cannot ring a false note without its being instantly detected by all the ethers. Their memory, too, is wonderful. Any one of them can tell instantaneously all the notes that are to be played for ten bars ahead. Their Dells have to be changed frequently, often with as much rapidity as printers take up their types. Each performer appeared to have his own lot of hells upon the table before him; but the result showed that the use of them was sometimes interchangeable along the whole line of performance. The performance began by each advancing one step to the table, and seizing a bell, which they elevated, with its mouth outward towards the audience, and moved it so as to cause the tongue to strike once, when that was returned to the table, and another seized ; and thus the music went on - some of the richest sounds, the most nicely varied, that we ever heard. All the parts of the tune were carried on, each one striking his note or notes at the exact instant ; and the time was perfect. There is, to be sure, something perfectly wonderful even in the manual and mechanical dexterity with which they manage to extract such exquisite melody from such apparently unpromising materials, and to make forty-two common-looking bells discourse such eloquent music ; but this is not all, or even one half the marvel of their performances. They play all sorts of music, and execute the most difficult passages with a precision and harmony that delighteth even the fastidious and most scientific admirers of the art. There are peals of bells rung in the towers of many churches in Germany, called carillons, or chimes, on which, by the contrivance of a rope fastened by the clappers, and collected together at the lower extremities, tunes are played at stated hours in the day.
Let us next consider the duties of the bells as they hang, a musical octave, in their airy home. These duties are threefold-to chime, to ring in peal, and to toll; and they are thus defined in some quaint old versicles : -
I To call the fold to church in time,
We chime. When joy and mirth are on the wing,
We ring.
When we lament a departed soul, We toll."
Uncommon as the practice is - at least in this part of the country - only to chime the bells as the call to church, (this being generally done by half an hour's good round ringing with changes, and closing perhaps by tolling a single bell,) there is, nevertheless, no doubt of its being the proper way. Lest any of our readers, however, should not understand what chiming is, it consists of swinging the bell to and fro by the rope, so that it moves like the pendulum of a clock, and comes in contact with the clapper, which remains nearly stationary inside, owing to its weight and the loose manner of suspending it. Nor let any one despise this method as a dull substitute for the wilder peal, which seems to cheer the people on their walk to church by its sonorous changes. It is possible that those who object may never have listened to good chimes. If so, let them withhold their judgment, for we can assure them that eight sweet-toned bells, if well chimed, afford as beautiful music as ever charmed a Christian's ear. The effect, too, being more solemnizing than inispiriting, is only more becoming the occasion ; and this influence, though varying according to circumstances of place, time, health, and state of mind, will seldom fail to induce feelings in harmony with devotional exercises, and to move the sensitive with tenderest impressions.
Ringing a peal has next to be noticed. This is done on all occasions of congratulation or festivity ; such as marriages, births, victories, elections, the arrival of distinguished persons, &c. A peal, in technical language, is a performance on the bells of more than 5000 changes ; and it occupies the ringers a considerable period of time, generally more than three hours. But a touch or flourish on the bells, which is the ordinary method of notifying any joyful occurrence, is round ringing varied by changes at the option of the ringers, or according to the custom of the belfry. It is usual in the first instance to set the bells ; that is, to throw every bell, with its mouth upward, in a stationary position in the frame. And then, every ringer being ready in his place, the treble bell is first dropped, and off they all go in quick succession, closing the round with the stroke of the heavy tenor. This performance, often repeated,' is called round ringing, to distinguish it from change ringing ; and formerly it was the custom to close every change, as well as every round, with the tenor bell. But this practice is discontinued, as any bell may conclude a change.
A common peal of rejoicing might be arranged thus : First, round ringing for one hundred times ; then firing a number of cannons, which means a simultaneous crash from all the bells ; then the bells trip off lightly again, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, from treble to tenor. And again, and yet again they go, quicker, at each rotation, until the sounds flash past the ear just as the spokes of a turning wheel dazzle the eye ; and then, on a sudden, they all stop as if the whole peal were demolished. But no ; the bells are only set, - mouths up again in their cage, - and first one of them drops for a single stroke, and then an-other, just to prove that they had not lost their voices.
Let us try a wedding peal, which our fair readers may practise for amusement on the piano. forte, since it is certain that they will not attend to it when it gilds their own nuptial morn. We will first ring twelve rounds in regular order, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, then twelve changes on the bells in the following rota, 1, 5, 2, 6, 3, 7, 4, 8, then twelve changes thus, 1, 3, 5, 7, 2, 4, 6, 8, then twelve
chords thus
1 2 3 4 / 5 6 7 8' and conclude the peal with twelve rounds, as at Starting.
Ah! was it not the merry peal thus described which holds that poor lad's attention, who leans against a mile stone at Halloway on a certain cold November morn ? His small wallet is over his shoulder, containing all that he has in the world.
He has run away from his employer. He is going he knows not whither ; any where to which a chance or a kind word may invite him. But who is there to speak to the lonely runaway ? Hark ! a voice of Providence through the air seems to greet him. The wind is gently blowing from the south-east, and it wafts the sound of eight bells in full peal into his ears ; and, as he listens, his fancy extracts from them a clearer promise than Delphic oracle ever spoke.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Turn a gain, a gain, Whit ting ton, Lord mayor, lord mayor of London town.
And again in the chords, the notes of which are struck slightly apart, but they soon mingle in their vibrations.
1 5 2 6 3 7 4 8
Turn again, Whitting ton,
Lord mayor London town.
A. dumb peal, to commemorate a death, ought always to be conducted in round-ringing order ; and it is thus managed. One side of the bulb of the clapper is covered with a thick cloth or felt, and over this a firm piece of leather is tightly strapped. When all the bells are thus prepared, one round is struck with the uncovered side of the clapper, and the usual tone, somewhat deadened, perhaps, is produced. At the next rotation, the padded side of the clapper strikes the bell, and a dull vibration, scarcely perceptible, follows. These alternations produce a very saddening effect.
But the ordinary way of noticing a death or a funeral is by tolling. This is done by a succession of single strokes on one bell. It needs no further explanation. Few who read this will not be able to recall at least one occasion in their past lives when each toll of the bell went like a shock to their own hearts ; and they knew that nearer every stroke was the moment coming when the grave would evermore hold the beloved dead.
There are, generally, rules and regulations for good order in the bell chamber ; and it is very desirable to make these conducive to the decorous behavior of the ringers in the discharge of their important duties about a church. In All Saints' Church, at Hastings, a maudlin exertion in this direction seems to have been made by the subjoined inscription, which is painted on the wall :-
"This is a belfry that is free For all those that civil be;
And if you please to chime or ring,
It is a very pleasant thing.
"There is no music, played or sung,
Like unto bells when they're well rung: Then ring your bells well if you can-Silence is best for every man.
"But if you ring in spur or hat,
Sixpence you pay- be sure of that;
And if your bell you overthrow
Pray pay a groat before you go. (Dated 1766.)