Progression vs. Perfection

There is a fine balance between progression and perfection. I have seen both extremes a ringer who claims to ring surprise minor who couldn’t strike in rounds and a learner whose rounds were practically perfect but didn’t learn plain hunt because the striking wasn’t quite up to scratch.

Progression is important as it allows a new challenge and gets the learner up to speed with the rest of the band, the temptation can be if you are one short for a particular method to bring the learner up to speed quickly to get them to ring what you want, while this is all well and good it should not be done at the detriment of learning all the steps properly in the meantime.

Perfection is, of course, what we all strive for. People say that method ringing is supreme however I have had just as much enjoyment in ringing some very good rounds and called changes in Devon as I have ring surprise in Liverpool. Certainly, the called changes were the better struck ones in that case.

The balance can be very hard to achieve. In inexperienced bands striking perfection is not always such a requirement as if the learner is striking as good as the rest of the band that is good enough. In an experienced band the learner could be striking just as well but because the rest of them around the learner are that much better they aren’t moved on. Continual progression is important in keeping ringers interested.

Using feedback you can balance the need for progression with perfection so let them know that they are ringing well but need to strike better before moving along. Perhaps consider practising the skill in another way using consolidation or stretch exercises.

Feedback

It is important to give feedback to learners soon after each activity. Positive feedback is just as important as negative feedback. However, giving feedback itself is a tricky subject. You need to know the learner well enough to give feedback at a level that they understand. I have heard some brilliant feedback in my time but the person it was given to had no idea what had just been said to them. The other thing to bear in mind is the experience of the learner, if it is their first time ringing plain hunt then being super critical on their striking probably isn’t appropriate, if it is their umpteenth course of bob doubles then criticising the dodges that had been crashed through would be wholly appropriate. The key thing though is for it to be constructive, criticising dropped backstrokes at the leads is one thing, explaining what they have done and how to correct it and why they should is something else, the first just criticises, the second is constructive feedback.

Feedback can also be given during a piece of ringing. However, remember that your band is made up of individuals who will respond to feedback given in different ways. Shouting at someone that they are crashing their handstrokes in may in the short term improve them, but may undermine the confidence of the ringer, some may have no issue with faults being announced across the circle. Others would prefer this information to be given whispered in the ear by someone standing behind them.

Feedback can also be very useful in helping you plan the practice and for the individual. While talking to the learner about the feedback you can explain what you are trying to get them to do, how to do it and why they are trying to do so. It would also be important at that time to discuss with them about what they feel they are doing, how they think it is coming along and what they think they are heading towards. Hopefully, these will be in line with each other and if they are not this can then be aligned. It can also be used to identify any requirement for consolidation exercises.