Consolidation and Stretch Exercises

I tend to classify the work for my learners into three types:

1.       Revision of previous works

2.       Current Work

3.       Additional Work

The revision is either the same work that the learner did last week, or the step before. This should be a good solid piece of ringing which does not need to be prime, but should put the learner into the mind-set that they are here and ready to ring, this should be the first thing that a learner does. A good piece should give the learner confidence in doing something “easy” well. This then helps to build them up so they can do the next work.

For example:

A learner is currently putting both strokes together, not their first time of doing so. The first time they ring this practice night get them to do some backstrokes and handstrokes singularly so they relax.

Current work is what you have planned for them to ring this evening. This would usually be the prime ring and should make up the majority of the time on the end of the rope.

Additional work is either Consolidation or Stretch.

Stretch is for when the current work has been rung well and consistently throughout and gives the learner an opportunity to ring the skill that they have just learnt but in a different context. This could well form the basis for what will be current work next practice.

For example:

A learner has rang Bob Doubles without problems striking well and then as a stretch ring an unaffected touch. This way they continue to ring their plain course but with the bells around them in different positions.

Consolidation is for when the current work is not good enough to progress but it has not improved over a period, or there is a specific aspect which needs addressing,  these pieces of work either re-visit a skill that has been learnt previously or apply it in a different sense.

For example:

A learner has rang Bob Doubles but keeps making mistakes while making 2nds. There are many opportunities to practise this but based on the learner’s confidence as to whether to do Mexican waves with them on the treble or two so they lead make 2nds lead or a method where the treble just hunts to 2nds like Bastow Little Bob Doubles.
 

In a lot of ways the consolidation and stretch excercises may very well be the same thing but used in different contexts. 

Planning a Practice

It seems that we are all living increasingly busy lives, and because of that we are all trying to get the most out of everything that we do. It is a frustration of mine when at the end of a touch or piece of ringing there is a 10 minute discussion about what to ring next. That time could be filled with a quick touch of something, or ringing something else for someone. The key to make the most out of your practice night is to plan in advance, like the old phrase says “Failing to prepare is preparing to fail”. It doesn’t need to be down to the detail of band placement for each thing rang, but it could do.  However, there should be an overall plan and structure to the night. Some ringing masters make this seem effortless and seem to be able to do this on the fly; others will have it all written down.
In its simplest form it is a list of who you have coming to practice and what you want them to ring that evening, that way everything will have a purpose and you have identified what you want as your prime rings.

Ringer	Prime Ring
Dave	Rounds with call changes
Eric	Plain hunt on 5 from the treble
Fran	Touch of Bob Minor
Etc.	Etc.

TIP:

To help you plan your practice, consider having a sign-up sheet, that way you know who to expect and what to plan to ring. After all there is no point planning to ring surprise major if you know you won’t have enough ringers. Similiarly, there is no point in planning to ring Plain Hunt for another learner if they are on holiday.

This sign-up sheet can also be used so you know who is available for Sunday Service ringing, that way if you are going to be short you know about it in advance and can either cancel ringing or call round to get one or two extra ringers.

Prime Ring

One practice I visited were ringing plain hunt on 7 for their learners.  I have no objection to ringing stuff to help learners, what I did object to was that there were four learners in it. So we had learners on the 2, 3, 4 and 5. There were some lumpy rounds and we went into the changes and it starts ok, and gets worse until the point where the 2 is somewhere up near 11ths place the 3^rd never got higher than 5ths and there is a lot of shouting and it stands up. We tried again and again the slow decay set in until it stood. On the next attempt we actually got round, well that’s all was called at the end so I guess that that was progress. The next attempt was just the same as the first. I thought there has to be a better way than this.

And there is.

There is a concept called the prime ring, a term I first heard coined by Pip Penney, though I have experienced this beforehand elsewhere. The idea is that for each learner they have (at least) one piece of ringing where they are the only learner. This has the huge advantage that, say in the plain hunt, the learner could rely on the rest of the band to be right, and even give those tell-tale winks and signals so that the learner knows who they should be following. The consequence of this is then that the learner is able to learn things quicker because if they are for instance following the third in fourths place they will always know that that is in the right place instead of suddenly holding up because the third is too high. They will be able to see the gaps, if they have rope sight and certainly hear if they are wrong.

It is not always possible to give each learner a prime ring, for instance, in the first example if there were only eight people in the practice then to learn plain hunt on seven all learners would have to ring at once. If it is not possible to have one learner per attempt then look at making sure that they are not on bells that course each other, say the three and the four, that way they head out in opposite directions.

Not every ring needs to be a prime ring, but I would suggest that the learner should get at least one piece of prime each night if possible.