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.