Test Piece: 252 Stedman Cinques
Judges: Ian Roulstone (Chief), Alex F Byrne, David J Dearnley, Andrew B Mills
| Team | Rang | Speed | Mark | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | St Paul's Cathedral | 1st | 4h6 | 85% |
| 2 | Birmingham | 2nd | 4h2 | 83% |
| 3 | Ancient Society of College Youths | 5th | 3h48 | 79% |
| 4 | Melbourne | 8th | 4h1 | 68% |
| 5 | York | 4th | 3h41 | 64% |
| 6 | Society of Royal Cumberland Youths | 7th | 3h46 | 63% |
| 7 | Southwark | 9th | 3h42 | 60% |
| 8 | Leeds | 3rd | 4h3 | 53% |
| 9 | Stockton-on-Tees | 6th | 3h58 | 51% |
N.B. Permission is given to download for personal use only.
All recordings © National Twelve Bell Striking Contest Committee.
Notes on the recordings
It is not possible to reproduce exactly an instrument like the St Paul's Cathedral ring of bells with electronic equipment so the judges listened to the live ringing from positions within Temple Bar. Microphones were placed on the roof of Temple Bar
adjacent to the judging positions. A Sennheiser MKH30/60 pair fed an Apogee analogue to digital converter and was recorded on an Apple MacBook. In addition a
backing recording was made on a Tascam DA-P1 DAT Recorder using AKG microphones.
I hope that you enjoy listening to these recordings, which I believe give a reasonably true impression of the performances that the judges heard on the day.
Adrian Udal
The judges comments and recordings are below:
Opening Remarks - Ian Roulstone: It has been a great privilege to act as Chief Judge today - thank you. I would like to say a few words before handing over to my fellow judges, who will present the results as follows: Andrew Mills will provide an overview of the judging arrangements and of the day's ringing; Alex Byrne, who had the 'listening only job' today, will then give the team-by-team feedback; and finally David Dearnley will announce the results in the reverse order.
So, another year, another '12-bell'and 25 years have elapsed since many of us gathered at St. Paul's for the contest. Much has been achieved in terms of raising the standard of 12-bell ringing over the last few decades, and this contest has been a catalyst for these advances. Judging gets harder, not easier, and we were fortunate today to have the assistance of Hilary Small and Jonathan Deane. From designing the spreadsheet to taking notes of our deliberations and making sure the arithmetic was correct, their support enabled us to focus on the task in hand.
Placing nine teams is tough, and listening to recordings has become almost inevitable. We are indebted to Adrian Udal for his expertise and help in this regard, and we did indeed listen to several teams again after the contest ringing had finished. Adrian's recordings will be available on-line in due course.
Planning this event has taken a great deal of time and effort, and I would like to extend my personal thanks to Alan Ainsworth and Phil Rogers for their help and support. Indeed, all the members of the St. Paul's Guild have contributed in one way or another to making this event a great success. I'd also like to thank Richard Grimmett and Christine Mills for their help and guidance, and for permitting me leave of absence from the marathon committee meetings!
Overview - Andrew Mills: The quest to find the optimal location from which to judge proved more difficult than one would perhaps imagine for a grand ring of bells like St. Paul's. The shear volume of sound coming from the tower compromises the clarity necessary for accurate judging. From the possible locations, two places were singled out. The first was at the top of a staircase off the south transept. Now, although we all get on well as a team of judges, it was decided that this was a little too cosy for 4.5 hours! The other location was in Temple Bar. (Imagine my glee at the possibility of having pints while judging, but sadly it is not a pub, let alone a bar!) Within this location, it became apparent that there were in fact two spots from which to judge; the first in the Bar itself, while the other was in the access corridor that leads to Temple Bar. From within the Bar, the bells are not dissimilar to what is heard outside, but, crucially, slightly quieter, while preserving something of their grandeur. The corridor location with sealed fire door provided an excellent filter, so that the strike notes were crystal clear, with all bells being of an even balance. We split up into two teams, and produced scores from the two locations, which we believe proved beneficial in our deliberations.
The spreadsheet that was used to help us analyse the results was based on earlier versions, with the judges scores individually scaled before being combined, thereby eliminating individual biases.
We, as judges, were aware of the enormity of the task before you, not only in the weight of the bells and the long draught of rope, but also the access via the Geometric Staircase is not for the faint hearted! We honestly feel that all the bands excelled in their performance and made it a good contest, with good ringing on bells that are not easy to master.
It was noted that few bands managed totally accurate rounds at the start of the piece, with most problems around the middle. The front and middle bells when in changes picked up most faults. We noted that when there were slight discrepancies between the bells in the first three places in a row, the bells in four/five struggled to follow on cleanly.
We wondered if the teams at the front of the draw had an advantage over those later on, as it has been such a hot day, it must have got extremely warm up there as time progressed, making it somewhat uncomfortable for those drawn later. Therefore, we think the second half of the draw did well to produce some very good ringing considering the conditions - well done!
Detailed Comments - Alex Byrne:
Team 1 (St Paul's Cathedral). Placed 1st with 85%. Peal speed: 4hrs 6m. Very good overall structure established by the band as a whole. It took a while to settle down and was somewhat tentative over most of the first course. There were some 'glitches' (e.g. quick hand-stroke leads) but they were corrected immediately. The bells in 4/5 and 6/7 could have done with some 'tightening' at times.
In summary the focus was slightly blurred at first but a very nice picture emerged.
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Team 2 (Birmingham). Placed 2nd with 83%. Peal speed: 4hrs 2m. Got off to a very good start but lost its way a bit a few sixes into the first course. Generally the front-works were rung very well. The 8-0-Ts were dragging - a point of style perhaps - but it had a detrimental effect on the next row and picked up faults. The band got the standard high again at the start of the second course and finished well.
In summary it was good but drifted around a bit and you had to follow it carefully to appreciate it - and we did!
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Team 3 (Leeds). Placed 8ths with 53%. Peal speed: 4hrs 3m. It was difficult to see where the leadership was coming from with this piece of ringing. The rhythm varied quite a lot throughout the touch although the course ends were very well struck. The bells in 6/7 were dragging at times and there seemed to be a lot of 'in-fighting' setting the pace.
In summary it needed a more coherent structure (in contrast to Teams 1 and 2 where there was a clear framework) and more leadership from the back bells to bring the ringing to life.
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Team 4 (York). Placed 5th with 64%. Peal speed: 3hrs 41m. This team had a clear plan/strategy to overcome the need, on a 62cwt ring of 12, for lots of placement control: to ring as fast as possible. And they stuck to this plan. Indeed, over the first few sixes it improved and reached a high standard. However, it's a risky strategy and, if it doesn't work, it can collapse and create lots of faults. This happened in several places where it started to fall apart quite badly.
In summary it was good fun to listen to and to see a team have a go at this technique but it didn't quite come off.
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Team 5 (Ancient Society of College Youths). Placed 3rd with 79%. Peal speed: 3hrs 48m. This piece got off to an excellent start and we were all swept along by a confident and brisk rhythm. However, it was niggly and there were lots of minor errors throughout. They achieved what Team 4 appeared to want to do.
In summary it gave a great overall impression but, if you listened carefully, there were plenty of faults to find - and we did!
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Team 6 (Stockton-on-Tees). Placed 9th with 51%. Peal speed: 3hrs 58m. This band's approach seemed to be one of damage limitation and fault avoidance - i.e. each bell was placed one after the other (with lots of control) but not necessarily to a firm beat. And this strategy worked to a large degree but, in general, it lacked accuracy and precision. There were some quite big variations in rhythm and there was an unfortunate method mistake at the end of the first course (from which they recovered) that took a long time to sort out.
In summary this ringing was OK in parts, but badly let down by a couple of unfortunate 'events'.
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Team 7 (Society of Royal Cumberland Youths). Placed 6th with 63%. Peal speed: 3hrs 46m. After a slightly shaky start an excellent tenor beat kept this ringing nicely together. However, it needed quite a bit more control in some areas and most of the faults were caused by a few of the bells. When these individuals got it right, the ringing was very good. It lost its way early in the second course though recovered again at the end.
In summary it wasn't bad but some focussed coaching might be appropriate to sort out the problem areas.
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Team 8 (Melbourne). Placed 4th with 68%. Peal speed: 4hrs 1m. Like Team 7, there were only a few bells causing most of the faults. However, in contrast, there was a better sense of 'fixing' and the errors were not as badly perpetuated. The back bells set a good rhythm, especially in the early sixes of the touch.
In summary there was some good execution of and sense of purpose to the ringing but the over-cautious approach let it down a bit.
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Team 9 (Southwark). Placed 7th with 60%. Peal speed: 3hrs 42m. This ringing improved over time and became much more consistent as the touch went on. However, it was rushed and very syncopated in places and speed appeared to be a real issue in the sense that the nature of control required for faster ringing was missing. It lacked a sense of style somehow.
In summary this band might consider developing a better sense of style to their ringing to turn the consistency into something very good.
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