• Eat a hearty breakfast. You will need it. This is not going to be easy.
  • Enlist the help of a few volunteers who know how to ring Grandsire.  If one of them hates the method, so much the better because it is quite amusing to expect someone to endure an hour of inexpert crashing of something that they already have an aversion to
  • Select some bells that are easy to ring because all attention will need to be focused on the method.  There is no room for handling indecisions
  • Your 4 learners need to be at slightly different stages of learning to ring Grandsire. We had:  learner a) never rung Grandsire; learner b) able to cover but limited experience of trebling to Grandsire; learner c) able to cover and treble to Grandsire but never rung inside; learner d) able to cover, treble and  to stumble through a plain course of Grandsire from the 3 bell if everyone else is in the right place
  • Here is the lesson plan.  Take a deep breath and hope that everyone is feeling resilient because things will go wrong.  4 learners in the same method when all are doing some element of it for the first time is ambitious.
  • Round 1 – teach  learner (a) to tenor behind to Grandsire.  Put Learner (c) on the 2 to hunt, Learner (d) on the 3 to consolidate. Rest learner  (b) whilst they observe an experienced ringer trebling.  Their turn will soon come. Someone will need to stand with the newbie on the tenor and help her find a way to stay in 6th place – be it watching ropes/listening/feeling the stretch.  If you want this to work do not be prescriptive.  What works for her works for her, so accept and be thankful. It will take a few run throughs for everyone to feel comfortable.
  • Round 2 – move learner (b) to the treble and learners (a) (c) and (d) stay where they are until the trebling is secur(ish).  Do not be tempted to rush anyone because if one learner loses confidence it will not work for anyone.
  • Round 3 – you now have learners (a) and (b) in their allotted space and for the rest of the session this is where they stay, practising, practising and practising.  No moving about doing a bit of this and a bit of that, because your stated aim is for everyone to ring Grandsire doubles by the end of the hour.  There is no time for fannying about, although learner (a) might appreciate a little break from tenoring and benefit  from an introduction to plain hunting to  prepare for the next session when they become learner (b).  Experienced ringers now ring the inside bells whilst (c)  hunts the 2 and (d) observes bell  4, ideally with a gentle whisperer talking her through what is going on. Again, if this takes 2 or 3 attempts, be patient until the learner has at least grasped the first lead and transition into the next. If you over load, you knock confidence and will get nowhere.  Slowly, slowly catchee monkey
  • Round 4 – (a) on tenor, (b) on treble, (c) on 2 and (d) on 4 bell.  Do not expect to whizz through  flawlessly, unless (d) is particularly talented.  A lead will be grasped, and then another until they can be put together
  • Round 5 – (a) on tenor, (b) on treble,  (d) on 4 bell and (c) observing  3 bell.  As before, repeat a few times until at least a full lead plus a little more is understood. (a) (b) and (d) won't mind because they are consolidating their new learning, One experienced ringer hates Grandsire anyway so you will not be harming him, and the other is enjoying the experience. Remember not to skip any steps nor be tempted to cut any corners. Learning to ring something  new is challenging enough with a good supporting band, and very challenging indeed if other learners are also feeling their way around the circle and being a bit hesitant.  If someone is not quite getting it, repeat until they are.  You have all put in so much effort it would be a shame to waste it at the last hurdle because you have a bus to catch.
  • Round 6 – ring a plain course of Grandsire where the majority of the band are doing something for the first time.

You have achieved your aim. Next time introduce learner (e) who will take the rope of learner (a) and everyone moves up the row accordingly.  Do not attempt to replace your original 4 learners with anyone new because they now have an understanding and are working as a team. A new fifth person will destabilise things quite enough. A new fifth person may turn out to be too much.

Can 5 inexperienced ringers successfully ring Grandsire doubles at the same time without elbowing each other out of position?  For maximum satisfaction retain the experienced ringer who hates Grandsire as the one remaining solid ringer.  He will never grumble about the method again.

Of course at times I am being flippant but there are some important "take aways" from this:

  1. a sensitive and patient teacher can help learners to achieve things that seem out of reach. The trick is to grasp the learning style of each individual learner and adapt to suit.
  2. the plan is a support but should never be a corset. You have to be prepared to wing it if necessary. Sticking to the plan if it is not working is not only a waste of time, but can be damaging if it demoralises a learner.
  3. take it slowly and consolidate at each stage. Better to not reach the end than skip a step and risk undoing all the good work that you have put in by making someone feel that they are useless.
  4. remain calm when it all goes wobbly and resist the temptation to throw in the towel and announce that this is too hard. Just scale back and repeat until things are grasped.
  5. do not muddy the waters by introducing something totally new. Concentrate on one thing.
  6. say thank you nicely to the helpers, because their job is trickier than it looks and you need them to come back next week.