I suspect that success with ringing methods depends on finding the key to any method – the pointer that brings things into focus. I am not sure that the key is the same for everyone. If it was, then surely experienced ringers would sit you down and say " look, to ring this successfully, the trick is to……." They don't, so either : they are mean and keeping it to themselves/they do not realise what the key is/they cannot verbalise the key ( they just "know" it – a fat lot of help to others)/they assume that a learner is following the ropes so does not require a theoretical key/the key differs between individuals.
I do not believe for an instant that our teachers are selfishly hiding the keys that would allow us to succeed. They would have to be utter masochists to stand beside us as we flounder around, muttering "dodge with the 5 now" etc. if there was a magic key to unlock the understanding and make the whole process less painful. Therefore, one of the other options must apply and I suspect it is that everyone's key differs.
In handbells, the key for me in our first method, Plain Bob Minor, came after some months when I realised that "all" I had to do was dodge at every lead end and continue in the same pattern, unless I was making seconds, in which case the interruption would always require me to bounce into another pattern. Suddenly, I was free of the trebles because I understood what to do at every lead end, rather than tried to remember what to do at every lead end. Before I had relied on learning every possible permutation and it is a thankless task and demands a fierce focus that it is near impossible to sustain. It seems that every method has its own distinguishing feature(s), that once grasped makes things slide into better focus. The places in Oxford Treble Bob turn your direction but the places in Kent do not. The additional 3-4 notation in Norwich always turns you back again following the original "Oxford" turnaround only to later unravel you in a pleasingly symmetric fashion. The treble making 4ths in Little Bob blocks your way and has you dodging and hunting off in a new direction. It is all fairly obvious once you know it, but how to "know" it?
When I discovered my personal key to plain bob minor on one bell last week, the experienced ringers looked puzzled and claimed "but we told you that", but I don't think that they did. I know that my elderly brain cannot always absorb what someone is trying to explain, especially in the middle of ringing, but if they did offer the key, it was communicated in a way that did not yet make sense to me. That is the trouble with the golden nuggets – both the specific wording and the timing has to be spot on to be effective. And once someone has shared the information, it might be reasonable for them to assume that the job is done and if the learner fails to act, then there is nothing more that they can do.
Perhaps we all have to find our own meaningful keys at the time that we are finally ready to use them. Someone else cannot second guess the missing bit of the jigsaw that prevents the complete picture crystallising. But should you notice a little blue piece of sky with 3 sticky out bits and one hole lurking under a cushion, perhaps you could hold it up and ask "would this be of any use?" even if you suspect that you offered the same missing bit last week. Today might be the day that it actually makes sense. Or else we may just ignore your words of wisdom yet again because we are not yet ready to absorb them. We are not being intentionally rude, rather we are being human. One day they might prove invaluable, although by then we will have forgotten who our benefactor was and mistakenly believe that we worked it out for ourselves.
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