Welcome to Treble’s Going
“What? You don’t have a podcast about ringing yet? Come on, Mr. Austin.”
That’s Stella. Years ago she prodded me into conducting my first quarter. And now, this: Treble’s Going. Episodes will go live starting on Friday, May 8.
What is Treble’s Going?
The ringing world is full of teachers. Step into any tower or sit with any handbell group and you’ll find you’re among some of the most patient, knowledgeable, and generous people you’ll ever meet.
Much of the teaching we do is one-to-one and hands-on, occurring in our local groups on practice nights. Treble’s Going is an attempt to augment that. There is great value in “just in time teaching,” in pulling a ringer aside during practice to explain the next challenging thing or the last challenging thing. There’s an immediacy, there’s a preparedness, there’s virtuous feedback in on-the-spot instruction. Treble’s Going is not that, isn’t trying to be that, and cannot replace that.
Treble’s Going is a series of conversations with ringers about ringing. It is an attempt to help ringers share their knowledge beyond their local bands. It is an attempt to foster learning and lessons for years to come. And it is a celebration of ringers: of the time and energy and passion and joy that so many have poured into this little-known pursuit through the decades.
Who will Treble’s Going interview, and what topics will be covered?
Who will I interview? You! (I hope.)
Whether you’re a brand-new ringer, a tower captain, or a NAG officer, I’d love to chat with you.
Admittedly, the first tranche of interviews tend toward the Northeast US. When I put together my “people I could probably count on to do me a favor” list* of names, they come overwhelmingly from that area. (Which is one more testament to their generosity with my students through the years.) But I am keen to meet and learn from ringers throughout North America!
My vague and incomplete wishlist of topics, in no particular order, includes:
- band organization/management
- methods (individual methods, method structures/classifications, analyzing methods, circles of work, extending stages, learning by place-bells, principles, &c.)
- conducting
- teaching exercises
- online ringing
- called changes (Devon? If you’re a North American ringer and your band rings Devon changes, please hit the “Contact” page!)
- ringing organizations (local societies/guilds, NAG, CCCBR)
- history
- composition
- running a six-bell (specifically) group/tower
- community outreach
- steeple-keeping
- handling instruction
- striking
- permutation groups
- place-change thinking
- bell-founding
- the music theory and (psycho)acoustics of bells
- competition(s)
- what you enjoy about ringing
If there are other topics you’d like to hear discussed, or if you’d like to talk about something on that list, please contact me.
* A note to Boston, Groton, Orleans, Smith, New York, Philadelphia, and DC ringers: when I made my “people I could probably count on to do me a favor” list, it included more of you than I could plan to talk to in a year. I mean that: I stopped writing names, off the top of my head, at thirty-five. The first half-dozen of you I reached out to said ‘yes.’ The rest of you I look forward to buttonholing at some point!