Change Ringing in America - A Tour of American Bell Towers
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 3 ก.ค. 2024
- This is an introduction to the ancient art of English change ringing, expressed through the story of a bell ringing tour of America with a group of ringing enthusiasts from England.
MORE INFORMATION:
In Florida: changeringing.info
In North America: nagcr.org
In the U.K. and elsewhere: cccbr.org.uk
BELL TOWERS FEATURED:
Church of the Advent, Boston, MA
Old North Church, Boston, MA
Church of the Transfiguration, Orleans, MA
Memorial Tower, Hingham, MA
Smith College, Northampton, MA
Kent School, Kent, CT
Trinity Church Wall Street, New York, NY
Immanuel on the Green, New Castle, DE
St. Mark's Church, Philadelphia, PA
Church of St. Martin in the Fields, Philadelphia, PA
Calvary United Methodist Church, Frederick, MD
Virginia Theological Seminary, Alexandria, VA
Old Post Office Tower, Washington, DC
Washington National Cathedral, Washington, DC
Christ Church, Raleigh, NC - เพลง
![[UNCUT] ฝันรักห้วงนิทรา | EP.9 (3/4)](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/ikd1tEhXbp8/mqdefault.jpg)
This video is TH-cam gold. Absolutely fascinating.
Today I listened to the bell tolling at Washington National Cathedral for the 200 thousand dead from covid19. I then needed something more uplifting, and I found this video. Thank you so very much.
I'm glad to hear it. The bell being tolled was probably the largest bell of the carillon, which is shown in the video. It is the one with the inscription that I focus on at 12:33.
I just ran across this video for the first time. Wonderful! I was a ringer in Boston during my college days in the 1970s. Learned to ring at Old North Church and Church of the Advent. Unfortunately I can no longer ring (medical issues) but it is wonderful to see so many towers where I have rung, and quite a few new or renewed towers that weren't around in my day.
I'm sure we know many of the same people, as lots of the 70s era Boston ringers are still around. Thank you, and I am so glad you enjoyed it.
Thank you so much!!! There has always been something down deep in my soul that stirs everytime I hear churchbells ring!! It just thrills me and stops me dead in my tracks. It has been a great treat to stumble onto your videos of bell ringing. Thank you again.
Thank you for featuring St. Mark's Episcopal Church on 1625 Locust St., Philadelphia, Pa. I was a member there along with my partner of 25 years ( Charles H. Angelo 3rd/ sang in the choir 1950-1983 ). I grew up in Southeastern Lancaster Co., in PA. I grew up around the Amish, Mennonite and Horse and Buggy people. I was a member of Hahnstown United Zion Church ( closely related to Brethern in Christ faith) . I'm a member of Mt. Olive Lutheran Church at 3045 Chicago Ave S., Minneapolis, MN. I recently moved to Charles City, IA.
I just love church bells they banish any negativity in the air and the house ect😀❤😀
Agreed!
@@KempBrinson 😀
So nice to see of century's old tradition carry on. Well done all. Oh the art of bell ringer's is called
Very nice! I’m a bell ringer myself but in the Uk. And I ring at different churches and it’s fun to handle different bells!
Im from Dublin, Ireland, Western Europe, We have 16 Bells. That vibration gives you a positive feeling✅
As someone who is on their second lesson of bell ringing, I found this video extremely helpful for learning all the different terms and processes used in change ringing. The explanations were perfectly easy to understand, having the visual aid of the ringers in action was super enjoyable, and the bells (well, most of them XD) sounded absolutely wonderful! Great job, my friend, and keep on ringing!
Thanks! And best wishes on your ringing!
An interesting feature about Trinity NYC is that they kept the old bells above the new, they're still in the tower, but since they're not required, they're chimed by hammers.
Ringer Adam Like old saint martin Worcester
I rang in Dublin, 16 bells!
Samuel wardell did you ring at st patricks catholic cathedral as that has 16, while christ church Dublin has19 making it the cathedral with the most bells hung for change ringing in the world, there are so many different statistics as Liverpool cathedral has the heaviest ring in the world and slso the highest, meaning they are the highest hung in any tower, st martin in the Bull ring Birmingham also has 16, i have also rung too at st patricks Dublin and christchurch among others! they are beautiful bells, i believe the bells at christchurch are hung very close together in order to accomodate them all in that tower!! Happy ringing!!
My introduction to change ringing was from Dorothy Sayer's The Nine Tailors! Loved your video!
Thank you! Great book.
Thank you for the video I love the sounds of bells ringing
I am 52 years old and literally just learned about change ringing last night! How have I never known about this fascinating tradition and art? I live in Texas and always wished I could participate in a handbell choir, but our inter-denominational church homes through the years have never had handbells. Now I am DEFINITELY adding this to my bucket list. Thank you for your informative video and resource links for learning more! /sg
So glad you liked it!
Hi, all British churches have both handbells and "real bells" we have towers of 4, 6, 8, 10, and a full peal of 12 bells, these are mainly cathedrals. Please that you are taking this great art, us campanologists are a "special breed" of folk lol. enjoy your learning, and to all our American folk, you are all welcome to the United Kingdom. (The home of bell ringing)
Kemp, Your
Efforts have produced the most
Excellent
Exposition of the
Exercise,
Ever.
Enthusiastically, Jim Snyder
Haha! Thanks Jim!
A really nice vlog. We ring regular in St Peters Drogheda and St Patricks Cathedral Dublin, and then in Christchurch Cathedral, although I am just the driver for my son, I do also ring.
I.m delighted and astonished to learn that this old tradition is doing so well in the USA! Thank you so much! I'm not a ringer but I'm keenly interested in the history and technique of ringing: and I knew nothing of either until I read Dorothy Sayers's amazing detective novel The Nine Tailors - in which the theory of ringing is integral to the story - and is incidentally given a mystical significance - absolutely fascinating.
Your explanations are very very good!
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it. The Nine Tailors is a great book!
Thank you Kemp for this lovely video. It brings back extremely fond memories of ringing at the Old North Church and the Church of the Advent during a visit to Boston in August 2017. I was visiting Boston from Australia. The bellringers could not have been more hospitable They endured far more Stedman Doubles than I would have thought humanly possible, as I struggled to learn singles. I recognised several of those long-suffering Boston ringers in your video. On my last day in Boston, we all gathered near the Market and shared delicious treats on the picnic tables just outside. It remains an enduring memory of that city.
Thank you, Michael! North American towers are generally very accommodating to visitors and very keen to help people along at any level. Glad you enjoyed your trip and we hope to see you over here again.
What an excellent video! I've yet to ring in America, but I have been lucky enough to ring the tenor in Liverpool. It is surprisingly easy to ring; very well balanced. The most difficult part is the time the bell takes to spin, meaning that you are pulling the bell a significant time before a bell you are planning to sound after.
The ringing chamber is reached by two lifts, once to get to the transept roof, the other up to the ringing chamber.
Liverpool is on every ringer's bucket list, of course. I've never been, maybe one day!
Thanks Kemp. I was on a bellringing tour to Canada. We went to Vancouver, Victoria, Westminster Abbey and Calgary in 1975 abd I have been a life member of the North American guild since
Good to hear! Hopefully you can make it back over and pick up a few more of our towers sometime!
@@KempBrinson I would love to but getting a bit old
Thanks Kemp. I found the video useful especially for beginners and people who didn't know about Change Ringing in North America.
Thanks, Jack!
@@KempBrinson no problem.
Awesome job. Great to hear historical and musical facts about bells! In Greece they don't care like that about church bells. Some people say its just annoying noise....
I simply love the toll of a bell before Mass, or upon the hour. The Cathedral of St johns in Boise has a beautiful sound to it. I end up recording it every time I hear tho their all good. lol
I'm outside Manchester Cathedral now and just listened to lovely film from 06-11-2022 from there. ❤️. November. ❤️. England 💝
EXTREMELY well done!
Thanks!
This was a great video. Lots of lovely churches in the US and great to see them using real bells instead of those mechanical things.
Thanks!
SAINT PIUS X!
12:13 sounds beautiful!
They are lovely bells and fun to ring, too.
What an awesome documentary! In NZ we have possibly 8 towers for change ringing. Cambridge and Christchurch can no longer be rung. Not being a ringer myself, this has fascinated me for years.
Thanks so much, glad you liked it. I'm sure the Australia and New Zealand Association of Bellringers would love to hear from you if you are interested in learning. (anzab.org.au/)
Kemp Brinson - thanks very much indeed. The nearest tower is a six-hour drive. Not the quite the hop, skip and jump to local pub haha... Thanks again for the awesome doco!
I feel ya. My nearest tower is 3.5 hours away. I solved that problem by starting a handbell band in my home town, but I make the drive to ring in the tower once a month.
Lovely work. This is a great showcase of these American towers, I hope I get the chance to ring at some of them some time in the future!
Thank you! I'm so glad you enjoyed it. We don't have a lot of towers here in the U.S., but we do have some very nice ones.
Oh, thank you for this! I've seen National Cathedral but not the others!
That's some fine striking at Trinity Wall Street!
Yes, it was! Fun night!
This was BRILLIANT!
Thanks!
Learned a lot, thanks!
Thanks! It's a great video, much needed. Come visit us in Hendersonville!
Thanks! I hope to get there soon. Maybe for the AGM. We'll see.
Cracking vid mate ! Fantastic fun and this looks like my ideal holiday
Thanks!
Good video Kemp. Since I like grabbing towers, it would be good to perhaps do a tour like this in the future.
Thank you for this wonderful documentary! I hope to be moving to Iowa soon which unfortunately has no change ringing bells.. the closest would be St Paul's in Riverside IL, about 100 miles away - but hopefully going to bring some of the bells over from here and hang them in Cedar Rapids IA as a mini-ring of 8 or 12! Tenor 9lbs
Glad you enjoyed it! Be sure to reach out to the Chicago ringers (I think Riverside's bells are only rung seasonally, IIRC).
You’re moving??
@@FrancescoBellringer i hope to?
This was very interesting. I liked it alot. I'm irish and living in boston and I'll be thinking of your videos next time in here the bells ringing. Thank you Kemp
You are welcome. Unfortunately, no one is ringing due to the pandemic (except virtually), but hopefully we'll be back at it soon.
Beautiful living culture.
FANtastic!
James Ryan Thanks!
This was a fascinating video! I love tower bells and going up into them to see the bells. I've been a life-long handbell ringer since I was a teen, but I'd love to try a change ringing bell. Not sure how well I'd grasp the ringing of a method, but it'd be cool just to ring a bell. When I was growing up, my home church has three bells that are rung by pulling the ropes and I used to love to do that! Unfortunately, my current church has to be electrically struck - the tower wouldn't withstand swinging them. We have four historic bells in our tower. Thanks for sharing this video!
Thanks, Jeff! I got into change ringing through handbell ringing myself. Hope you have a chance to give it a try one day.
very good, this video is really interesting
Hi Kemp,
Well done, lovely video - looks like a fun tour :-) Some gorgeous historic places there! Also enjoyed your commentary which is a very accessible intro to the art.
Here's hoping that ringers in UK and US will soon enjoy the freedom to ring we are lucky enough to have in Sydney, Australia.
Sam.
Thanks, Sam, glad you are back to ringing, and that you enjoyed it. Some towers here are back to in-person ringing now, including (that I know of), Washington and Raleigh. Soon!
Hi Kemp, I live in England and first learned to ring bells in Northamptonshire. I adore ringing bells and one day hope to ring 12 bells.
I was able to ring in The Old North Church on a visit to my mother in Maine. What a thrill that was.
Thanks, Sally! I love The Old North Church, too. I have only ever rung on 12 at Trinity Wall Street and a few times during a brief trip to the UK a few years ago. I was very bad at it.
Hi Sally. I used in Northants: Middleton Cheney, 6 miles from Brackley. Learnt a lot of my ringing in Brackley and Banbury. I now live in Norfolk
I lived in Hingham and was married at the Advent in Boston. We had the bell ringers do a special round for our wedding. Advent’s bells have been used for the 1812 finale on the Fourth of July Boston Pops concert. I love this video and the sound of these bells! Thanks !!!
Thanks, and I'm so glad you included ringing in your wedding!
Question. We’re they cast in the Uk when this type of ringing originally came from or are they cast elsewhere
i wish yall could of been in charleston, sc
Me too! I have not rung in Charleston, yet, despite it being not terribly far from me. It's on my list, for sure.
I wouldlove to ring in the US. The national Cathedral and Wall Street.
The national cathedral bells were hung by Bill Theobald .
My dad wasa bell hanger for Whitechapel , he was a bit dissapointed he never got to do the job.
Would also love to see the Rockafellar bells as the bourdon bells are Gillet and Johnxton and think the largest bell is 22ton
Yes, the bells at the Riverside Church (the Rockefeller Carillon) are G&J's, but some were recast by Whitechapel, I think. I hope you are able to ring in the U.S. Most of the towers here really appreciate visiting ringers. I would love to ring in England!
Kemp Brinson well i now live in Australia andring at St Andrews Cathedral which is a Taylor 12 and a flat 6
My dad hung the bells at St Marys in 1986.
They are a replica of Canterbury Cathedral bells.
My dad also hung Bow with Bill Theobald.
I really like some of the american churches especially those in New England.
Must admit I would love to ring a peal of Stedman Caters or Yorkshire Royal in Washington
Just got to fet my self to the US and fimd 9 other ringers
The Washington band is very active and capable. I'm sure a band can be pulled together if you can find your way across the Pacific sometime, if not for a peal than at least a quarter.
Kemp Brinson i must admit that to my ears 10 bell ringing is the optimum sound.
It sounds very bright and uplifting and very rounded. 12 can be very cluttered.
There is a video of St Pauls guild ringing Bristol Max at Trinity in NY, absolutely stunning ringing but Ifind it all to quick.
Actually Washington sound so much like Westminster Abbey.
If you ever go to the UK thereare some wonderful peals.
For an 8 you cant beat Westbury. The jewel in the crown though would be Yorkminster, they are wonderful bells and the accoustics are brilliant.
I think my favourite in London is Bow which was one job my dad did in 1961with Bill Theobald who hung Washington bells.
Its very sad that Whitechapel closed, even as a very young boy I can remember the place as I used to go on jobswith dad
I agree entirely. To my ear, having the highest note of the ring be a major third above the tenor's pitch is very pleasing. On a 12, you get a perfect fifth on top, which I do not find as pleasing. I have to travel so far to ring, and I get to do it so little, that I'll take whatever I can get my hands on, though.
Do you know if any of the following towers ring every hour?
Trains, Clocks And Variety Center Definately not. The bells are rung for Services and National Events as well as Practices
I am in central NY and my 8 year old son would love to visit a bell tower with swinging bells. Could anyone please tell me where we might go? He is quite the enthusiast!
You should get in touch with the bell ringers at Trinity Wall Street. You can do that here: www.trinityringers.org/Home.aspx
Kemp Brinson Thank you! He has been obsessed for years and I have had no idea how to go about putting together a field trip for him!
Depending on where you are located, the tower in Rochester, NY might also be an option. nagcr.org/groups/rochester.html
Tower Bells at the University of Washington
Go to Groton school great sound of changeringing
Groton does not have an active band and they only rarely allow visiting ringers. We were unable to secure the bells there on this particular tour.
BTW - had a chance to ring at Groton a few months ago and absolutely adored the bells there. I hope to have another chance one day!
Kemp Brinson ok just wondering because that’s my dads HS alma mater
I rang in a peal of Stedman Caters at Groton, I think in 1979. It was the best peal I was ever a part of. Magnificent bells!
@@KempBrinson Shucks! But nowadays nobody's ringing much. Handbell time!
Does any church in California have those type of bells?
No, unfortunately. The nearest would be Seattle.
@@KempBrinsonphooey. 🙁
YOU HAVE TO COME TO SEWANEE! Change ringing is a PE credit!
Is the sacred hearts in Newark nj on the list
That church does not have bells hung in the English change ringing style.
@@KempBrinson as in the towers you mean
@@javonbrandon Yes.
There are 6001 Ringable towers in the british isles. Poor america with only 50 :-(
Tell me about it... And they are so far apart.
i wish we had more but lucky we have a few :D
there's always the possibility of getting a number of portable mini-rings to pique public / parish interests.. 😅
@@adamm2693 If you have one to spare, I will gladly accept delivery.
Back in the 1970s, when I started ringing, there were only about 20 ringable towers in North America, so we're making progress.
Awesome video and a succinct explanation of a hobby I only heard about thanks to the Wikipedia rabbit hole! Do you happen to know if there's anyone in the Nordic countries doing this?
Thanks! As far as I know, there is not. There is a tower in the Netherlands, but not any farther northeast. It's very much an English tradition, with a few towers scattered about in places the English colonized or conquered.
Yes actually been obsessed with Campanology for some reason since I went to New York. ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
Apparently there is very special bells there also. 💥
TWU
I can imagine Cobes slinging rope in the tower
Did you ever seen the movie SING
Oh nah you aint gonna force kemp to watch somethin cringe you cringy ass 7 year old
Dude you should change your name to "Kemp Bellington". Thanks for the video!
Hmmmm. Tempting.
While a seemingly "nice" tradition of England, change ringing style does not have a need for widespread acceptance in the US. The "continental" ringing style -- which seems to refer to the 'rest of Europe' in how churches ring their bells more like a joyful continuous chorus -- is what is most common in the US. It is (in my opinion) the more glorious way to hear the sounds of bells calling people to church or to share joy across the air.
The world is blessed to have many bell-ringing traditions representing many cultures. What I love most about change ringing is the human element -- most American swinging bells, and even bells in continental Europe, are rung by motors or hung dead and struck with mechanical hammers.
Some regions of Italy have a ringing tradition very similar to English change ringing, and ringing in Eastern Orthodox churches is different still - the bells are rung by priests who pull ropes or use their feet to operate levers attached to hammers. Then there are the carillons of northern Europe and, of course, eastern bell ringing traditions, in addition to the motorized mechanisms common in western Europe.
There are bells in Africa and South America too. It is fascinating how a simple bronze tone-making device managed to become culturally significant in so many cultures.
I like to think of the U.S. as a bell-ringing melting pot, with examples of all of these traditions. All of them are glorious, and all of them need to be studied, preserved, and enjoyed.
04:15 you mean red shirt
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maroon
Kemp Brinson Sorry I thought you said blue shirt (that would be the six!) 😆
@@irenec4876 LOL. Understandable.
It actually looks like something I might enjoy, but I have to ask -- is AARP membership required to participate or something? The demographics look just like shuffleboard or bingo lol
The ages do skew older, but there are many young ringers as well. We can start them as early as 10 or 12ish, depending on individual stature, maturity, and the particular difficulty of the local ring. The group I was traveling with were upper-middle age through retired, so the video may give the wrong impression of homogeneity a bit. It also varies a lot from tower to tower. Some skew younger, some older. I know ringers from teens through 80s. You’re not wrong, but there are plenty of us much younger, and the older people who ring are really cool, as a general rule.
@@KempBrinson thanks for the prompt (and informative) response! Jw, how does one go about getting started with this sort of thing? Is the ringer community "connected"? I can't say I've ever known anybody who did this, or ever seen a flyer for a hobby group meeting in the church tower...
(And honestly had never even heard of it until diving down a random Wikipedia rabbit hole which is how I wound up here!)
@@dancoroian1 It depends on where you live. Are you in the U.S. or Canada? Since we only have about 50 bands in North America (what we call groups of ringers, even though it's nothing like a traditional band), you kind of have to be lucky enough to leave near one of them. You can see a list of our towers and bands here: www.nagcr.org/towers-and-bands
We are a very small community, so we are all very well-connected, across the country and the world. If I were to go visit, say, New York, London, Sydney, or Johannesburg, I would instantly have a group of friends to ring and have a drink with.
If you live near a tower, just find the contact person and reach out to let them know you are interested!
If you don't hear back, email me: kbrinson@gmail.com. And please let me know if you have other questions, via email or here is fine. I would love to help get you started if it's something that grabs you.
If you don't live near a tower/band, thanks to Covid-19 we now have a virtual ringing platform and we can get you started that way. It's called Ringing Room. You will need help finding a group to get started with if you go this route, but I can help you with that, too, just let me know.
It sucked me in hard when I was in law school in Washington and I haven't looked back.
THE NATIONAL CATHEDRAL ALSO HAS A CARILLON
As explained and shown at 20:13
Ignore this Nikos Podas person Kemp. He is very well known for being very irritating, pompous, aggressive and rude. It's likely a fake account.
7:06 Gtfu
twu
Didn't care for the description of the US Post office building. Most likely if it was anyone else, he would have just been mentioned or not at all. It really broke the mood of the whole video.
I'm super glad you enjoyed the first 19 minutes and 18 seconds of my video, at least!
@@KempBrinson I enjoyed the rest as well, just found the presentation of the lessee a bit off putting.
I'm just glad I got to see and hear the change ringing at the Old Post Office Building in DC back in 2004 before it was leased out to the current lessee.
Were there bells in the Post Office tower prior to the installation of the ring, eg a set for the Westminster chimes for the clock?