Weaving Bells

Oh what a wicked web we weave,
when we lead with the wrong hand.
-W. Shakespeare (sorta).

Weaving is probably the most important skill a ringer has, after obvious things like ringing and damping. It is often held up as this mysterious, difficult task when the truth is, most ringers are probably doing something like a weave without even realizing it. Quite simply, weaving is just a very efficient and (potentially) musical way to play multiple bells off the table in sequence. Rima Greer has described in its most basic form as:

1. Play the bell in your hand.
2. Put it down.
3. Pick up the other bell and play it.

OK, there is a little more to it than that. My point here is, weaving is nothing to be afraid of.

The main trick to the weave is the realization that a lower pitched bell doesn't need to be in your left hand. Once you've internalized that, nothing about the weave (or the rest of bell-ringing, really) will faze you.

That being said, here's a quick run down of the most common type of weave, the three-bell weave. It can happen with three diatonic pitches, as in the demonstration below, or more likely with three chromatic pitches within a single ringer's assignment.

1. Set up three bells in a more-or-less straight line. I'll use A4, B4, and C5. Start with the A in your left hand and the B in your right hand.
2. Play the A.
3. Table damp the A at the same time as you play the B.
4. (Here's the tricky bit:) Pick up the C with your left hand.
5. Shoulder damp the B at the same time as you play the C.

1. Play the C with your left hand.
2. Table damp the C at the same time as you play the B.
3. Pick the A up with your left hand.
4. Shoulder damp the B at the same time as you play the A.

You will notice that in the three-bell weave one hand never changes, in this case the right hand holding the B. This changes in the dreaded four-bell weave:

1. Set up four bells in a more-or-less straight line. I'll use A4, B4, C5, D5. Start with the A in your left hand and the B in your right.
2. Play the A.
3. Table damp the A at the same time as you play the B.
4. Pick up the C with your left hand.
5. Table damp the B at the same time as you play the C.
6. Pick up the D with your right hand.
7. Shoulder damp the C at the same time as you play the D.

In this situation, each hand has held two bells: the left has held the A and C, and the right has held the B and D. This can be scaled indefinitely, all the way up to a 93-bell weave, if you happen to have access to Malmark's set from Ab0 to C9.

The simplest way to remember this is to always alternate hands. It's kinda like walking: almost never do you step with the same foot twice in a row. (Try it--you'll probably fall down.)

Once you get the basics down, there are a few tricks that make things smoother and easier:

• One very important one is to put a bell down in the same place every time. This will help you find the bell you want faster.
• Don't reach across your body to get to the next bell. It looks awkward, it is awkward, it takes more time, and it increases the chances you'll bang two bells together. Instead, rotate your body at the waist so your free hand is pointing towards the target bell. This will automatically get the bell in your hand out of the way. (You might bonk your neighbor, though.)
• With larger bells, a simple rotation often isn't enough. You may need to actually step from one bell to the next. This is why bass ringers, with large assignments, often look like they're dancing as much as ringing--they're constantly moving their bodies to their next bell.

Another helpful tip when weaving, which often isn't discussed in the weaving context, is the importance of leading with the appropriate hand. "Leading" is a term stolen from (mainstream) percussionists such as drummers and xylophonists. They realized long ago that some patterns, while deadly if begun with one hand, can be a piece of cake if begun with the other hand. By recognizing which hand they should "lead" with, they made their lives much simpler. The same is true for ringers.

Take the simple three-bell weave above. Because we started with A and B, it made sense to start with the A in the left hand. This is good leading. Bad leading would have been to start with the B in the left hand and the A in the right hand and playing the pattern as before: A (RH) B (LH) C (RH) B (LH) A (RH). Why is this bad, you say? We're doing the same hand alternation as before and not making any more changes than before. But if you try it, you'll see that you spend a lot more time reaching/twisting/stepping, because you start off by reaching for the A with the "wrong-side" hand.

It might make sense to do this, though, depending on what the next figure is. Since we've been assuming going up the scale and back down, the leading described in the preceding paragraph works better. Consider, though, the case where you have A B C B E. If we lead with the left hand, we end up with A (LH) B (RH) C (LH) B (RH) E (LH). Uh-oh! That's a big reach from the C to the E with the left hand! That's going to be pretty awkward. Instead, let's split up that big reach into two smaller ones, by leading with the right hand: A (RH) B (LH) C (RH) B (LH) E (RH). Now we have a small reach for the first bell, but the reach to the E is nice and easy.

(Of course, all this depends on the idea that your bells are in chromatic order, but that's a different discussion altogether. You could also switch a bell from one hand to the other, if there was time.)

Leading might cause you to occasionally "break" the "laws" of good weaving technique, but in the interest of a greater gain down the line. There are rarely any good obvious tips about how to lead; it's really a matter of practice and noticing when it would be a good idea to start with the other hand. One thing to look for is a big jump in the bells you play--make that jump match with the widest part of your reach, so a big reach up is done by your right hand and a big reach down is done with your left.

Many thanks to my man Kemp Brinson for goading me into writing this page and providing a good framework to start it with.

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