Change Ringing at Smith

This page gives information about bell ringing or change ringing at Smith College. This includes news and events, practice times, who rings bells, a brief explanation of change ringing, a number of other resources and links and contact information.

Website last modified 05/11/09

Bell tower viewed from the rear of Mendenhall Center.

Coming Events

Ringing for Commencement weekend on Ivy Day Saturday 16th May is cancelled for this year as there are not enough ringers. We will organize ringing for next commencement May 15-16, 2010.
Ringing over the summer months? Watch this space....
Ringing at the Ford Hall dedication? Watch this space....

News

April 11th Afternoon of handling and ringing with visitors Bill and Carolyn Kollar, Greg and Cathy Russell. We had a great time, the local band consolidating plain hunt on five, six and even eight bells and venturing into Plain Bob Minor.
Ringing on Rally Day from 12.30-1.30pm, February 18. See the piece in Smith College Grecourt News found here.
February 14 Day of ringing with Greg and Kathy Russell.
Ringing for Peace: Saturday December 20. In memory of the people killed in the terrorist attacks in Mumbai India.
Day Trip to Boston: Saturday November 22 (the weekend before Thanksgiving).
Family Weekend on Saturday October 24: We had a great time improving our handling and showing students' families what goes on on the bell tower. At least 6 of our band hunted on 4 bells and we managed pretty good rounds on 8 bells. Huge thanks to Greg and Cathy Russell, Diane and Greg Cermak, David Westmoreland, Nancy Owen and Alan Durfee for their expert help.
Mountain day: Friday October 3, 2008. We let the campus know by ringing rounds (and some queens) from 8 - 8.40am.
Marjorie (Marj) Batchelor and Alan Winter from Cambridge UK visited Smith College for three weeks at the start of Fall semester and re-established bell ringing at Smith. During their time with us we experienced:

Daily handling and rounds practice in the tower
A talk by Alan and Marj to the math department about bell ringing and the mathematics of change ringing
Saturday September 13: Bell ringers from New York (Trinity) and the MIT guild of bellringers visited Smith for change ringing and to help train the new bell ringers
A bell-ringing celebratory party.
Saturday Sepember 20: We visted Boston and rang at the Advent and Old North Churches
Photos are coming soon!!

Click here For the article (9/18/08) in the Sophian on bell-ringing and Marj and Alan's visit.

Bell tower in Mendenhall Center viewed from the street.

Practice times

Bell tower:

Last regular practice scheduled for April 30, 2009. Practice schecule for summer months still to be determined.
Wednesdays 7:30-9:00 pm (with occasional Monday practices instead).
There is handling practice for 30 minutes prior to the start of practice.
Please contact us ahead of time to confirm the practice time.
Visitors from other towers are most welcome.
Kirby Russell has kindly agreed to give individual handling lessons at other times. Contact her (kerussel[at]email[dot]smith[dot]edu) to set up a time.

Handbells: Periodically, no regular time as yet.

Where is the bell tower? It is located on Green Street Northampton MA, in the Mendenhall Center for the Performing Arts on the Smith College campus. The tower is in the part of Mendenhall which is closest to Sage Hall. You get to it either by coming around to an entrance at the rear of the building just near the tower, or by entering the building from the front entrance and finding a way through.

You can find Mendenhall Center on a campus map of Smith College.
There is street parking (with meters) nearby.
Directions to the Smith College campus can be found here.

Who rings bells? It could be you!

The current band of ringers at Smith College consists of about 16 people and includes: Smith undergraduate and post-baccalaureate students, Smith faculty, a Smith alumna (one of the founding members of the original band of change ringers at Smith) and members from the wider commmunity (including ringers from Mt Holyoke and Connecticut).

The Ting Tangs: Smith Change Ringers is the Smith College student organization associated with the tower. Its charter is found here.

As Jim Henle said, "All this ringing! Do you realize what you are doing?
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You are embarking on a life of chime."

Marj and Allen with the first group of Smith ringers.

So what is change ringing?

Click here for an excellent summary (with animations).
There are some fantastic videos on youtube of change ringing in action. Some of our favorites include:

Trinity Church in New York City. Rounds on 12 bells.
Spliced Bristol Surprise Major and Stedman Triples
A nice touch of Grandsire Triples Leeds UK.
Rounds at Westminster Abbey. At the end, they go into Stedman Caters:
Some Cambridge Surprise Royal at St Pauls Church Birmingham UK.
Hosanna. A really big bell at Buckfest Abbey.
Dunsford Bells in Devon (You see the bells moving in this one.)

The mathematics of the methods and changes in change ringing. (Coming eventually)

Demonstration bell

Contact Information

This webpage is maintained by Elizabeth Denne, Smith College.
Questions about the page or change ringing at Smith? Please contact me at edenne[at]email [dot] smith [dot] edu.