When I first start teaching somebody I tell then not to worry or be disheartened if they don't seem to be making progress. It is quite normal to think you are getting nowhere fast and then all of a sudden everything clicks into place and you think to yourself 'well why couldn't I do that yesterday?'. I am sure very few people believe me (until it happens to them) but over the last two weeks we have had a very obvious example.
One of the learners who has been ringing plain hunt on several bells for a while now and has a good grasp of the theory has been struggling with consistency and changing speed, and his backstrokes were almost always late varying to very late. We have also been working hard on ringing up and down, again the theory is good and there is no problem taking coils (or releasing them) but he just couldn't anticipate enough to make small adjustments. Well in the last two weeks the whole thing has come together and he is a completely different ringer. He has rung Thingumybob Doubles from several different bells very reasonably and on Friday he covered very nicely to a 120 of doubles on the simulator. Not only was he listening and adjusting as necessary, but when it went a bit pear shaped and he was actually in seconds place in the next row he got it back in just two whole pulls. There was a wedding on Saturday and I had enough confidence to ask him to cover to some Grandsire which he did well. The call changes were good too, and while the ringing down was a bit erratic (he might have done better with less input from the rest of the band!) there was more confidence about it. Yesterday we only had five for Sunday service ringing. He rang up well, and got back in quickly when he was a bit out. He covered beautifully to both Bob Minimus and Stedman Six, both of which were new to him, and rang down almost flawlessly with just one instruction of 'not too close'.
As usual when it starts to go well everything is easier, he is more relaxed, his technique is much more fluid and he is no longer fighting the bell. Because he is in the right place he has so much more time to see and hear what is going on and therefore he is more confident. He hasn't had much chance to do any trebling at Offenham in recent weeks, but I understand he is doing well with trebling to touches of doubles and has also had a go at trebling to Bob Minor at his home tower. We need a couple of weeks to consolidate and make sure he is really happy with what he is doing, but I am very happy in predicting his first quarter peal in the next few weeks and a LTR level 3 pass in the very near future.
Now if only I could have the same breakthrough with Cambridge...........
One of the learners who has been ringing plain hunt on several bells for a while now and has a good grasp of the theory has been struggling with consistency and changing speed, and his backstrokes were almost always late varying to very late. We have also been working hard on ringing up and down, again the theory is good and there is no problem taking coils (or releasing them) but he just couldn't anticipate enough to make small adjustments. Well in the last two weeks the whole thing has come together and he is a completely different ringer. He has rung Thingumybob Doubles from several different bells very reasonably and on Friday he covered very nicely to a 120 of doubles on the simulator. Not only was he listening and adjusting as necessary, but when it went a bit pear shaped and he was actually in seconds place in the next row he got it back in just two whole pulls. There was a wedding on Saturday and I had enough confidence to ask him to cover to some Grandsire which he did well. The call changes were good too, and while the ringing down was a bit erratic (he might have done better with less input from the rest of the band!) there was more confidence about it. Yesterday we only had five for Sunday service ringing. He rang up well, and got back in quickly when he was a bit out. He covered beautifully to both Bob Minimus and Stedman Six, both of which were new to him, and rang down almost flawlessly with just one instruction of 'not too close'.
As usual when it starts to go well everything is easier, he is more relaxed, his technique is much more fluid and he is no longer fighting the bell. Because he is in the right place he has so much more time to see and hear what is going on and therefore he is more confident. He hasn't had much chance to do any trebling at Offenham in recent weeks, but I understand he is doing well with trebling to touches of doubles and has also had a go at trebling to Bob Minor at his home tower. We need a couple of weeks to consolidate and make sure he is really happy with what he is doing, but I am very happy in predicting his first quarter peal in the next few weeks and a LTR level 3 pass in the very near future.
Now if only I could have the same breakthrough with Cambridge...........
RSS Feed