Bell Ringing in DC

Bell ringing as seen from the bellfry of the Old Post Office Pavilion in Washington, DC on October 10, 2009. There are 8 bells ringing in this clip of the method Double Norwich Bob Major.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Change
• Ringing
• North
• American
• Guild
• of
• Washington
• Society
• Old
• Post
• Office
• Pavilion
• Congress

[MartynMcFlyC]

Looks like the 9th is up wrong?

[shipsbells]

@MartynMcFlyC

you would be right about that

[LT0WnWaRi0]

watch?v=ezpPxgbIIug&feature=re­lated

this is the clock tower in the creml and they work it with their it sounds real crazy :))

[MartynMcFlyC]

@Brad3374 The 9th is the bell in the bottom left hand corner of the video. @0.42 you can see the clapper bounce off the bell. - hope this helps.

[Brad3374]

@MartynMcFlyC So I can bolo for this, which bell is the 9th?

[MartynMcFlyC]

The bell becomes "up wrong" when the bell is being raised, some bells are more prone to this than others. The initial chiming when you start to raise a bell must always strike on the back stroke pull before it begins to strike both sides as it continues to being raised, if not the clapper ends up on the wrong side of the bell. As well as double hitting, it can affect the way the bell handles too - Harder to set in the upright position for instance. Hope that helps.

[MartynMcFlyC]

@Brad3374 Hello Brad, you can tell the 9th is up wrong because the clapper is actually hitting the wrong side of the bell at each stroke. When a bell is "up right", the clapper should be hitting the bell and not the bell hitting the clapper. If it is up wrong, the clapper will "bounce" off the bell causing a double strike. As you can see, the tenor clapper swings with the bell, and as it reaches it's upright position, the clapper carries on it's path and strikes the bell.

[Brad3374]

@MartynMcFlyC Not knowing much about ringing, how is the 9th up wrong? Is it the opposite direction from the other bells?

[brookwall]

Well spotted re the 9th.

[darrowby1972]

Certainly is!