Single Oxford Bob Minor

About Single Oxford Bob Minor

Single Oxford Bob Minor represents a step up in the complexity of the work above the treble in that it incorporates a court place with a Plain Bob Lead End. For anyone who has rung Single Court Bob Minor, this is Single Court with 2nds place Lead End.

Single Oxford Bob Minor combines the maximum amount of dodging above the treble with plain hunting below the treble.

Method Structure.

Place Notation:
X 14 X16 X 16, 12, Bob 14, Single 1234.

Grid:

Diagram: Single Oxford Bob Minor, plain lead, change-rows and grid.

Plain Course structure
The method combines helpfully static work across the lead end with enjoyable fluid hunting below the treble.

Learning Single Oxford Bob Minor.

The Structure

The method is characterised by the court places when the treble passes through 2nds and 3rds in both directions. The seconds place lead end then gives rise to a dodge associated with the places, and a three-pull in 5-6.

The Rules

Single Oxford Bob Minor - the rules
When the treble leads, 2nds place is made and the bells in 3-4 and 5-6 dodge.
When the treble passes through 2-3 or 3-2, 4ths place is made and the bells in 5-6 dodge.
Ring Plain Hunting below the treble.

Double Blue Lines

Single Oxford Bob Minor, 1-2

Diagram: Single Oxford Bob Minor, 1-2.

Single Oxford Bob Minor, 3-4

Diagram: Single Oxford Bob Minor, 3-4.

Single Oxford Bob Minor, 5-6

Diagram: Single Oxford Bob Minor, 5-6.

Artefacts

Note that when 3-4 pair are dodging together at the lead end, that pair also makes the court place either side of the lead end.

Place Notation and Grid

The 4ths place either side of the lead end gives the cue into the grid. The grid is a powerful aid to memory for this method.

Pictels

The grid is sufficent without chopping it up into smaller elements.

Ringing Single Oxford Bob Minor.

Track the treble

Awareness of the position of the treble is a key skill for most bellringing methods, and a significant help in ringing Single Oxford Bob Minor. Some hints and tips for developing the skill are given in the techniques section.

For a ringer that has practices Single Court, the discipline of picking up the treble hunting down through 4ths, 3rds, 2nds will be valuable in ringing Single Oxford Bob Minor.

Positional Awareness

This method hammers home the break between 1-2-3-4 and 5-6; but do not be tempted to split the bells and ring them separately.

One useful technique for helping to concentrate on the first bell of a pair, ringing below 5ths, is to make a mental note on the first 5-6 dodge, which way round? Over at backstroke or under at backstroke? because the following 2 dodges are the same way round.

Place Notation Elements

The plain course only contains 4 elements (X, 12, 14, 16), all of which will already have been rung.

Place Bells, Pivot Leads, and Staging posts

The staging post worth noting is the three-pull in 5-6 for a coursing pair.

Awareness of other bells

The manner in which the court places and the bells in 5-6 work together reflects the dodging work of Plain Bob but the court places also disrupt the coursing order.

Coursing Order in Single Oxford Bob Minor

The method preserves the coursing order above the treble (it is a regular method), but as in Single Court, the bell that makes both court places in a lead jumps over two after bells, leads at the half lead, and then jumps back into position for the lead end.

The court places move some of the coursing work from a coursing pair to a split pair (3-4), and vice versa.

Ringing the Method

Avoid the towerbell ringer's trap: "Single Oxford is Plain Bob Minimus with a 3-pull in 5-6". This statement is true, but gives no help towards ringing a pair of bells as a pair.

Single Oxford Bob Minor is usually seen as an interesting step up from Plain Bob and slightly easier to ring well that St Clements. It gives valuable practice for the handbell ringer especially at following the position of the treble. A performance in the method generates valuable experience.

Bobs and Singles.

Whilst the calls appear to be similar to Plain Bob calls, the presence of the court places makes them more interesting.

Bobs cause the dodging in 3-4 to become hunting in 2-3 and 4ths place. Consequently three bells in succession make 4ths and hunt back down to lead.

Single causes the bell that made 4ths as the treble hunted down through 3-2, to make 3rds for the single, and then immediately 4ths for the method.

Touches of Single Oxford Bob Minor

3rds place bell is the pivot bell, and hence the first lead end is 156342 giving calling positions from the tenor as:
4ths, In, Wrong, Before, Home.

Short touches of Single Oxford Bob Minor (short being less than 60 changes) are not readily available, but any touch for Double Bob Minor will work for Single Oxford Bob Minor.

A selection of touches ranging in length from 60 to 720 changes is posted at Touches of Group "b" Minor Methods. As the natural instinct for Single Oxford will be to ring a 720 or quarter peal, the linked list of touches progresses from short (ish) through 360, to 540 and 720.

Ringing 720.

"Students" of this website will be aware that our normal tactic is to minimise the number of calls needed in a 720 by calling W SW W SW H as a three part. However, longer touches are all about ringing accurately, maintaining concentration and recovering from occasional trips.

That recovery is not helped by the leading order of the bells under the treble, the order is disrupted by the bell that makes 4ths just after the lead end. Following the coursing order and temporarily repositioning that bell whilst ringing the method and making the calls requires bright young brains.

The problem for the conductor starts even before that. How to ring correctly and make the calls in the right place.

The normal tactic is to minimise the number of calls by using (BSBSW BH) Repeat twice; it proved tricky to ring the parted course and call the single without trouble. Fortunately, our old favourite (WHW WHW WHW SH) Repeat is really helpful even if it does “promise” 65s at backstroke because 5 courses in front of 6 for a few leads. (e.g. coursing order 35426 just after 5 has made 4ths.

The calling “Wrong” in coursing order 5xxx6 is straightforward as per the plain course. The following Home and Wrong both have 5, the secondary observation bell, running out. Fortunately in Single Oxford you can see this coming as far back as the half lead where treble turns 5 from behind.

A conducting tip.

The biggest problem in Single Oxford relates to missing the 4ths after a lead end; it's so easy to lapse momentarily into Plain Bob. So the conductor needs to:

• Ring correctly
• Make calls correctly
• Follow the coursing order
• Observe which bell makes the place after each lead end (3rds place bell)
• Starting with the bell that made 2nds or ran in, watch four bells lead in coursing order, as two pairs, separated by 3rds place bell, leading at the half lead