Little Bob Minor

About Little Bob Minor

Little Bob Minor is closely akin to Plain Bob, the difference being that the path of the treble is curtailed at 4ths place. It is an enjoyable method to ring, but for inclusion in a 720 it needs to be spliced with an Alliance class of method in order to include the rows where the treble is in 5ths and 6ths places. We have not yet dealt with such methods on this website.

Little Bob Minor can readily be spliced with Plain Bob and or Double Bob to give touches in a variety of lengths.

The great value in ringing Little Bob Minor lies in the way it encourages ringers to be aware of the position of the treble.

Further value is gained from the way that Little Bob Minor changes the hunting pattern at almost every half lead; this encourages good concentration. This aspect of Little Bob extends to the higher stages, and is helpful as an introduction to some of the patterns encountered in ringing Surprise Major Mathods.

Goals and learning approach

What you are trying to achieve needs to drive your approach. There is much enjoyment, and a great deal of skills learning involved in Little Bob.

Basic ringing and skills.

Do not memorise the lines, learn the rules, get stuck in, ring, and watch the treble to know when to dodge. It all happens very quickly.

Performance Level

Build on Plain Bob experience, but note how fast the hunting patterns change. Study the lines.
Practice a lot.

Method Mastery Level

It's better to master Plain Bob and allow those skills to cover Little Bob.

Little Bob Minor is a subset of Plain Bob, but the 4ths place made by the treble introduces an extra pair of dodges in 5-6.

Method Structure.

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

Grid:

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

Plain Course structure
The Plain Course contains 40 changes which are also found in Plain Bob. The method is quite fluid, and compared with Plain Bob is more busy as the treble's half lead creates numerous changes in hunting pattern.

Learning Little Bob Minor.

The Structure

Structurally, the method has bite sized chunks of Plain Hunting, rapid fire dodges at the back (always dodge - lie - dodge), and plain hunting under the treble. But it is best to attempt to ring Little Bob as a rules extension of Plain Bob.

The Rules

Little Bob: The rules
Ring plain hunting except:
When treble reaches 4ths place, it makes 4ths and the bells in 5-6 dodge.
When treble leads, 2nds place is made and the bells in 3-4 and 5-6 dodge.

Double Blue Lines

Little Bob Minor, 1-2

Diagram: Little Bob Minor, 1-2.

Little Bob Minor, 3-4

Diagram: Little Bob Minor, 3-4.

Little Bob Minor, 5-6

Diagram: Little Bob Minor, 5-6.

Artefacts

The only new blue line feature worth noting is the (mandatory) dodge - lie - dodge. It's always dodge-lie-dodge.

Place Notation and Grid

Place Notation is not relevant to learning very simply structured plain methods. The grid is not relevant to learning very simply structured plain methods.

Pictels

Pictels are not relevant to learning very simply structured plain methods.

Ringing Little 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 Little Bob Minor. Some hints and tips for developing the skill are given in the techniques section.

In Little Bob Minor the half leads seem to come thick and fast, and when it's not the half lead it's the lead end!.

Positional Awareness

The 4ths place half lead with the consequential dodge in 5-6 forces a handbell ringer to be more aware of 5ths and 6ths than when ringing plain bob.

In Plain Bob the hunting pattern for a pair of bells changes whenever one of the pair makes seconds at a Lead End and the other bell dodges. In Little Bob changes in hunting pattern also occur at the Half Lead when one bell is below the treble and one bell is above the treble. Mastery of this aspect of Little Bob is essential learning which is re-used when tackling more highly structured methods.

Place Notation Elements

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

Place Bells, Pivot Leads, and Handrails

Pivot Leads

Pivot bell is the 4.
1-2 pivot when 2 leads at the half lead.
3-4 pivot when they cross in 2-3.
5-6 pivot when they dodge together in 5-6 behind trbl;e in 4ths place.

Double Place Bells for Lead End 164523

164523 LE 12: Little Bob; Duke of Norfolk T.B., Bourne Surprise

1-2:1-2, 1-5, 1-4, 1-3, 1-6, 1-2
3-4:3-4, 6-3, 2-6, 5-2, 4-5, 3-4
5-6:6-5, 2-4, 5-3, 4-6, 3-2, 6-5 :

Handrails

There is little chance to relax in Little Bob Minor.

Awareness of other bells

The busy nature of Little Bob gives little time for the novice to think about other bells.

Coursing Order in Little Bob Minor

Like Plain Bob, Little Bob is pure natural coursing order.

Conductors often use the "running out bell" as a confiirmation of making a call. This still applies in Little Bob, but you have only a couple of rows in which to spot the bell coming down in front of the treble. Try it, it's valuable training.

If the coursing order is a b c d e, when a is 2nds place bell, the bells lead (under the treble) in the order a, b, c.
b is pivot bell (leads at Half Lead), and c becomes the next 2nds place bell (or runs out at a bob). Bells d and e dodge together in 5-6 as the treble makes 4ths, and hunt down d before e.

Following the coursing order in this manner is a good discipline for the conductor, and is valuable preparation for ringing the many Minor methods that have Little Bob Lead End sequence..

Ringing the Method

Little Bob Minor gives valuable practice at watching the treble, and leads to an enhanced awareness of combined hunting 1-2-3-4 and dodging in 5-6.

Bobs and Singles.

Bobs and Singles in Little Bob are identical to Bobs and Singles in Plain Bob.

Touches of Little Bob Minor

Touches of Little Bob are also rung in a similar manner to Plain Bob, but the extent on 6 (720 changes) cannot be rung in Little Bob as the method does not include any rows where the treble is in 5ths or 6th place. Little Bob can be rung as part of an extent but only be “splicing” it in with a method where the treble plain hunts between 1st and 4th places and then dodges both ways in 5-6. Such methods are not included in this site.

4ths place bell is the pivot bell, and hence the first lead end is 164523 giving calling positions from the tenor as:
Before, Wrong, In, 4ths, Home.

This is the shortest possible touch, two consecutive bobs, bell no. 4 makes both of the bobs.

This can be called by the pattern: Bob, Single, Bob, Single.

This is the classical 2 course touch; it can be extended to 4, 6, 8 or 12 courses as per Plain Bob.

This is the classical 6 course touch; it can be extended to 12 by use of singles as per touch 5.

In composition 5 above, ring Little Bob until the first single, then change to Plain Bob. This gives 240 Little Bob and 360 Plain making 600.