Oxford Treble Bob Minor

About Oxford Treble Bob Minor - Complib

Oxford Treble Bob Minor has a logical relationship to Kent TB as a handbell method. It is purely right place, and identical to Kent TB apart from the places. Many ringers find Oxford TB easier to ring, but harder to conduct than Kent TB.

Oxford Treble Bob is the simplest possible Treble Bob structure.

Method Structure.

Place Notation:
X 34 X 16 X 12 X 16 X 12 X 16, 16, Bob 14, Single 1234.

Grid:

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

Plain Course structure
The first and last sections of a lead have Oxford TB Places with dodging in 1-2 and 5-6. The rest of the method is an alternation between plain hunting (16) and dodging (12). The 5 working bells take their turn as the "slow bell", 2nds place bell.

Learning Oxford Treble Bob Minor.

The Structure

The method is defined by the path of the treble which rings Treble Bob Hunting.

The Rules

Oxford Treble Bob Minor - the rules
The treble rings treble bob hunting.
When the treble dodges in 1-2, Oxford places are made in 3-4.
When the treble dodges above 1-2, the slow bell (2nds place bell) makes seconds over the lead bell, and the other bells dodge in 3-4 and 5-6, one of them with the treble.
When the slow bell is leading, all of the bells ring plain hunting.

Double Blue Lines

Oxford Treble Bob Minor, 1-2

Diagram: Oxford Treble Bob Minor, 1-2.

Oxford Treble Bob Minor, 3-4

Diagram: Oxford Treble Bob Minor, 3-4.

Oxford Treble Bob Minor, 5-6

Diagram: Oxford Treble Bob Minor, 5-6.

Artefacts

A major blue line feature is Oxford TB places. These simple places are made right, and the pair of bells make two blows in 3rds or two blows in 4ths. And, like the impact of a single in Plain Bob, after making the place, the bell hunts back in the opposite direction to which it arrived.

The slow bell structure (X 16 X 12 X 16 X 12 X 16 x 12 x 16 X 12 X 16 X) creates a Plain Bob Lead End Structure every 4 changes.

Place Notation and Grid

Whilst the Place Notation is straightforward, the simplicity of the structure makes this a method to ring by the grid.

Pictels

There is no value in splitting this method into picture elements.

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

The 4 bells that follow the slow bell in the coursing order lead in turn, (but not in natural order). The treble dodges each time the slow bell makes seconds over one of the other working bells. Hence the skill of following the treble works well in Oxford Treble Bob, all stages.

Positional Awareness

Extensive practice at Bastow Little Bob is good preparation for ringing the treble bob hunting work of Oxford Treble Bob.

Place Notation Elements

The plain course only contains 4 elements (X, 12, 16, 34), all of which will already have been rung.

Place Bells, Pivot Leads, and Staging posts

The slow work works as a staging post for all pairs of bells.

Awareness of other bells

Having a bell in the slow work gives an opportunity to observe the other bells, especially the treble.

Coursing Order in Oxford Treble Bob Minor

The dominance of the natural coursing order is the main reason for Kent Treble Bob. being more popular than Oxford Treble Bob. Oxford TB is very similar to Kent TB but with some interesting variations has the following features:

• The treble passes bells in natural order from lead to lie, including the dodging, except that 3rds and 4ths place bells are swapped over.
  When the treble lies behind at the half lead, the bell leading is the slow bell, the treble skips past that next bell in the coursing.
  The treble then passes the bells in natural coursing order back down to lead, except that 3rds and 4ths place bells are swapped over.
• The bell in the slow makes seconds over each of the other bells in turn, except that 3rds and 4ths place bells are swapped over.
• All of the working bells work together in natural coursing order, except that 3rds and 4ths place bells are swapped over, and except that where you would meet the slow bell, it is replaced by the treble.

Ringing the Method

Oxford Treble Bob Minor is worth ringing as it is deceptively simple to learn and delightful to ring once the lack of natural coursing order has been overcome.

Oxford Treble Bob Minor leads on to many more Treble Dodging methods. Performance Level ringing is very valuable and aspiring conductors should seek to achieve mastery of the method.

Bobs and Singles.

Bobs replace the 6ths place at the Lead End with 4ths. This causes the bell that has just made 3rds to make the bob, make thirds once more, and enter the slow next lead end. As with Kent TB., the bob introduces a dodge in 5-6 which connects with the method to create a 3-pull.

Singles Singles (X 1456 X) are similar to the singles in Reverse Bob Minor, and are rarely used in Oxford Treble Bob Minor.

Touches of Oxford Treble Bob Minor.

2nds place bell is the pivot bell, and hence the first lead end is 142635 giving calling positions from the tenor as:
Home, In, Out, 4ths, Wrong.

Using the tenor as observation bell, normally unaffected by calls, means that most calls are made as the tenor enters or exits the slow work.

This simple touch exploits the way in which bells dodging for a bob repeat their previous work. In this case, the tenor repeats 6ths place bell and dodges home on the last call.

Call Bob each time the tenor is unaffected.

Call Bob each time the tenor is about to enter the slow.

Call Bob each time the tenor is about to come out of the slow.