Virtual Belfry

Ropes and Ropesight

A menu option replaces the bells with the ropes (or, optionally, opens a separate window for the ropes). The ropes move up and down in time with the bells, permitting both ropesight and method practice. The movement is realistic, with due regard to the relative sizes of the bells and their wheels (ring just the treble and the tenor, and then fire them, to see a clear demonstration of how the two ropes behave relative to eachother).

Why only the sallies?

Experiments were carried out to show a tail end, hands and even a ringing room as background, but all these additions turned out to be distracting. In the ropes window the clearest ropesight seems to be had by showing the sallies alone against a plain background.

Your Rope

You can choose one of the ropes as your own. This rope is then shown in a darker colour. You can do this simply to make it stand out from the others, but mostly you do it in order to practise methods or ropesight (see below), when your own rope assumes a special significance.

Method Practice

You can practice ringing methods by silencing your own bell and making it sound by tapping the space bar on the keyboard. The bell and rope remain visually under program control, but the sound is your responsibility.

Ropesight

Ropesight or Rhythm/Listening?

Listening, feeling what the bell is doing and an awareness of the rhythm (or beat) of the ringing are the key requirements for accurate striking. Tools and techniques exist that focus on developing these skills. If you are able to spend time practising rounds and change ringing on a tied bell using simulator software, you should do so. It can transform your ringing.

Ropesight has an important role to play too, mainly providing assurance that you are in the right place, but also providing some useful (if imprecise) hints about the striking that is about to be heard. The problem with ropesight is that it is difficult to learn. Traditionally it has only been practical to teach and practise ropesight in the tower, in a live situation, at full speed, with imperfect striking and the mistakes of others confusing the picture.

Virtual Belfry attempts to help develop this visual skill, providing the equivalent of a helper standing behind you and pointing at the ropes you are supposed to notice. You can practise at home. You can slow the action down. You can stop and start again in an instant. As a teacher you can use it to demonstrate the concepts involved in ropesight.

There are several options for ropesight practice, the main ones being "flashes", "cumulative", and the ropesight game.

Flashes

Your own rope is shown in a darker colour;
Other ropes are highlighted from time to time to get your attention.
This mode of usage can be combined with the Cumulative mode (see below) if desired.

The aim of this mode of usage is to draw your attention to the rope you are about to follow at about the time that it would be noticed in the tower. This is achieved by flashes of colour that appear momentarily around a sally as it is moving.

The flashes occur just after your own bell has struck. You can vary the timing of the flashes to guide your eyes to the correct rope immediately or to give yourself time to try to spot it before the flash gives you confirmation.

No flashes occur while you are leading. Flashing the last rope to fall (which is the one you would normally expect to notice while leading) did not seem to be as convincing and helpful as the other flashes. This is something that might be introduced in a later revision.

Cumulative Ropesight

Your own rope is darker, as above, and is also distinguished by a differently-coloured background;
The other ropes are grouped visually (by changing the background colour) into those that are below your rope (i.e. the bell will strike before your bell) and those that are above (striking after).
This mode of usage can be combined with the flashes (see above) if desired.

The aim of this mode of usage is to illustrate the way in which ropes are "collected" while hunting from the lead to the back, and then "discarded" when hunting back down again. When you are leading you are following no ropes at all. When you are lying behind you are following (i.e. ringing after) all the other ropes. So to hunt from leading to lying you must ring after one rope, then two, then three and so on, collecting more and more ropes as you hunt towards the back. To hunt from the back to the front you must discard all the ropes you collected while hunting up, one rope at a time.
When hunting up, ropes that you have collected stay collected. The next rope you will collect is the one that is immediately following your own rope. After you have collected a particular rope, you no longer need to consider it when looking for the next rope to collect. The nearer you get to the back the fewer and fewer ropes there are left to consider.
When hunting down, ropes that you have discarded stay discarded. The next rope to discard is the one that you are following. After you have discarded a particular rope, you no longer need to consider it when looking for the next rope to discard. The nearer you get to the front the fewer and fewer ropes you have remaining in your collection.
The Ropesight Game
By choosing an option on the Ropesight menu, you can play a game that requires you to point the mouse at the next rope that your own bell will follow. If you are pointing at the correct rope when it flashes (see above), you score a point. A "hit rate" bar up the left of the window shows you your success rate as you ring, and you can get some more detailed statistics when you finish. You can increase the delay time for the flashes, or slow the ringing down, to make things easier if you are having difficulty spotting the right rope (or moving your mouse quickly enough).

VIRTUAL BELFRY

The Program in Detail