Treble's Going

Tracy Chevalier is an author and admirer of ringing, an American expat living in London.Tracy writes historical fiction: we briefly touch on writing and researching Girl with a Pearl Earring, The Last Runaway,  and Remarkable Creatures (and glance briefly at The Virgin Blue and The Lady and The Unicorn) before delving into the meat of the episode: her novel A Single Thread. (Find Tracy's books at her site or wherever you get books.)Tracy commends both Akenfield: Portrait of an English Village and  The Nine Tailors to your attention; I still say read Tracy first!Thank you, friends. (Especially those of you who recommended Tracy to me during a dinner in Northampton--you've enriched my life unimaginably!)

Carbaretta Bartland is a ringer and author from, well... I'll let her tell you.Her books, A Short Touch of Bristol and Her First Long Length explore many aspects of ringing--band management, instruction, challenging methods, flowering relationships--and are best enjoyed with a glass of wine. And, perhaps, a fan going.We talk about how Carbaretta started ringing, her writing, and her future plans. Project Pickled Egg comes up; we've previously discussed PPE in episodes 23 and 25 with Simon Linford, and it's come up in a few other episodes.Thank you, friends.

Ben White-Horne is a ringer and programmer from Cambridge (that one, not this one).Notably, Ben is one of the authors of Wheatley, whom you may have seen sitting quietly in the corner of one of your Ringing Room towers. We talk about the construction and operation of Wheatley, about Ben's other ringing software projects, about composition and conducting... the conversation ranges!Thank you, friends.

Joan Hutchinson is a ringer variously of Smith College, Boston, Philadelphia, New Hampshire, Smith College, Minnesota, and Colorado. While Joan has plenty of tower experience, Whitechapel Handbells are her first ringing love.We discuss ringing in hand and in tower, starting and maintaining groups associated with schools and universities, and the movement of sets of handbells around the continent.Joan briefly worked with Bill Theobald, of Whitechapel--previous guests Linda Woodford (episode 014) and Sidney Kirkpatrick (episode 026) also worked with Bill, and share stories of his mentorship. Likewise, Joan's story crosses paths with both Sarah Moriarty (episode 008) and Marj Winter (episode 018 and episode 020) through Smith College.These days, Joan can be found ringing with the Minneapolis handbell band, thanks to Ringing Room. (Stan's ringing a bit, too, but may be too busy inventing new puzzles and methods with Mark Davies, of episode 031.)Thank you, friends.

Bryn Reinstadler is a ringer and conductor from Boston, co-creator of Ringing Room, and has twice previously appeared on Treble's Going to discuss MIT's Interterm Activity Period course on change ringing (May 2020) and Ringing Room's first birthday (March 2021, with Leland Kuzmer).This time, Bryn's here to discuss her forthcoming book on calling and conducting: Calling it Round. We discuss learning to call and conduct, some of the "softer" skills of bandleading, and what it's been like to return to ringing in person with full bands.Calling It Round grew out of Bryn's work on the Achieving Gender Balance in Ringing workgroup of the Central Council. Articles describing their work product can be found in many issues of Ringing World through 2020. Bryn especially recommends to your attention the Special Issue on Women in Ringing, no. 5716 of 13 November 2020 (requires subscription and Bellboard login).Thank you, friends.

Steve Coleman is a ringer in the Gloucester and Bristol (G&B) Association, author of many articles and books, and impetus behind the G&B Summer and Winter Schools.Steve's books are chock-full of useful advice and helpful hints, and he will be back in a future episode to discuss them. If you haven't yet come across them and want a copy, just head to ringingbooks.co.uk.He's also written dozens of articles for The Ringing World. Two he recommends to your historical interest are "The Sight of A Gentle Maiden Deftly Handling a Rope," chapters 1 and 5, found at No. 5147 (18-25 Dec 2009) pp. 1267-8 and at No. 5167 (7 May 2010) pp. 470-2.Mostly, though, we talk about the August 2020 Summer School and January 2021 Winter School: the genesis of the schools, the sessions offered, their reception, and their future prospects. Those interested in more information on either of the past schools or on 2021's Summer School should email Steve directly: [email protected], Steve mentions how wonderfully he has enjoyed Ringing Room during lockdowns. If you haven't yet heard them, know that episodes 4 and 27 of this podcast both feature Bryn and Leland, the creators of Ringing Room, discussing their project's birth (episode 4) and its first year (episode 27).Thank you, friends.

Today's episode is excerpted from a panel discussion at the April 2021 Seven Towers Festival, featuring Porter Brownlee, David Graves, Remica Gray, and Meredith Morris.We discuss the much-debated, now documented (see below), genesis of the festival; the payoffs and pitfalls of running a festival; and why Alan Regin's left out.You should come to the April 2022 Seven Towers Festival--watch The Clapper or the NAG website for upcoming details!Thank you, friends.

Mark Davies is a ringer at Cheltenham Minster, of the Gloucester and Bristol Association. Mark is also a prolific peal composer and constructor of methods. See Rapid Wrap Major, Snow Tiger Maximus, or the "Mythical Beasts" project, for instance.While we discuss ringing for a bit, much of our conversation is about Methodokus: the style of ringing(-inspired) puzzles that Mark invented last year. If you have not seen them in Ringing World, a few can be found in an earlier post at treblesgoing.com, or you can find many in the book Methodoku Mayhem.Mark has also uploaded "Methodoku Masterclass" videos on his YouTube channel, if you would like more-directed advice on solving Methodokus. (You can also find there a video of his presentation to the North American Guild, which we mention during this discussion.)Thank you, friends.

This is the second half of an interview Kemp Brinson conducted with Pip Penney; you can find the first half of the interview in episode 28.Kemp and I discuss our shared progress in Ringing Room and how our moms' interests led to our (eventual) ringing. (Happy Mother's Day!)Then Pip and Kemp discuss the origin of ART certification, ways to better encourage younger ringers, and thoughts on the future of ringing.Finally, Pip and I share some more thoughts on young ringers, and we get the full story of how Pip came to ringing as an adult.Episode 31 will feature Mark Davies, author of Methodoku Mayhem. If you have not tried solving methodoku yet, you can find a brief introduction and some to try here.Thank you, friends.

Our guest host is Kemp Brinson. Again! Making room for our guest: Matthew Austin.We discuss the genesis of Treble's Going, and how Laveita Brinson and Debbie Austin got us to this point.We run through some of our favorite episodes of the year and what we loved about them: Michael Tartell on Viruses (ep.21), Fr. Alban Riley on Ringing in Community (ep.15), Marjorie Winter Part I and Part II (eps.18 & 20), Linda Woodford on Bellhanging (ep.14), John Bihn on Conducting His First Quarter Peal (ep.9), and Candace Higginbotham on Starting a Band (ep.16).Along the way we also talk about the goals for Treble's Going, interviewing strangers, how episodes are produced, and parallels between classroom teaching and producing a podcast.Finally: enjoy meeting all the people behind the scenes who make this show come to life. And thank Kemp Brinson, once again, for stepping in to host.Thank you for listening, friends.