Editing Change ringing (section)

===Method ringing===
{{main article|Method ringing}}
Method ringing is the continuously changing form of change ringing, and gets its name from the use of a particular ''method'' to generate the changes.

After starting in repetitive rounds, at a given command, the ringers vary the bells' order, to produce a series of distinct sequences known as ''rows'' or ''changes''. In this way [[permutation]] of the bells' striking order proceeds. For example ''123456'' can become ''214365'' in the next sequence.

The method is committed to memory by each ringer, so that only a few commands are given by the ringer in charge (the conductor). Learning the method does not consist of memorising the individual sequences, but using a variety of techniques such as:
# Memorising the path of the bell, not the numbers of the bells it strikes after. This can be by visualising a tracking line in a method diagram
# or by breaking the line into small "work" units which are joined together.
# and looking for visual signposts, such as when the ringer's bell crosses with another particular bell.

There are thousands of different methods, of which two methods on six bells are explained in detail below.

====Plain hunt====
{{see also|Plain hunt}}
[[File:Plain hunt.png|thumb|The "diagram" of change ringing plain hunt on six bells. Two bells are shown.]]
In method ringing, plain hunt is the simplest form of generating changing permutations in a continuous fashion, and is a fundamental building-block of many change ringing methods. The accompanying diagram shows plain hunt on six bells. The course of two bells only are shown for clarity. Each row in the diagram shows the order of striking after each change.

Plain hunt consists of a plain undeviating course of a bell between the first and last places in the striking order, by moving a place in the sequence at each change, but with two strikes in the first and last position to enable a turn-around as the internal bells change over.

Thus each bell moves one position at each succeeding change, unless they reach the first or last position, where they remain for two changes then proceed to the other end of the sequence. All of the bells are doing this at every change, without any words of command.<ref>Central Council of Church Bell Ringers, "Learning plain hunt" retrieved 20.3.2017 [https://cccbr.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/index.pdf]</ref>

This simple rule can be extended to any number of bells, however it repeats the sequence after twice the number of bells hunting.

====Plain Bob====
[[Image:Plain-bob-minor 2.png|200px|right|thumb|The plain course of Plain Bob Minor, shown in red. Note that, for clarity, the row at the bottom of each column is repeated at the top of the next.]]
{{Listen|filename=Bob Minor, Synthesised Bell Sounds.ogg|title=Plain Bob Minor|description=Plain Bob Minor played using synthesised bell sounds. The bells start ringing rounds followed by a plain course of Plain Bob Minor (60 of the 720 changes that are possible on six bells) and finish in rounds again.|format=[[Ogg]]}}
To enable a greater number of changes to be rung without repetition, more advanced methods were developed, many based upon the plain hunt. "Plain Bob" is one of the oldest and simplest of these, and is shown as an example above.

A "plain course" of plain bob minor is shown in [[diagrammatic form]], which has the characteristics:
#all the bells plain hunt, until the treble bell is first, and depending where they are in the pattern, they 
#perform "dodges" in the 3-4 position 
#or perform dodges in the 5-6 positions 
#or sit for two blows if they are just above the treble, then go first again.

The red bell track shows the order of "works", which are deviations from the plain hunt.
#3/4 down dodge
#5/6 down dodge
#5/6 up dodge
#3/4 up dodge
#make 2nds place.
And then it repeats. Each bells starts at a different place in this cyclical order. 
A dodge means just that: two bells dodge round each other, thus changing their relationship to the treble, and giving rise to different changes.

The plain bob pattern can be extended beyond the constraints of the plain course of 60 changes, to the full unique 720 changes possible (this is 6 factorial on 6 bells, which is 1×2×3×4×5×6 = 720 changes). To do this, at set points in the sequences one of the ringers, called the "conductor" calls out commands such as "bob" or "single", which introduce further variations. The conductor follows a "composition" which they have to commit to memory. This enables the other ringers to produce large numbers of unique changes without memorising huge quantities of data, without any written prompts.

Ringers can also ring different methods, with different "works" on different numbers of bells – so there is a huge variety of ways of ringing changes in method ringing.