CONDUCTING J. J. PARKER'S
12 PART PEAL OF GRANDSIRE TRIPLES

by John Heaton of Derby Cathedral

The Composition

    234567
    752634 1 in                         1
    237546 3 out at 3                   2
  S 562437 1 home with a single         3
    375246 2 before                     4
    753246 4 in                         5
    627453 1 out                        6
    276453 4 before                     7
    762453 4 in                         8
    537246 2 out at 2                   9
  S 265437 1 home with a single        10
    742365 1 in                        11
    537642 1 out                       12
  S 625437 1 home with a single        13
    376542 2 before                    14
    423657 2 home                      15

    Eleven times repeated.
    S for B half way and end.


The peal as shown above can be called in two ways: either, count the leads between calls as given by the numbers or, call the 7th in the calling places shown. In addition, different bells may be used as observation bell, but we will use the 7th. Since the counting of leads between calls is too difficult to sustain for three hours (especially during firing situations) we will use the calling positions instead of number of leads.

Coursing Order

    The normal way to conduct Grandsire Triples is to maintain a 6-figure coursing order which represents the order in which the bells come to lead after the Treble has lead. For the first lead of the Plain Course this order is 234675. At each lead end this must be transposed so that the last bell is placed second. Thus the coursing order for the second lead is 253467. That for the third lead is 275346, and so on.

    At a bob, the coursing order is changed by placing the final two bells first. Thus a bob at the first lead end of the Plain Course would generate the coursing order 752346 instead of 253467. At a single, the final two bells are placed first as at a bob, but are also reversed. A single at the first lead end would generate 572346 instead of 253467.

    Whilst this system helps ensure that the bells lead in the correct order it is flawed for the following reasons:

    With these objections to the standard coursing order for Grandsire in mind, there is a much simple system which strongly resembles that for 'ordinary' methods. For a complete description of this system, see 'Conducting Grandsire Triples'. Parker's 12-part peal only requires transpositions for calls at Home (bobs and singles), In, Out and Before. The following discussions will be based on this system and will show how to use the coursing order to make the peal unmiscallable.

Studying The Composition

    It is important to be able to extract the coursing order from the lead heads given in the above diagram. For instance, any row of the form 1abcdef, where the 7th is not in the hunt (not bell a) will have the coursing order bcefd, rotated so that the 7th is at the start and then dropped. Any row such as 17abcde will have the coursing order abdec.

The Basic Plan

    At the end of each part, bells 2, 3 and 4 are rotated, bells 5 and 6 are swapped and bell 7 comes home. This means that the coursing order at the end of each part is either 5xx6 or 6xx5. Each part can be views as being in two parts: the first 5 leads and the rest.
 

The First Five Leads

    The first call, In is made with a coursing order of the form 5xx6 or 6xx5. Notice that when this call is made neither 5 nor 6 is in the hunt. In the first part the In gives us the coursing order 52346. Since the next call Out is call 3 leads later, this coursing order becomes 65234, 46523 and then the Out gives us 4653. At this point, the bell which was in the hunt at the start of the part goes back into the hunt at the Out. Not only that but neither 5 nor 6 is at either end of the coursing order and had the call been made one lead later then either the 5th or 6th would have gone into the hunt. The call at the 5th lead end is a single at Home.

    From these first 5 leads we have seen to signposts: the In is called with neither 5 nor 6 in the hunt after the course end and the single Home is called when neither 5 nor 6 is at either end of the coursing order as the Home approaches. These two rules will apply throughout the entire peal.

The Rest - Befores

    The next call is the Before in line 4. Notice the coursing order before this call (look at line 3): 4623. Here the 5th is in the hunt. Compare this with the Befores in lines 7 and 14. In these cases the 6th is in the hunt before the call. In the other parts, the 5th and 6th will be swapped, which means that in each part as each Before approaches, either the 5th or 6th will be in the hunt. The rule is that when either the 5th or 6th is in the hunt once the course end has passed then the next call is a Before.

The Rest - Ins

    The coursing orders immediately before the Ins in lines 5, 8 and 11 are called are: 5462, 6534 and 4653. It will be noticed that in each of these neither the 5th nor 6th is in the hunt. This gives us the rule that after the course end if neither the 5th nor 6th is in the hunt then the next call is an In.

The Rest - Outs

    The Outs in lines 6 9 and 12 give the coursing orders: 5342 4623 and 4263. In each case it is either the 5th or 6th that goes into the hunt as the 7th comes out. Not only that but the In in line 8 gives the coursing order 62534. The out at 2 in line 9 is called with the coursing order having bell rotated to 46253. It will be noticed that the Out is called as soon as either the 5th or 6th would go into the hunt. This gives us the rule that when the 7th is in the hunt the Out is called as soon as either the 5th or 6th would go into the hunt.

The Rest - Homes

    The Homes in lines 10, 13 and 15 are called when the coursing orders prior to the call are: 4623 4263 and 6425. It will be noticed that in each of these cases either: neither the 5th nor 6th is at either end of the coursing order, or: both the 5th and 6th are at each end of the coursing order. This is an extension of the rule given earlier in the first five leads. It can be called the "neither or both" rule. A look at the coursing order following the Befores and Outs at which a Home could be called but isn't (lines 4 6 and 7) shows that this rule is violated, because either the 5th or 6th, but not neither nor both, is at one end or other of the coursing order: 5462 5342 and 6534.

    As an extension to the both or neither rule, if the neither condition is satisfied then the call is a single otherwise it is a bob (apart from half way and end).

Summary Of Rules

The First Five Leads

Rule 1 Call the 7th into the hunt at the first lead end (which conforms to Rule 5 below).
Rule 2 Call the 7th out of the hunt when, to leave the call an additional lead would put either the 5th or 6th into the hunt.
Rule 3 The coursing order has neither the 5th nor 6th at either end and so call a single Home at the next lead end (which conforms to Rule 4 below).

The Rest

Rule 4 If either: the 5th and 6th are at each end of the coursing order, or: neither the 5th nor 6th is at either end as a possible Home approaches then call a Home (single if "neither" and bob if "both").
Rule 5 After a course end, if either the 5th or 6th is in the hunt then call a Before otherwise call an In.
Rule 6 When the 7th is in the hunt call an Out as soon as either the 5th or 6th would go into the hunt.
Rules 1 and 3 are equivalent to rules 4 and 5 and can therefore be ignored as separate rules.