Silencing a Bell
There is no doubt that single bells ringing, or several bells clashing, will cause annoyance and the neighbours are likely to complain. To avoid this you have the option of silencing a bell, or of using a dumb bell. There are several different ways of silencing a bell, and having achieved that, you can then use a simulator. The use of a simulator is included in "Learning to Ring". You need to work out which method of silencing your bells suits the design and accessiblility of your bellframe. Traditionally we have struggled underneath the bells with bits of rope, muffles, and wooden bars with stiff old bolts on them. Sometimes it's such a struggle that one can't be bothered to do it and it's tempting to risk teaching on open bells. Perhaps here you will find a suggestion that takes much of the effort out of silencing. However, if the main problem is that you have a lot of stairs up to your bells, I'm sorry, there isn't much we can do for you!