An entry under the category of Niche Hobbies: handbell change ringing.
If you’ve read Dorothy Sayers’s murder mystery Nine Tailors (or watched the TV version), you know what change ringing is. It’s very English: you have a tower with eight or so bells, and a bunch of people stand around and ring the bells in certain defined patterns. If you don’t have a tower full of bells? Then you can use handbells, and you get handbell change ringing.
One musician describes handbell change ringing like this: “A series of 4-12 bells are rung in a series of mathematical permutations. Remember work with 12-tone tone rows in 20th-century music theory class? This is similar in practice, but with diatonic notes.” Also, to my ears it sounds much better than most twelve-tone music.
Click on the image below to see a video of handbell change ringing in action.
This is the kind of niche hobby that’s going to appeal to a certain kind of person: someone who likes mathematical patterns, someone who likes cooperative efforts in small groups, someone who likes the meditative effect of intense concentration, and so on. OK, I admit it: that someone could probably be me. Since the last thing I need right now is yet another niche hobby, I’m fortunate that there’s no handbell change ringing group near me.
General info on handbell change ringing:
intro to the math and theory of change ringing — handbell change ringing blog — links to change ringing websites
Instructional materials:
quick overview for conventional handbell ensembles — the cross-and-stretch technique — the ringing on bodies technique (ringers move, not bells) — instructional book — handbell change ringing for beginners (booklet) — change ringing for handbells (more advanced) — instructional website — handbell change ringing online simulator (for solo practice)
Performance videos:
performance video showing 4 person cross and stretch (watch closely) — performance video with just 3 people (so it’s easy to follow the changes).