Methodology is an ‘app’ for Android smart-phones and tablets that is intended to serve the purpose of method reference and as a learning aid. (Sorry no Apple version available.) One of the fascinating things about ringing is that everybody seems to have their own way of learning a method – there is no standard way of doing so. Some people think visually, so they can piece work together in terms of patterns strung together, such as: “four blows at the back”, “make seconds to the Treble next lead” etc. The actual place numbers do not overly concern some people; of course, it would be silly to suggest that they might ring without any notion of place amongst the other bells. For some people position emerges on a just-in-time basis while the pattern scrolls through their mind.Methodology is a great aid for anyone trying to learn a method.
Methodology allows you to customise your view of the line to create the greatest chance of success. If you turn off the display of numbers it allows you to show more of the line on the screen. However, other ringers cannot process the line without the numbers present, and that is fine. You can turn them back on.Numbers are very useful if you are a ‘stander behind’ for someone as you can tell them which bell they are dodging with or making places over!
No numbers
Methodology provides two modes in which you can practise a method.
One that relies on listening and timing through tapping the screen when it’s your place to ring in the sequence, and another that uses three buttons to move up, make places, or move down in the method.
If you go to the Google Play Store and search for“Methodology” it should appear at the top of the list of results.You may already be wondering why it is called Methodology? The author was looking for a name that did not explicitly mention blue or line due to the prevalence of existing apps that included these, and so opted instead to hijack a perfectly innocent word that had little to do with the subject, but with a little twisted logic applied to it, and through squinted eyes,could almost infer the purpose of the app. Corny, perhaps, but he likes it.
With numbers !
If you want to ‘learn’ how to learn a method then take a look at How to Learn Methods by Michael Foulds, available from the Whiting Society. And The Bell Ringer’s Early Companion and/or The Method Ringer’s Companion, both by Steve Coleman, available from his website here.
This article by Peter Tiley and Tony Croft first appeared in the July 2019 edition of Tower Talk, the free quarterly e-magazine for new ringers. Subscribe here for future editions!