My wife isn’t a ringer, but a classically trained mezzo-soprano who teaches singing and gives the occasional recital; usually it’s just her on stage with a piano accompanist. Bell ringers give performances too, and everything that my wife teaches singers about preparing to perform is analogous to what we ringers need to do – apart from warming up the voice!

It seems that the way you stand is very important, and there’s a bit more to it than I remember being told when I learned to ring. Indeed, books on singing often have a whole chapter devoted simply to learning to stand correctly. And, while we don’t have to worry about maximising breath so that we can fill a concert hall with sound without using a microphone, everything else singers are taught is relevant. Lengthen your Body, Stand up straight. Imagine a string holding you up. As you stand tall, imagine a string is coming from the ceiling, pulling you upwards. Keep your lower back in line, and don’t move to your tiptoes. Visualisation techniques like this one can guide your sense of the proper position you should be in.

Practise the proper alignment of your body by standing against a wall. Your head, shoulders and bottom should all touch the wall. Your heels should be 2 to 4 inches (5 to10 cm) away from the wall. Relax your body. As you lengthen your body, don’t forget to relax. It’s not uncommon for your body to naturally tense up as you straighten yourself. If you find that you’re too tense, try shaking yourself out and then regaining your posture. If you’re having a hard time relaxing, you can also try progressive muscle relaxation (PMR).

PMR is a systematic technique that enables you to relax each part of your body.

Find a Solid Foundation. Stand with your feet shoulder width apart. You’ll want to stand with your feet apart but not too far apart. Aim to keep your feet under your shoulders. You can also put one foot slightly in front of the other in order to help your balance. Keep your feet pointed forward, not out to the sides.Shift your weight slightly forward. With one foot slightly in front of the other foot, shift your weight so that you are putting more weight on the balls of your feet. Shifting your weight to your heels will naturally cause you to lock your knees. Don’t lean too far forward as you will lose your balance. Avoid locking your knees. Relax your knees and legs. Bend your knees slightly to help remind you not to lock them. Locking your knees increases stress on your joints and can interfere with circulation, causing you to become dizzy or light-headed.

And Ringing? Ringers move in a very different way to singers – we rhythmically raise and lower our arms for a start. The posture that has been acquired by following the above advice can easily be lost when starting to ring. So also bear in mind not to bend your back while you’re ringing. You should be developing core muscles which will keep your trunk upright and your body still, not bobbing backwards and forwards or doing a soft-shoe shuffle all the time. Wearing the right shoes (those designed for walking) can help. And finally, if you’re doing something like raising a heavy bell and you can’t get enough energy into it by pulling all the way (from when your arms are up high to when they’re down low), keep going down even further by bending your knees – not your back!

This article first appeared in the April 2019 edition of Tower Talk, ART’s free quarterly e-magazine for new ringers. To subscribe for future editions via email, please sign up here.