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Making It: Programmes
27–39
Programme 37: Learning the Ropes
After watching the
programme, pupils should be able to:
- measure and mark out materials;
- communicate design ideas in different ways, bearing
in mind aesthetic qualities, and the use and purpose for which the
product is intended;
- explore the sensory qualities of materials and how
to use materials and processes;
- assemble, join and combine components and materials
accurately;
- design and make assignments using stiff and flexible
sheet materials and textiles.
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Up the winding spiral staircase of a church tower in
Australia is the room the bell-ringers use. Long ropes hang from
the ceiling, each one attached to a heavy metal bell high up in the
tower. Each rope has a fuzzy woollen part called a 'sally'. This is
the bit you have to catch and pull to keep the bell swinging.
A young boy is learning the ropes. It is hard work to get the bell
moving and you have to time your pulls just right so that your
bell's note fits in with the pattern made by the other
bell-ringers. The ringers make charts to show these patterns, or
'changes'. It takes a lot of practice and split-second timing to
get the changes right. The ringers practise into the night, getting
ready for a wedding.
When the big day comes, the bells ring out brightly, sending their
music over the rooftops as the happy bride and groom leave the
church.
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- Art: investigating and making art, craft and
design.
- Maths: explore number sequences and
permutations.
- Music – play tuned / untuned instruments;
improvise, developing rhythmic and melodic material; analyse and
compare sounds.
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Church bells are rung as a signal that a service is
about to begin. Tunes, or 'peals' of bells are rung as part of a
wedding service, while a single bell is rung during a funeral. The
biggest bell in any set is known as the tenor and the smallest one
is the treble. Bells can often be very heavy, weighing over 550 kg.
The hobby of bell-ringing is called 'campanology'.
The earliest set of church bells we know about in England are at
Crowland Abbey in Lincolnshire and date back to 900 AD. Many of the
bells still rung in churches today are over 500 years old.
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Make Bamboo
Bells
You will
need: 1 metre length of bamboo cane; strong garden wire;
knitting needle; coat hanger; hacksaw; pliers: bradawl; sandpaper;
tape measure; metal teaspoon. You will need a vice to hold the
bamboo as you work on it because it can easily slip. You should
also wear work gloves and eye protection.
Before you start: Think about how to use the equipment safely and
whether you need an adult to supervise. Check with your teacher if
you are not sure.
- Put the cane into the vice and saw it in half.
- Saw one of the halves into half again. Keep doing
this until you have five bamboo pieces of different sizes.
- Use sandpaper to rub off any rough edges around the
cuts you have made.
- Push a knitting needle into the centre of each
bamboo piece to clean out the soft pulp inside. You will be left
with five hollow bamboo tubes.
- With the bradawl, make two small holes on either
side of the longest tube, about 3 cm from one end.
- Cut a 10 cm piece of wire with the pliers and thread
it through the holes to make a loop. Use the loop of wire to attach
the tube to one end of the coat hanger.
- Make holes in the other tubes and use wire to fix
them to the coat hanger too. Keep the tubes in order, from largest
to smallest.
- When you hang up the coat hanger, the tubes should
dangle underneath.
- Tap each dangling tube with the teaspoon. Each tube
will ring with a different note from the others.
- Can you play a tune on your bamboo bells?
Make a Chart to Ring Some
Changes
You will
need: a set of bamboo bells; 5 teaspoons; sheets of
squared paper; sticky labels; coloured pens / pencils;
ruler.
- Add a sticky label to each bell, giving it a
number.
- On squared paper, draw up a chart to show the order
in which the bells should be played, eg 1, 3, 2, 4, 5. Use a
different colour to show each bell and write each number in a
square of its own.
- In the next row, write a new arrangement, eg 3, 1,
2, 4, 5. Be careful to use the colour scheme you have already
decided upon.
- Carry on adding rows with different arrangements,
building up a pattern of 'changes'.
- Give some friends teaspoons and copies of the chart.
Each friend should be responsible for a bell with a particular
number.
Can you work together to play through all the
changes, without making any mistakes? It takes practice!
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An animation of church bells:
http://users.argonet.co.uk/users/fortran/Bells/software/rounds.htm
A videoclip of church bells:
www.haworth-village.org.uk/events/video/video.asp?pic=12
Bell sounds, statistics, pictures and animation:
www.stephens.f9.co.uk/chisbells.html
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