Assigning English change ringing patterns (permutation) in acoustic and EA music.

Abstract

Change Ringing has been developed in English church towers since the 16th century. The number of towers in England dominates other countries in the British Isles - hence English, rather than British Change Ringing. Strangely, it occurred in few places other than former British colonies. Bells have provided symbolic and cultural messages for civilisations throughout the centuries. They can provide signals and important information (someone’s coming, bring out your dead…). Composers’ have used bells for a corresponding amount of time, whether it is to investigate the spectral content (the very sound of a bell) or the envelope or pattern created through a peal of bells (Sir Peter Maxwell-Davies [1], Sir Harrison Birtwistle and Anthony Gilbert most notably in the 20th and 21st Centuries). Permutations found in English Change Ringing Patterns can be very beautiful as a pure selfcontained logical entity. They are not rung to sound a melody but rather create different mathematical patterns using the permutations on the set of available bells. This paper discusses a variety of applications within musical composition.