event-bells-msg – 4/16/10

Ringing bells at events to indicate time or scheduled activities.

NOTE: See also the files: bells-msg, Time-Keeping-art, event-ideas-msg, tokens-msg, blast-horns-art, drums-msg, bagpipes-msg, Field-Herldry-art, Voice-Herldry-art.

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NOTICE -

This file is a collection of various messages having a common theme that I have collected from my reading of the various computer networks. Some messages date back to 1989, some may be as recent as yesterday.

This file is part of a collection of files called Stefan's Florilegium. These files are available on the Internet at: http://www.florilegium.org

I have done a limited amount of editing. Messages having to do with separate topics were sometimes split into different files and sometimes extraneous information was removed. For instance, the message IDs were removed to save space and remove clutter.

The comments made in these messages are not necessarily my viewpoints. I make no claims as to the accuracy of the information given by the individual authors.

Please respect the time and efforts of those who have written these messages. The copyright status of these messages is unclear at this time. If information is published from these messages, please give credit to the originator(s).

Thank you,
    Mark S. Harris                  AKA:  THLord Stefan li Rous
                                          Stefan at florilegium.org
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Date: Thu, 19 Nov 2009 23:17:53 +1100
From: the Brinsmeads <the_brinsmeads at netspeed.com.au>
Subject: Re: [Lochac] bells at November crown
To: The Shambles: the SCA Lochac mailing list <lochac at lochac.sca.org>

Tiffany Brown wrote:
<<< Curious minds want to know....

What was the general consensus or if you went and are reading this,
your individual opinion, etc - did the bells over the PA system at
November crown make, break or remain irrelevant to the event?

Teffania >>>

I think it’s a great idea and should be done more often.

duncan

Date: Thu, 19 Nov 2009 14:12:56 +1300
From: Sam W <wootduosmaster at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Lochac] bells at November crown
To: "The Shambles: the SCA Lochac mailing list"
	<lochac at lochac.sca.org>

I thought they were brilliant. And I did not realize until someone told me
that they were electronic and over the PA system.

~Kotek

wendy05 wrote:
<<< My only gripe was that if you had to be
somewhere at 4pm, and you heard the bells peal 4 times, you
were already late! Maybe setting it to ring 5 or 10 minutes
early would be a useful idea? >>>

Zane R. V. Bruce wrote:
<<< How about just having the timetable rigged so that things start/finish at
five or ten minutes past the hour. That way the bells stay accurate :-) >>>

Date: Thu, 19 Nov 2009 14:28:30 +1300
From: "Peter Hyde" <peter at webcentre.co.nz>
Subject: Re: [Lochac] bells at November crown
To: lochac at lochac.sca.org

Thanks for all the feedback on the Nov Crown bells. Subject to the CF
stewards' approval, they'll take the same 8am to 8pm format at CF
2010.

My favourite moment was when the Royal party paused for the midday
bell before processing in to the fanfare which marked the start of
Invocation Court.

Vitale asked:
<<< Was it my imagination or did they start to be prefixed with two softer
chimes before the main chimes, in the latter part of the event? >>>

From the start (based on pre-event feedback), I made at least two
changes compared to what had been discussed beforehand:

* There was a soft, higher-pitched two-bell tocsin - just like the
original Girona bell recording, but fewer in number

* It rang every hour from 8am instead of every second hour

* It rang the hours instead of just ringing a fixed number of chimes
every time (I can't recall whether that had been pre-announced or
not)

For those who would like to add this feature to your events -- via a
site PA or, for smaller sites, a decent ghetto-blaster with an Aux
input  -- the software and chimes files can be downloaded from here:

http://webcentre.co.nz/kk/thebells.zip  (20MB)

Each hour is represented by its own sound file, so you could always
swap out the earliest hour for a rooster crow if you like <g>. You
can pre-select any hour(s) you want it to ring from 6am to 9pm
inclusive, but not outside those hours.

The sound files were adapted by Lord Pippin Baskin -- speeding up the
chimes mainly -- from the freely available recording of the bells of
Girona (http://tinyurl.com/yhjo2ar ). The software is mine -- by all
means request the Delphi source if it might be of use.

P.S. The bells experiment at Crown was part of a many-year quest by
katherine and me and others to help a large-site event run fairly
close to schedule without wearing out site heralds. In the process,
it helps minimise the outmoded concept of "SCA time", which is now
reserved for special cases and emergencies only.

The PA-based idea, which was katherine's originally, seems to be the
best solution to date. When she first thought of it, we honestly
didn't expect it would sound so good in practice -- but it does.

In service,
Bartholomew

ate: Thu, 19 Nov 2009 14:27:48 +1300
From: Sam W <wootduosmaster at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Lochac] bells at November crown
To: "The Shambles: the SCA Lochac mailing list"
	<lochac at lochac.sca.org>

2009/11/19 Peter Hyde <peter at webcentre.co.nz>
<<< The PA-based idea, which was katherine's originally, seems to be the best
solution to date. When she first thought of it, we honestly didn't expect it
would sound so good in practice -- but it does. >>>

Yes - I thought the sound quality out of those speakers would have been
scratchy and generally awful - I was pleasantly surprised.

~Kotek

Date: Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:27:36 +1100
From: James Brown <jaybe62 at tpg.com.au>
Subject: Re: [Lochac] bells at November crown
To: "The Shambles: the SCA Lochac mailing list"
	<lochac at lochac.sca.org>

Not that I heard the bells on site, but the quality of a P.A. depends
on all the links in the amplification chain. The over all sound is
only as good as the lowest fidelity of each of the components. Often,
a P.A. will have an extremely poor Microphone (e.g. retail stores).
When the microphone is eliminated, the audio can be quite good.
Generally, most of the other stages: Amplifier and speakers are
reasonable in their quality.

Rodrigo

Date: Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:30:24 +1100
From: Del <del at babel.com.au>
Subject: Re: [Lochac] bells at November crown
To: The Shambles: the SCA Lochac mailing list <lochac at lochac.sca.org>

Tiffany Brown wrote:
<<< Curious minds want to know....

What was the general consensus or if you went and are reading this,
your individual opinion, etc - did the bells over the PA system at
November crown make, break or remain irrelevant to the event? >>>

They were fine except the 8am one (which was 6am Sydney time or 5am 
Brisbane time).  If there'd been an actual real person ringing a real 
bell outside my tent at 6am it may have been unfortunate.
-- 
Del

Date: Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:40:50 +1300
From: Antonia Calvo <ladyadele at paradise.net.nz>
Subject: Re: [Lochac] bells at November crown
To: "The Shambles: the SCA Lochac mailing list"
	<lochac at lochac.sca.org>

Stefan li Rous wrote:
<<< My only gripe was that if you had to be
somewhere at 4pm, and you heard the bells peal 4 times, you
were already late! Maybe setting it to ring 5 or 10 minutes
early would be a useful idea?
Or schedule events to start at 5 minutes past the hour...

Vitale
---------

I think I'd have to fall back on "What was the period solution to this 
problem?". I suspect Vitale's (and someone else's) solution. They 
probably just weren’t as punctual as we are used to being. And I think 
that, in itself, might be a good thing to learn when trying to 
experience how life was in the Middle Ages.

Was this an inside event? Or was there an outside PA system? >>>

Outside, mostly, with outside PA. 

A 5-10 minute back-off might be OK, as long as it didn't lead to 
schedule drift, which, of course, we all despise and hate with the fire 
of a thousand suns.
-- 
Antonia di Benedetto Calvo

Date: Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:45:14 +1300
From: Catherine Milligan <cataragon at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Lochac] bells at November crown
To: "The Shambles: the SCA Lochac mailing list"
	<lochac at lochac.sca.org>

Del wrote
<<< They were fine except the 8am one (which was 6am Sydney time or 5am Brisbane
time). If there'd been an actual real person ringing a real bell outside my
tent at 6am it may have been unfortunate. >>>

I found the bells lovely, convenient and all around an excellent
solution to the problem - they do sound an awful lot like a bell tower
somewhere in the not-entirely-immediate vicinity.

As for the early morning bell - it was _significantly_ better than the
earlier iteration which consisted of A Baronial Personage Who Shan't
Be Named with a ghastly little handbell and a cheery voice at an
ungodly hour of the morning. Not unpleasant at all, really.

Anne de Lacey

Date: Thu, 19 Nov 2009 19:01:17 +1300
From: Joanna Squires <jomas_45 at hotmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Lochac] bells at November crown
To: <lochac at lochac.sca.org>

I liked the bells, especially with the two dings beforehand so it got my attention and I didn't miss any of the real bells. I especially liked that the chimes were the correct number for the hour. It kind of reminded me of being in Dunedin when everyone stops for the town hall bells, if you live near the Octagon or University. They sounded about the same too.

I also like the idea of starting things 10 min late for allowing time after the bells to move to your activity of choice. If this is a general consensus, it shouldn't be a problem as far as schedule drift is concerned - EVERYTHING will drift 10 minutes!

Lady Chunegund

Date: Thu, 19 Nov 2009 20:58:29 +1100
From: Catherine Connor <paladin_c55 at hotmail.com>
Subject: [Lochac] Wake Up bells!!!
To: <lochac at lochac.sca.org>

Del wrote:-> 
<<< They (the bells) were fine except the 8am one (which was 6am Sydney time or 5am Brisbane time). If there'd been an actual real person ringing a real 
bell outside my tent at 6am it may have been unfortunate. >>>

Back at the early (Wilton site) Rowany Festivals, Sir Torg blew a bloody big horn at 6 am! He was not strangled with it only because so many people were hung over or otherwise incapacitated, that getting up was too much effort!

LOL

Catherine

<the end>