Amiel Elfert, 20, who is studying music at the University of Victoria and is the organ scholar at Christ Church Cathedral, has been awarded the 2024 Jeff Smith Memorial Young Ringer Award. The award is given out by the North American Guild of Change Ringers, which promotes change ringing and provides a network for change ringers across the continent. The award is intended to promote change ringing among young people and to encourage young bell-ringers to hone their skills.
Change ringing developed in England in the seventeenth century and involves a series of bells hung upside down on wheels. The wheels are turned using a rope attached to the rim of the wheel and controlled by a bell-ringer. The bells take a few seconds to complete a full 360° rotation, making it impossible to play a recognizable tune. Instead, the bell-ringers perform “methods.” A method begins and ends by ringing down the scale. In between these scales the bells are rung in changing sequences or “permutations,” with each bell ringing only once and without any change in the sequence being repeated.
Christ Church Cathedral is one of just seven churches in Canada that has bells hung for change ringing. The original eight bells were first rung in 1936, although the tower itself wasn’t completed until 1957 (a wooden structure protected the bells from the elements.) Two treble bells were added in 1983 and were dedicated in the presence of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip.
Amiel first became interested in bell-ringing when, at the age of seven, he visited the bell tower at Christ Church Cathedral. Amiel lived in Spokane, WA at the time, but would ask to see the bell tower whenever he visited his grandparents in Victoria. When he started his music studies at the University of Victoria in 2021, Amiel quickly took up the opportunity to learn the art of change ringing with the cathedral’s bell-ringers — the Christ Church Cathedral Guild of Change Ringers has around 15 members.
In March 2020, the cathedral’s bells fell silent as the COVID-19 pandemic prevented the group from ringing in person. However, Amiel continued developing his skills through Zoom practices using a website called Ringing Room. While a website doesn’t perfectly simulate the experience of change ringing, Amiel says that change ringing is “more of a cerebral exercise than it is a feat of endurance.” The bells are heavy, but since they are hung upside down, gravity does much of the work. Instead, the change ringer must have an excellent memory and develop a keen sense of coordination.
Faith Magwood, a member of the cathedral’s change ringing guild, agrees. Faith has been change ringing for over 45 years and is a vocal champion of change ringing. Faith credits the Zoom practice sessions with Amiel being able to learn change ringing, and all the methods that the cathedral’s guild performs, in such a short space of time. She says that although change ringing isn’t physically demanding, it is a lot of fun. “The tenor bell weighs as much as a medium sized car and makes a lot of noise, so knowing you can control something of that size is exciting.”
To be considered for the Jeff Smith Memorial Young Ringer Award, young change ringers must ring a quarter peal, which consists of 1260 permutations and takes about 45 minutes to complete. Amiel completed his quarter peal at St Olave’s Church in London, and he was nominated for the award by the cathedral.
As it originally developed in England, 94% of the world’s rings of bells can be found there. As well as St Olave’s, Amiel has rung bells at York Minster. Faith says that wherever she and her fellow bell-ringers travel, if there are bells, then they are welcomed.
The cathedral change ringers are keen to encourage as many people as possible to witness this unique aspect of the Anglican tradition. Anyone who is interested in finding out more about change ringing or simply wants to see (and hear!) the change ringers in action, can arrange to visit the cathedral tower during practice every Tuesday from 7 – 9 p.m. and on Sunday morning at 8:45 – 9:15 a.m. and 10:30 – 11 a.m. Contact Tower Captain Peter Bailey at [email protected].
