Place Notation...
Place notation is a way of writing changes is to write down the bells that do not move… it is much quicker, as most of the time, many bells will be swapping in order to extract the different musical patterns.
In the example opposite the first change keeps 5th place static and the second keeps 1st place static, etc..
So Plain Hunt Doubles could be written as…
5 1 5 1 5 1 5 1 5 1
or even just 5 1… because it is a repeating pattern.
For even bell methods, it is possible for all the places to swap – so nothing stays static… x or . is used for this.
Plain Hunt Minor would be written
x16x16x16x16x16x16
or – .16.16.16.16.16.16
This too could be shortened to just x16 or .16 as it is a repeating pattern.
Symmetrical Methods..
Most methods are symmetrical, so the top half of the changes are mirrored in the bottom half….
If the place notation describes the first half of a lead, the second half is just a mirror image.
As an example, we are showing Double Oxford Minor.
The place notation is:
x 14 x 36 x 56, 12.
The half lead (56) and lead (12) are both points of symmetry. Both appear only once, while all other notations are mirrored and therefore appear twice.
- The comma and space after 56, tell us that it is palindromic (a mirror) and the last number is the lead end to be added after the mirroring.
- If no coma is added, then the entire set of data is provided, including the lead end.
Match the Place Notation..
Below are 4 different place notations… can you match the notation to the lines?
x 16 x 16 x 56, 12
x 14 x 16 x 16, 12
x 16 x 36 x 36, 12
x 16 x 16 x 16, 12
Which One...?..
Look at the method opposite and then choose which place notation matches it…
x 36 x 36 x 14 x 12 x 14 x 36, 12
36 x 14 x 36 x 12 x 36 x 14 36, 36
36 x 36 14 x 12 x 36 14 x 14 36, 12
36 16 x 36 12 x 36 14 x 14 x 56, 36
The ‘Blue Line’ website has very comprehensive guide to using place nation and a portal where you can enter it, to get details of methods in a more readable form.