<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=us-ascii">
<META content="MSHTML 6.00.6002.18226" name=GENERATOR>
<STYLE></STYLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY bgColor=#ffffff>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=371315914-30042010><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff size=2>The concept of difficulty is clearly very subjective (there
are some methods I have difficulty staying awake in) . All of these compositions
are clearly very challenging for very experienced bands so it doesn't really
matter to me whether comp A is harder than comp B or vice versa. I guess though
that most people could give a rough ranking and then argue fine distinctions
between different compositions. Certainly I found the 45atw plain major
challenging because of the speed with which the treble moves around. What
motivated me to produce these compositions was the notion that there is more to
life than suprise major. Plain major and treble bob both offer very different
kind of challenges that I find much more rewarding than another peal of 8
spliced (whichever 8) or even 23 (not that I have actually rung Chandlers). So
rather than focussing too much on ranking difficulty I would encourage people to
sample what life beyond syrprise major can give.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=371315914-30042010><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=371315914-30042010><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff size=2>In terms of difficulty, though, I believe Don Morrison has
a composition of all the work (literally, even the treble is involved) where the
hunt path is different in each method, in a normal length peal. I suspect that
outranks all the compositions discussed here, although I don't think it has been
rung yet (correct me if I'm wrong).</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=371315914-30042010><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=371315914-30042010><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff size=2>Peter</FONT></SPAN></DIV><BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr
style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV class=OutlookMessageHeader lang=en-us dir=ltr align=left>
<HR tabIndex=-1>
<FONT face=Tahoma size=2><B>From:</B> ringing-theory-bounces@bellringers.net
[mailto:ringing-theory-bounces@bellringers.net] <B>On Behalf Of </B>Rebecca
Cox<BR><B>Sent:</B> 30 April 2010 13:30<BR><B>To:</B>
ringing-theory@bellringers.net<BR><B>Subject:</B> [r-t] RE: 23-spliced TB
major<BR></FONT><BR></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>>Philip:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial><FONT size=2><FONT face=Arial size=2><FONT face=Arial
size=2></FONT></FONT></FONT></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>> Last night we rang what I think is arguably
one of the hardest 'normal length' peals ever attempted.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial><FONT size=2><FONT face=Arial size=2><FONT face=Arial
size=2></FONT></FONT></FONT></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><FONT
face=Arial size=2>Without wishing to denigrate the achievement of the band
ringing 23 ATW TB Major as I'm sure it was as difficult as Philip
suggests. </FONT></FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><FONT
face=Arial size=2>I think there are a couple of other candidates for the
hardest normal length peal of major that Philip may be unaware
of as they were rung quite some time ago, in the early 1980's.</FONT>
</FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial><FONT size=2><FONT face=Arial size=2><FONT
face="Times New Roman" size=3></FONT></FONT></FONT></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Firstly 5040 30 all the work Little Surprise
Major, rung at Hungerford 2 May 1980 (almost exactly 30 years ago), again all
unfamiliar methods, </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>but more methods and more changes of method. I
thought this considerably harder than Chandler's </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>and at that time there wasn't the depth of
experience of ringing atw compositions there is now</FONT><FONT face=Arial
size=2>.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial><FONT size=2><FONT face=Arial size=2><FONT
face="Times New Roman" size=3></FONT></FONT></FONT></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><FONT
face=Arial size=2>Secondly Tony Peake's spliced plain major series which
included 330 methods in a 5000 (8 April 1983) and 400 methods in 5890 (3
June & 1 July 1983) (somewhat longer than a normal length though).
</FONT></FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><FONT
face=Arial size=2>This series which took at least a year and a half of
sustained effort, was by some considerable margin the most difficult I've
ever rung.</FONT> </FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>In many ways cyclic atw compositions are easier
than this type of composition as half the leads are reversals of others and
it's easier to know in advance what the next method will be. Calling these
peals (as Tony Peake did and Tim Pett also the 400) was an exceptional
achievement in my view.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Tony<BR></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></BODY></HTML>