Selecting a Start Row

Selecting a start row

When you click the Start button, Abel normally starts to ring rounds. However, there are two ways you can change this:

You can begin ringing in the middle of a composition/method. This can be useful if you have made a mistake when ringing a method, and want to "rewind" a few rows and try again; or if you want to practice a particularly tricky bit somewhere in the middle of a method or composition.
Occasionally, you might want to ring the whole composition/method starting from a row other than rounds. This can be useful if you want to ring a method starting from a lead end other than the first, or if you are ringing a multi-part composition and want to start from a part-end.

These two facilities are basically independent of each other, and can be used together: for example, you can start a composition/method from a row other than rounds, then stop the ringing and rewind to some row in the middle of the composition/method and start again from that row. Note however that if you have already selected a rewind point, then you change the start row, this cancels the rewind.

Starting in the middle of a composition/method

When the bells are stopped, you can start at any point in the current composition/method by double clicking any backstroke row in the blue line display . For example, if you've been ringing a composition or method and made a mistake, you can stop the ringing (eg, just "unclick" the Start button on the toolbar); then double click the blue line at any backstroke that you've rung; then press Start. Or you can display the whole blue line for a composition/method using the Show Blue Line button on the toolbar, double click any backstroke, then press Start. When you double click, the rest of the blue line rows are shaded out, until you press Start when they disappear.

After you press Start, Abel will ring the selected backstroke row until you press Go, when the compostion/method will restart at that point. If you restart just before a call (eg, a bob or a call change) or a method change, Abel will give the usual spoken and on-screen prompts before the call point. (If one of the first two changes is the call/splice row, the prompts happen before the first change - as you'd expect.) However, if you're ringing a method with calls that go on for several blows (eg many doubles variations), and restart in the middle of a call, you're meant to know that, and Abel doesn't prompt you.

If you double click a handstroke rather than a backstroke, Abel will start from the previous (backstroke) row.

If you double click on the blue line, then change your mind, you can double click elsewhere on the line (including in the shaded area) to select a different start row. If you double click the first row in the line, this cancels any previous double click. If you've already restarted the ringing, of course you can just click the Rounds button or press the Escape key to get back to the start of the composition/method.

After you've double clicked a row, if you do anything that might alter the blue line, such as selecting a different method, editing methods or compositions, or changing the start row, this too cancels the rewind.

If you have been conducting, Abel does NOT remember any manual calls or splices that it actioned after the row that you rewind to. Thus you should input these calls again after you've restarted the bells.

If you've been ringing a composition/method, and stop to rewind some rows and start again, this does not affect Abel's records of your striking: all of the rows rung are recorded.

Ringing a composition/method from a non-standard start row

You can select a start row other than rounds, then ring the whole of the currently selected composition/method. To do this, type the row you want in the Start Row box on the left-hand side of the screen. Be careful though - Abel will still start at the beginning of the composition, whatever your starting row. So, for methods, the bell at the front of the row will be the hunt bell, even if it's not the treble! .

If you've already used a number of start rows, you can click the down-arrow beside the Start Row box to get a list from which you can select.

During the ringing, the 'back to start' button lets you return quickly to your starting row if you chose to start from a row other than rounds.

You'll probably want to set rounds as the start row again later! You can do this by selecting rounds in the Start Row box on the left of the screen, or by starting the bells ringing and then clicking the rounds button in the toolbar before you start the method.