He
was a friend of mine, and he used to tell me how thankful he was to
get through his solo without breaking down, or, as he preferred to put
it, "without making an utter ass of myself." I think that this special
verse is no longer sung, as being too painful for all concerned.
Whilst on the subject of bells, I may say that the late Canon Simpson
of Fittleworth was a great friend of mine. Canon Simpson was an
enthusiast about bells, not only about "change-ringing," on which
subject he was a recognised authority, but also about the designing
and casting of bells. He would talk to me for hours about them, though
I know about as much of bells as Nebuchadnezzar knew about
jazz-dancing. The Canon maintained that very few bells, either in
England or on the continent, were in tune with themselves, and
therefore could obviously not be in tune with the rest of the peal.
Every bell gives out five tones. The note struck, or the "tonic"
(which he called the "fundamental"), the octave above it, termed the
"nominal," and the octave below it, which he called the "hum note." In
a perfect bell these three octaves must be in perfect unison, but they
very seldom are. The "nominal," or upper octave, is nearly always
sharper than the "fundamental," and the "hum note" is again sharper
than that, thus producing an unpleasant effect.
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