What’s that ringing? Contest at Manhattan’s Trinity Church re-ups centuries-old art

Bells reverberated across the Financial District on Saturday afternoon, producing thunderous clangs and glissandos.

Bands had traveled as far as hundreds of miles to climb into the landmark Trinity Church tower and strike eight bells in a complex, intricate order for the national Trinity Striking Competition, a demonstration of skill in the 17th-century art of change ringing.

It was the joyous cacophony you might associate with Notre Dame or a royal wedding, rather than Lower Manhattan.

Down in the churchyard, only band members and unsuspecting tourists milled about. Trinity didn’t advertise the contest, which had participants from Washington, Boston, Smith College and the church itself. A world-renowned expert in the art form, Simon Linford of England, judged how evenly the teams rang — no jumbled notes or overlapping gongs.

Change ringing requires strength and focus. Participants each tug a rope attached to a bell weighing between 500 and 2,700 pounds, working together to chime all the bells in unique sequences, known as “changes.”

For Saturday’s contest, each team arrived having memorized a “touch,” or 238 permutations of eight bells, which takes about 15 minutes to ring. A full peal — the gold standard of change ringing — involves more than 5,000 permutations and lasts more than three hours.

“It’s a meditation of sorts,” said Austin Paul, 30, a software engineer who led the Boston team. Paul learned about change ringing eight years ago from a friend who studied bells. “I love the sound of it. I love the mathematical problems in it. And I love the social aspect of it, too,” Paul said.

Ringing remains popular in its native England, which holds a national, 12-bell striking competition. But in North America, which houses only about 50 bell towers, compared to Britain’s 5,000, the art form has been kept alive by a small group of enthusiasts, mostly along the East Coast.

The Trinity contest was the first U.S. competition in six years, and the mood was friendly.

“Competition is not the main thing,” said Micah Walter, 31, from the Smith College team. “It’s more for the social aspect of getting together with the other ringers.”

Trinity Church’s band, an eclectic group of all ages, practices weekly and performs about twice a month for church service. Although the ringing is unpaid and takes years to master, the group has found a steady stream of members through word of mouth.

“If you really get hooked by change ringing, you tend to do it for your entire lifetime,” said the band’s leader Tim Barnes, who has been ringing for 46 years.

Despite Trinity’s hometown advantage, Saturday’s win went to the Boston band, which rings in Old North Church, where Paul Revere was a change ringer. The Washington team, the 2018 defending champions, came in close second, followed by New York and Smith College.

The third-place finish didn’t faze New York, though. The team has been rebuilding since Trinity tower’s yearslong closure.

“From a band development perspective, we feel great,” Barnes said. “Just upwards from here.”

Future competitions may enlist younger members in training. Seraphim Ericsson, a 10-year-old bell enthusiast who knows the hertz and specifications of each Trinity bell, hopes to compete one day.

The hardest part of change ringing, Ericsson said, is ringing “the tenor” — the 2,700-pound bell, which is the church’s biggest.