Kent contains the essentials of ‘Surprise’ methods, one of which is to be aware of the treble’s position. It is a treble bob method, ie the treble dodges in every even place as it passes, ie 1-2, 3-4, 5-6 up, lie, 5-6, 3-4, 1-2 down, lead. The rule for this is: dodge with a bell, pass the next and dodge with the next. The bells come at you in plain bob order, except for the one bell which is in the slow, ie staying on the front. You leave this bell on the front after you have dodged with it, and it is still there when you return to the front. You dodge with it again, and after leading, another bell comes to dodge with you.

The other bells do treble bob work as well, although this isn’t very obvious in Minor because it is broken up in two ways. Look at the path of the second in the diagram. This bell starts by dodging with the treble and going in to the ‘slow hunt’. It leads and makes seconds repeatedly, until every bell has led and the treble returns. Instead of making seconds again, it dodges with the treble and starts hunting out. It would dodge 3-4, but because the treble is below (ie nearer to lead), it makes places (3rds and 4ths) and then does treble bob hunting. The work on the back (dodge up, lie, dodge down) is a characteristic of treble bob methods, and you do this every time you reach the back, so it is called ‘treble bob work’.

There isn’t room to describe all the work, but a few pointers may help.

You always make places in 3-4 if the treble is below you. The places are always near/far ie 3rds then 4ths from the front, but 4ths then 3rds from the back. You know if the treble is below you by watching when you pass it. After being in the slow, the next two times you go out through 3-4, you do places. On the way in, after you dodge 3-4 with the treble, the next two times you go in through 3-4 you make places, and after the second time, you go into the slow.

Finally, learn where each bell starts. The method extends to any even number of bells by dodging in the extra positions.

For more information and the line, please read the rest of the article: Kent Treble Bob Minor.