The Blue Bell three-two

Oh for heaven’s sake!

For heaven’s sake indeed. I can’t make head nor tail of this. Is it in 3/2, 5/4, 11/8 (in places) or what? And what are those accidentals doing? Which octave are the notes in? What notes are they anyway?

The midi version sounds great.

And by great, I mean rubbish.

Own composition? If not, where did you get it?
At least we’d have a clue.

Putting it in some kind of regular measure it could go like this (changed pitch of one note to follow pattern):

X: 1
T: Bluebell, The
M: 3/2
L: 1/8
R: three-two
K: Dmaj
A4 FGAF D4| BAGF EFGE C2 E2| AGFE DEFD B,2 D2| GFED A,DCE D4 :|
d3 e fafd BdBG| E2 ef gfed c2 A2| d2 c2 B2 A2 GFED| GFED A,DCE D4 :|

Another possibility - matching the two parts a little:

X: 1
T: Bluebell, The
M: 3/2
L: 1/8
R: three-two
K: Dmaj
A4 FGAF D4| BAGF EFGE C2 E2| AGFE DEFD B,2 D2| GFED A,DCE D4 :|
d3 e fafd BdBG| E2 ef gfed c2 A2| dcBA GFED B,2 D2| GFED A,DCE D4 :|

It still doesn’t ring a bell, blue or otherwise.

’Ey up - it’s been added to 3 tune books already!

Makes a passable polska in a Delsbo style:

X:1
T: Blåklockan
M:3/4
L:1/8
R:Polska
K:D
A2F/2G/2A/2F/2 D2|B/2A/2G/2F/2 E/2F/2G/2E/2 CE|A/2G/2F/2E/2 D/2E/2F/2D/2 B,D|G/2F/2E/2D/2 A,/2D/2C/2E/2 D2:
|:d3/2e/2 f/2a/2f/2d/2 B/2d/2B/2G/2|Ee/2f/2 g/2f/2e/2d/2 cA|d/2c/2B/2A/2 G/2F/2E/2D/2 B,D|G/2F/2E/2D/2 A,/2D/2C/2E/2 D2:|

Note, a “blåklocka” is a harebell - some suggest that a “bluebell” in Scotland is a harebell too, but there is much debate on that subject.

I know it may not be right, I think I may have got a little bit confused… I write my ABC notation differently compared to how you’re supposed to write it on here.
I learnt it from Sam Sweeney at Shrewsbury folk festival this year, he said it was a hornpipe in 3/2.
I don’t have any music grades or anything, so please don’t rip me up haha- I just thought this tune was too good not to share (and besides, isn’t folk music just about having fun? Sort of defeats the point if it HAS to be perfect…)
If you type in Sam Sweeney Shrewsbury workshop 2011 on Youtube; it’s the second tune on the video.
Sorry, just thought I was being helpful.

Haha. Very mature calling it ‘O, For Heaven’s Sake’ by the way; really makes me feel confident in myself as an aspiring musician.

Sas J, don’t take it on the nose :~)

You posted the tune and only you can edit it. So I’m sure if you asked any related questions over on the discussions pages you’d get some help with the abc notation ;o) Then you could edit it up.

There are 4 rather capable folks already commenting on this page and none of them are known for “ripping” anyone up on here.

I was fairly close on the first attempt - this is a bit closer, though it, as would be expected, changes each time round:

X: 1
T: Bluebell, The
M: 3/2
L: 1/8
R: Hornpipe
K: D
A4 FGAF D4| BAGF EFGE C2 E2| AGFE DEFD B,2 D2| GFED A,DCE D4 :
|:d4 fafd BdBG| E2 ef gfed c2 A2| d2 c2 B3 A GFED| GFED A,DCE D4 :|

Thanks for the tune. It makes a fine polska - not a bad slip jig either (abit more tweaking needed):

X:1
T: Bluebell, The
M:9/8
L:1/8
R:Slip Jig
K:D
A3FAF D3|BGF EGE C2E|AGF DFD B,2D|GFD A,CE D3:
|:d2e fad BdG|Eef ged c2 A|dcB AGF E2 D|GFD A,CE D3:|

I suspect one or two of the old 3/2 hornpipes became “9/8ers”.

Don’t be too disheartened. There are plenty of great resources for ABC notation (http://www.abcnotation.com/ for example) plus when you submit a tune there is a Help tab if you are unsure about the ABC. You can use the converter here http://www.concertina.net/tunes_convert.html to check that the sheet music looks right.

The reason that bad ABC is “frowned upon” here is because Jeremy, the webmaster, will either delete it entirely (and so the tune isn’t shared) or if the badly-transcribed version goes up you run the risk of lots of people learning the wrong thing from the website here.

Also, posting a link to the video, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RAPisWIO2E in the comments section lets everyone know where you got it from, and (in my case at least) lets me discover new fiddle players I’d never heard of before!

play video

Yep - my attempt at putting together a sentence in my last post is probably worse than your ABC! Oh for an edit facility……..

Thanks for that Weejie.

Sas J - you still have a little time before the sheet music gets put up on the site. Would you do us a service and take the ABC as written by Weejie above and put that in as your amended submission? That way, you’ll have shared the tune, and other people will be able to play it because of you.

Oh, and by the way, nigelg has high standards - check out his site some time, it’s well worth it:

http://www.nigelgatherer.com/tunes/abc.html

According to Mr Kunz, it appears in Walsh’s Lancashire tune book:

http://vclvm54.isis.unc.edu/mediawiki/index.php/Blue_Bell_Hornpipe_(2)

That link doesn’t work - you can find it through Google - it seems to work on the Mac too.

X:1
T:Blew Bell Hornpipe
T:Blue Bell Hornpipe [2]
B:Walsh
M:3/2
L:1/8
K:Cm
E4 GABD E4| cBAG FGAG D2 F2|BAGF EFED C2 F2| AGFE B,EDF E4:|
|:e4 gbge cecA| F4 fgfe dcde| D2 E2 c3 B AGFE|AGFE B,EDF E4:|
|:EFGA B2 E2 D2 E2| FGA=B c2 F2 =E2 F2| g3 f edcB AGFE| AGFE B,EDA E4:||


BLUE BELL HORNPIPE [2]. AKA - “Blew Bell Hornpipe.” English, (Old) Hornpipe (3/2 time). C Minor. Standard tuning. AABBCC. The melody appears in Walsh’s third collection of Lancashire tune (Lancashire Jigs, Hornpipes, Joaks, etc.) published around the year 1740.


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Hornpiope?

Aye, and it’s mainly in E flat in that version.

Thanks, Weejie
Well, it’s my first submission and the way I was looking at from the written music in front of my made sense; so I apologise. Just felt a bit bewildered as you guys just seem to be a tad critical; it’s not a nice experience when you’re a newbie.

Learning it by ear is much more fun anyway haha:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RAPisWIO2E

play video

* Thanks, Solidmahog
Can’t even type properly today -.-

The Fiddler’s Companion ~ by Andrew Kuntz
http://www.ibiblio.org/fiddlers/index.html
http://www.ibiblio.org/fiddlers/BLUE_BLY.htm#BLUE_BELL_HORNPIPE_[2]

BLUE BELL HORNPIPE [2]. AKA – “Blew Bell Hornpipe.” English, (Old) Hornpipe (3/2 time). C Minor. Standard tuning. AABBCC. The melody appears in Walsh’s third collection of Lancashire tune (Lancashire Jigs, Hornpipes, Joaks, etc.) published around the year 1740.

From Eb Major (not the relative C minor) to G major, with a few options between brackets [ ~ ]…

Setting as in X:1 but with some changes, some of them inspired by this wonderful video of Dick Glasgow and others by my personal liking:

https://youtu.be/snkAmvZHq2o

play video

Here’s another, in a set:
Sylvia’s Serenade / Blew Bell Hornpipe
Sylvia’s ends, and Blew Bell starts at ~4min 17sec
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzRwD8Ny4HM

play video

Played by Leveret (Andy Cutting, Rob Harbron, Sam Sweeney)