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The Black Bear hornpipe

There are 2 recordings of this tune.

The Black Bear has been added to 9 tune sets.

The Black Bear has been added to 25 tunebooks.

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Three settings

1
X: 1
T: The Black Bear
R: hornpipe
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
K: Gmaj
G2 G2 B>G d>B/|G2 G2 B>G d>B|A2 E2 E2 A>G|F<G E>F D>E F>D|
G2 G2 B>G d>B/|G2 G2 B>G d>B|A2 A2 A2 B>A|G2 B2 G2 D2:|
D3 E G3 A|c2 B>A d2 B>G|D3 E G3 A|
c2 B>A d2 B>G|D4 D4|E4 F4|G4 A2 B>c|d2 d2 d>c B>A|
2
X: 2
T: The Black Bear
R: hornpipe
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
K: Dmaj
A/>B/|dd f/>d/a/>f/|dd f/>d/a/>f/|eB Be/>d/|c/<d/B/>c/ A/>B/c/<A/|
dd f/>d/a/>f/|dd f/>d/a/>f/|ee e/>g/f/>e/|df d:|
e|AA/>B/ dd/>e/|gf/>e/ f/<a/f/>d/|AA/>B/ dd/>e/|gf/>e/ f/<a/f/>d/|
a/>A/A/<A/ c/<A/A/<A/|d/>B/B/<B/ e/>c/c/<c/|d/>f/d/>f/ e/>g/f/>g/|aa a/>g/f/>e/|
dd f/>d/a/>f/|dd f/>d/a/>f/|eB Be/>d/|c/<d/B/>c/ A/>B/c/<A/|
dd f/>d/a/>f/|dd f/>d/a/>f/|ee e/>g/f/>e/|df d||
# Added by Calum .
3
X: 3
T: The Black Bear
R: hornpipe
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
K: Dmaj
M:2/4
(3A/B/c/|"D" dd f/>d/a/>f/|"D" dd f/>d/a/>f/|"E7" eB Be/d/|"A7" c/<d/B/c/ A/>B/c/<A/|
"D" dd f/>d/a/>f/|"D" dd f/>d/a/>f/|"A7" e>e e/<g/f/<e/|"D" df d:|
e|"A" A/>A/A/>B/ "D"dd/>e/|"G" gf/>e/ "D"f/<a/f/<d/|"A7" A/>A/A/>(B/"D" d)d/>e/|"G" gf/>e/ "D"f/(<a/f/)<d/|
"A"a/<A/A/<A/ c/<A/A/<A/|"E7" d/>B/B/<B/ "A"e/>c/c/<c/|"D" d/>f/d/>f/ "G"e/>g/f/>g/|"D" a/>A/a "A7"a/>g/f/>e/||

Ten comments

The Black Bear

In the most commonly heard set with Scotland the Brave as first tune.

Feel free to take out the middle abc notes and post it on its own.

@Alex

Glad that you posted the Black Bear - it deserved to be here!

Having said that, my understanding is that the tune section is supposed to be for single tunes - not sets of tunes.

In any case, settings of the other two tunes have already been posted in the tune section, so would count as duplications as they are posted elsewhere - so not allowed.

Scotland the Brave
https://thesession.org/tunes/4960

Highland Laddie
https://thesession.org/tunes/1524

This being the case, I would suggest that you delete the “Scotland the Brave” and “Highland Laddie” sections of your ABC and just leave it as the “Black Bear”.

The Black Bear, X:2

As standard a setting as you get on GHB. It’s in 2/4, not 4/4.

The structure of the tune is a bit odd with that repetition of the entire first part. Playing this tune repeatedly soon becomes an adventure in counting to three! However, it is ‘correct’ (whatever that means) as written.

Posted by .

The structure is not particularly odd - it’s song form (AABA), as is “Scotland the Brave” (sort of).

If you’re thinking in four bar sections in 4/4, STB is ABCA, or A A’ B A if you want to think of it that way. I can’t think of another pipe tune offhand in 2/4 that is AABA, with eight bar sections.

Posted by .

It may be an uncommon form for a pipe tune, but it is a very common musical form and so calling the form “odd” was at odds with my understanding of oddness!

The key, by the way, should be D major. The tune would sound very odd with C naturals.
Also, I hear the first two bars of the fourth line as
A/>A/A/>c/ A/>A/A/>d/|B/>B/B/>e/ c/>c/c|.

> The key, by the way, should be D major.

Aye, never even noticed that! Can’t see a way to change it - is that a Jeremy job?

> I hear the first two bars of the fourth line

Can’t speak as to what gets played in sessions as off the top of my head never heard it played, but certainly on GHB what I posted is the norm, the only differences being the shape of the pointing.

Posted by .

The Black Bear, X:3

One of my favourite tunes.
With some different pointing, as we play the march at the Strathspey and Reel Society of New Hampshire (SRS 13.13).