The Black Bear

[00em...@bsuvc.bsu.edu]

Steve McBeath recently described the yelling that sometimes is heard during
the early part of The Black Bear. During a run of notes in the pipe part, the
drummers have a short hiatus, and they customarily (in some quarters) do the
yelling at that time.
I haven't heard this done for many years. When I was a lad with the
Cleveland Caledonian Pipe Band though, I clearly remember Fred Sangster and
Dick Rossington doing this. Most astonishing to me was that piper Noel Slagle,
then nineteen years old and never to be outdone, managed with judicious bag
control to join in the yell.
Regards,
Edward Hale

[MAJ William J Philbin]

The pipe band at the Royal Military College of Canada routinely plays
this tune during the cadet's march past during formal parades and also
when the band marches off the pararde square. The entire cadet
wing sounds off with a loud "hoy", vice charge, at the appropriate time
and it sounds truely impressive. In the two years I spent at the school
I never heard anyone yell charge. As an American officer, I was
intrigued by this tradition which I heard for the first time at RMC.
After the first parade I observed I sought out the band's pipe major and
drum major to ask them about it. Both were regular force NCMs (NCOs)
with over 12 years of service in the Royal Canadian Regiment prior to
their assignment to RMC, and they both told me that it was traditional in
both the Canadian and British forces to yell "hoy" at that point in the
tune, although they were unsure of the origin of the custom. The
Regimental Sergeant Major of the school said the same. Whatever its
origins, yelling "Hoy" is the right way to do it.

[Pipe...@aol.com]

In a message dated 95-12-05 18:35:55 EST, you write:

>Both were regular force NCMs (NCOs)
>with over 12 years of service in the Royal Canadian Regiment prior to
>their assignment to RMC, and they both told me that it was traditional in
>both the Canadian and British forces to yell "hoy" at that point in the
>tune, although they were unsure of the origin of the custom.

It took me a while to find them, but I located most of my piping books that
have been buried since my recent move to a new house.

In Cannon's, "THE HIGHLAND BAGPIPE AND ITS MUSIC", he notes that,

"...pipe bands have sought out more flamboyant pieces for exhibition
playing. An early one was the 'Black Bear Hornpipe'. The second part has
relatively long phrases, during which the drumming builds up to a climax,
then suddenly stops, leaving the pipes to carry the melody on and back to the
obligatory repeat of the first part... It is also a custom in this tune
(though deplored by some) for the drummers to puntuate the first part with a
loud shout on the fifth beat."

And in the more recent "MUSIC OF THE SCOTTISH REGIMENTS" by Murray,
describing a possible scene during a long march across India:

"As the day wore on, so would the ranks fall silent, and it was at this
stage that the music came into its own. The mounted officer's chargers would
now be carrying the younger of the drummer boys, and the tunes played by the
bands would become less formal, the pipes perhaps with "The Black Bear", in
which the drum beating had a silent bar where the soldiers were encouraged to
shout or 'hooch', while the military band might try some current hit popular
with the soldiers."

While some may not like the yell, it's on every one of my CDs/LPs where the
tune is played. I'm only surprised it doesn't show up in the printer music!

Bill Tubbs
City of Sacramento Pipe Band (IVb)