The Bishop polka

I can’t remeber where I learned this.The title means “The Bishop”.
(It’s Da Bishop)

Remember of course

Memo to self,wear your spectacles when typing.

EVERYBODY ~

Chorus:

My eyes are dim I cannot see,
I have not brought my specs with me
I have … not … brought … my specs … with … me…

~ here is another take and key for it:

K: G Major
|: B/A/ |
Gg gf | e2 d2 | e/f/g dB | c/d/c/A/ A/G/F |
Gg- gf | e2 d2 | e/f/g A^c | d3 :|
|: F |
Dc cB/A/ | Bd d>c | Bd GB | A/G/F/E/ D2 |
GB- BA/G/ | Ag fe | dc c/B/A | G3 :|

Yr = The ~ “uhrr”
Esgob = Bishop ~ “Ess” (like the letter ‘s’) - gob ~ “Gob”

“ Uhrrr Es - gob“

Doesn’t “Da” mean Daddy in Welsh?
“The Bishop” or “Miss Dolland’s Delight” can be found in Playford’s Dancing Master. (one wonder’s which Bishop was Miss Dolland’s delight. )
Your ABC’s miss out what I consider to be the character of this tune. Here is mine:-

M: 4/4
L: 1/4
K: A
Aa2g_ | _gf2e | fa ec | dB AG | Aa2g_ | _gf2e | fa Bd^ | e2 E2 :||
ed2c/B/ | ce2d | ca Ac | BE E2 | Ac2B/A/ | Ba GF | ed cB | A2 A,2 :||

Hope that comes out O.K. as I have not used ties in ABC before.
The ties across the bars give the tune its character and sets its period = C18 or C17 (am not sure about this one).

I suppose I could have written it counting 4 across 2 bars, might make the counting a bit easier. It’s a bit tricky at first but once you’ve got it it really brings the tune to life.

I’ve rewritten this to play in ‘G’. Bringing it down a tone makes it a bit more user friendly and essential when playing on a D/G button box.

Doesn’t “Da” mean “dad” in welsh??
Daddy Bishop!
“The Bishop” or also known as “Miss Dolland’s Delight” ( raises the question which Bishop delighted Miss Dolland?). comes from John Playford. You probably already know that Daffyd. C17 or C18. English courtly dances. Your ABC fails to do the tune justice as the rhythm should be somewhat ‘contrapunctal?’ (I think that ’s the word, no doubt someone will correct me if not).
I write it so:-
M: 4/4
L: 1/4
K: A
Aa2g_ | _gf2e | fa ec | dB AG | Aa2g_ | _gf2e | fa Bd^ | e2 E2 :||
Ed2c/B/ | ce2d | ca Ac | BE E2 | Ac2B/A/ | Aa gf | edcB | A2 A,2 :||

I hope that comes out right. Haven’t used ties before when submitting a tune. I’ve transposed this, for my own benefit, to the key of ‘G’ and find it more friendly to play. That drop in one tone makes it easier on the ears let alone easier for a D/G button box. For me the ties across the bars give the tune it’s character and also helps to set it’s period.

but i do do that “da” is used as a slang for dad in ireland. though its also used commnly in northern irish txts to mean “the”

Hetty, I think you’ve had too much G & T tonight…

You’re using the ABC sign for flat (b), or _, as a tie…

The Welsh tend to use ‘dad’ rather than ‘da’ ~ but ~ there is a sizeable Irish influence in that dear country too, some do live there and call it home…and having know a few ~ so ‘da’ is also used in Cymru…

Dafydd’s and my ABCs aren’t meant to represent the Playford take on it ( it also occurs elsewhere ), which I had considered adding later, but how the tune is played in the present tense, not crossing the bar lines…

rather than the tune, but things change over time, and that close association now has some folks calling “Miss Dolland’s Delight” (with the Bishop) ~ “The Bishop”, or in Welsh, “Yr Esgob”… Since we’ve taken it this far, here are some discriptions of the dance and their links, as I just am not in the mood to go trolling through my old tomes, which aren’t databased yet, and for which my digitized copies got fried in the recent demise of a ‘new’ hard drive… But enough of edging toward that moan again ~ the dance (music later) ~

http://www.srcf.ucam.org/round/dances/palmer.htm

“The Bishop” ~ Longways triple minor

1st man casts to 2nd place (starting on R foot),
sets to 3rd woman; and turns her.

1st woman casts to 2nd place,
sets to 3rd man; and turns him.

3rd couple gipsy while the other two men, and the other two women, gatepost;
hands-6 half way round.

2nd couple gipsy while the others gatepost;
hands-6 half way round.

http://www.lcfd.org/nyc/instructions.html

“The Bishop” ~ Triple minor longways
Music: “Miss Dolland’s Delight”
The dance ~ 1778
This interpretation, Porter ~ 1931

A1 Lead dancer (#1) on the left file cast into 2nd place (#2 moving up).
#1 set to #3 dancer on the other file; they two-hand turn.

A2 Lead dancer (#1) on the right file cast into 2nd place (#2 moving up).
#1 set to #3 dancer on the other file; they two-hand turn.

B1 Gate turns at the top, 1s moving forward and 2s moving backward, while the 3s gypsy turn.
All 6 circle left halfway.

B2 Again, gate turns at the top, 1s moving forward and 2s moving backward, while the 3s gypsy turn.
All 6 circle left halfway.

“Thompson’s Compleat Collection of 200 Country Dances, Vol. 4”
Charles & Samuel Thompson, London, 1780
page 92, #184

M: 4/4
L: 1/4
K: A Major
|: Aa- ag- | gf- fe | fa ec | dB AG |
Aa 2g- | gf- fe | fa B^d | e2 E2 :|
|: ed- dc/B/ | ce- ed | ca Ac | BE E2 |
Ac- cB/A/ | Ba GF | ed cB | A2 A,2 :|

K: G Major
|: Gg- gf- | fe- ed | eg dB | cA GF |
Gg- gf- | fe- ed | eg A^c | d2 D2 :|
|: dc- cB/A/ | Bd- dc | Bg GB | AD D2 |
GB- BA/G/ | Ag FE | dc BA | G2 G,2 :|

That brings back memories, good and bad and Playford balls…and the “Society of Creative Anachronism’, and ‘The Daughters of the American Revolution’, and some other anachronisms… One styled itself after the Antebellum period in Atlanta, you know, “Gone With the Wind” sort of theme, big dresses, full of petticoats and folks putting on a Southern drawl, or their attempts at such… I know we ‘The Bishop’ was on the list and I was earning my pay just holding back the want to laugh… ‘Smile and nod’, this is not the place for one of your embarrassing outbursts.’ I distinctly remember somebody kicking me when I started to chuckle as I started syncopating rhythms ~ 😉

NOTE: Tieing it across the bar makes for a shight polka, and that is how it is sometimes used nowadays. However, it is a kick to do it the ‘old-fashioned’ way too… 🙂

As Hetty’s is pretty close to the original, or Thompson’s, this is a combined effort, several sources and just a few differences ~

K: A Major
|: Aa- ag- | gf- fe | fa ec | dB AG |
Aa- ag- | gf- fe | fa B^d | e2 E2 :|
|: Ed- dc/B/ | ce- ed | ca Ac | BE EE |
Ac- cB/A/ | Ba gf | ed cB | A2 A2 :|

edited and arranged by Peter Barnes
Canis Publishing, 1996 ~ http://www.canispublishing.com/
Expanded and revised, of course, read on ~ “This is a collection of 426 of the most commonly used English traditional dance tunes, for all instruments. Chords are included for piano or guitar accompaniment, and there is an extensive appendix on accompaniment tips for all the various types of dances. This collection has sold thousands of copies all over the United States and is considered to be the standard source for both the Playford and ‘barn dance’ styles of English traditional dance music. Metal spiral binding to lie flat for easy sight-reading. This book, originally published in 1986, has been completely revised and expanded with new typesetting, 120 new tunes, accompaniment tips, indices and cross-references.”

How could I not recommend it? Oh yeah, this tune is between the covers too…

Missed a bit in the cut and paste:

Peter Barnes is one of the leading lights of dance in New England, the Northeast U.S.A. ~ contras and country dances, Playford and beyond, and he has compiled the above listed collection, the largest one I know of English country dance tunes… As with anything he does, he’s done an impressive job…

Just kidding, I’m not really lost…at least I hope not, but it isn’t uncommon for me to be mentally at a loss. Geographically I seem to do O.K.

Back on topic ~ “CONTRAPUNTAL” ~ something mentioned earlier, has to do with ‘Counterpoint’, and as we are only concerned with the one melody / voice here, it doesn’t apply, as near as I can figure.

Contrapuntal ~ (of Counterpoint) latin: punctus contra punctum / note against note Italian: contrappunto (contra = ‘against’) ~ ‘polypony’, two or more seperate melodies/voices sounding simultaneously…

Nope, that’s probably not what either of us is trying to come up with in a term that applies to this melody in its earliest cross-the-bar/beat state… Now what term would apply?

Hey, wake up, I’m trying to be serious here… 😉

I’m surpised that no-one caught the reference.Monty Python,Its da Bishop!

Hi ‘c’ thanks for putting my abc’s right. I should have checked but took a chance. It seems that i have adouble take on comments from myself. my original contribution looked as if it had failed to get posted (I had run out of time before in the long distant pass and thought it had happened again) my first attempt arrived after my second which was without the word ‘Contrapunctal’

Hey, I know and trust you ol’ soul, and suspected something was amiss, like intoxicating influences or lack of sleep…

I couldn’t get the ‘old’ way with the tune out of my head all night and even woke up with it ringing in my ears. It wasn’t sugar plum fairies dancing around in my head either, but those over-sized Antebellum belles in their huge hoops and OTT hairdos and unbelievable attempts at a Southern drawl, worse, they had huge boots on under the petticoats and wood teeth… I blame you hetty… 😉

Good one Dafydd ~ but you share equal blame in bringing this ringer on site and causing my restless sleep and that nightmare…

realised it was not the word I wanted. my copy of the tune comes from printed manuscript but I will rewrite it to avoid the ties across the bars.
As much as I appreciate Monty Python, Daffyd, I’ve obviously not seen any reference to “da bishop”. Does that come in one of the films? I’ve never seen any of them from beginning to end. If it does, which one?

‘c’ ! could you clarify your interpretation of my contribution. You write bar 6 of the ‘B’ music (in key of ‘G’ ) as | Ag FE |. do you not mean: | Aa fe | ?? Does make a big difference.

You are right Hetty, I screwed up… Here it is corrected, but while I’m at it, a few small variations as well in a repeat:

K: G Major
|: Gg- gf- | fe- ed | eg dB | cA GF |
Gg- gf- | fe- ed | eg A^c | d2 D2 :|
|: dc- cB/A/ | Bd- dc | Bg GB | AD D2 |
GB- BA/G/ | Ag fe | dc BA | G2 G,2 :|

~ & a few other possibilities:

|: Gg- gf- | fe- ed | eg dB | c/d/c/A/ GF |
Gg- gf- | fe- ed | eg A^c | d4 :|
|: dc- cB/A/ | Bd- dc | Bg- gB | AD- DD |
GB- BA/G/ | A>g fe | d2 c/B/A | G4 :|

Last night with the Bishop and Ms. Dolland was a philosophical moment, me refusing to agree with myself, not unusual… I now find I enjoy moving in and out of the old and the new and can see how crossing the bar, aside from getting access to the liquor stored behind, can be ‘used’, rather than being the rule, as a ‘goose’ in itself, something for Christmas to add a little bit of spice, sparkle and surprise when taking things a faster than a ‘country dance’ clip ~ as a polka…but I also still like the ‘country dance’ take on it too, more ‘relaxed’ and ‘gentile’… 😉

K: A Major
|: Aa- ag- | gf- fe | fa ec | dB AG |
Aa 2g- | gf- fe | fa B^d | e2 E2 :|
|: ed- dc/B/ | ce- ed | ca Ac | BE E2 |
Ac- cB/A/ | Ba gf | ed cB | A2 A,2 :|

I’ve just realized why those two notes in the 6th bar of the B-part of the music, A & G Major, were wrong ~ I’d cut and pasted your first transcription Hetty, and I had left the notes alone, just adding the the ties ( - ), sorry… I see that you repeated the transcription with corrections but I’d used the earlier version… I should have reviewed things before hitting ‘post’…except I would have still left your notes unchanged, come to think of it. But I should have used your second ‘correct’ submission… 😏

Hey Dafydd, talk about you and your specs, maybe I need them too. I had missed why hetty was asking about ‘da’, that confused the hell out of me. I’d completely missed your “It’s da Bishop” in the first line. I was asking myself, “why are they on about ‘da’ and ‘dad’?” ~ but I went ahead and answered that one anyway… Maybe it was finishing off that whole bottle of strong country cidre? ~ only the one, I promise… 😏

The Bishop sketch is here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2etGhVewsvQ

play video

This is also to be found in Thompson’s Compleat Collection of Country Dances c.1770. ‘The Bishop’ is also the name of a different tune in that collection

The Set is;…..

Y Cambro-Brython,
https://thesession.org/tunes/10279

followed by…dic y Cymro,

https://thesession.org/tunes/8905

then of course, The Bishop.

This is very similar to the first part of “The Bridge Over The River Ash” from the Angel Delight album (1971?). Does anyone know anything about this or the name of the second part of TBOVTRA?