The Musical Priest reel

The third part can be tricky. It’s quite a jump going from the mid B to the high B. I’ve written it out here with the mid B played quite long. What you can do is then shorten this note slightly and use the pause created to get your fingers into position for the high B and the run down that follows it.

The second part has that familiar phrase that can be found in lots of reels in the key of A, such as O’ Rourke’s.

Greetings:

Enjoyed this wonderful site for over a year, and I’m finally starting something!

When you play "The Musical Priest" in a set, what else do you like to include along with it?

All suggestions warmly welcomed!

Solstice Blessings, Cathryn Bauer

Maybe a big D major tune that starts on the F#, like ‘my love is in america’ or ‘the wise maid’ would be nice. You could also follow it with an A major tune for a big lift. The minor to major whole step modulation is alway a nice one.

you might try:-
the roscommon reel
boil the breakfast early
the musical priest
all 3 reels seem to run naturally at the same sort of pace and the changes are both easy to do and pleasant to the ear.

How about The Musical Priest followed by Jenny’s Chickens?

This is funny. I just learned The Musical Priest in that last two weeks and had been wondering the same thing! I’ve found Sweeney’s Buttermilk followed by The Musical Priest has a nice flow. But I need something else.

A set my teacher in Bristol (UK) likes to play is

The drunken landlady
Otter’s Holt
The Musical Priest

trevor

I think the Mountain Road sounds really good after the Musical Priest. Check out this recording for an example: http://www.celticspringband.com/Track06.mp3 The first two tunes in this set are O’Carolan’s Welcome (waltz, I think) and The Morning Dew (reel).

-Max

Doesn’t Tommy Peoples play this one in E minor? I think it sounds really nice down there, particularly the third part. I learned it from one of his CDs in Em, and then when I played it at the session all I got was blank stares, which surprised me because I’d heard them playing it before, only I hadn’t recognized that they played in a different key. Anyway, try it down there, on the flute the crans on that E make it really nice for the first part, even though you have to up the first note an octave.

-phil

this is an awesome tune on that album but it sounds so much like Julia Dealaney’s.

T:Musical Priest, The
M:4/4
L:1/8
S:The Chieftains - "The Chieftains 1"
R:reel
Z:gmp
K:BMin
|:BA|FB~B2 BABd|cBAf ecBA|FB~B2 BABd|cBAF B2:|
|:Bc|d2dc dfed|(3cBA eA fAeA|1dcBc dfaf|edcd B2:|2dcBc dbaf|edcd B2
||:Bc|dB~B2 bafb|afec Acec|dB~B2 bafb|afec B2:|

The Musical Priest goes well in the following set:
1. Battle of Aughrim (A dorian)https://thesession.org/tunes/1308
2. Castle Kelly (A minor)https://thesession.org/tunes/21
3. Musical Priest (B minor)

Would anyone happen to know if this piece is related to the American "old-time" tune The Fall(s) of Richmond?

This is done amazingly by the JSD band

X: 1
T: Musical Priest, The
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
S:James Morrison
K: Bmin
BA | FBBA BcdB | cBAc ecBA | FBBA BcdB | ceAc ~B2 :|
Bc | d2 (3edc dfed | cAeA fAec | dcBc def^g | afec ~B2 :|
bBfB bBfB | cBAc ecBA |1 bBfB bBfB | cBAB cB B2 :|2 Bcdc defg | afec B2 |

Here’s a basic rendering of James Morrison’s version, recorded early last century. The third part is distinctly different, and I hear it played occasionally. I like it a lot, but it doesn’t blend well when everyone else is playing the "usual" way!

The first 2 parts of this tune bear great similarity to an old Scottish strathspey, "The North Bridge of Edinburgh"

https://thesession.org/tunes/1435

The Gravel Walks, into The Musical Priest is what I’ve heard a lot. Two really really great tunes, really ups the tempo at a session.

I think Silly Wizard used to play it after Jean’s Reel. Here is a clip of Johnny and Phil Cunningham playing the two tunes in a set after The Laird of Drumblair:

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=fEGxWWctBtw

play video

I play this one, on tinwistle, like I found in a fiddle book (110 Irish fiddle tunes vol. 2, Waltons):
X: 1
T: The Musical Priest
R: Reel
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
K: Dmaj
|: BA | FBBA BABd | cBAf ecBA | FBBA BABd | cBAF B2 :|
|: Bc | d2 dc dfed | (3cBA eA fA eA | dcBc dbaf | edcd B2 :|
|: Bc | d (3BBB bafb | afec Acec | d (3BBB bafb | acec B :|

The Musical Priest goes well with the High Reel, very lively in a session.

This tune is in the Gunn Book (Fermanagh 1865) as ‘The New Bridge of Eden’ and in Breathnach’s collection as ‘The New Bridge of Erin’

Eliot Grasso plays this tune in Amin and then rolls into "Farrell O’Gara" (Dmaj) on *North-by-Northwest*. I think it sounds better in Amin — it’s less awkward to jump between octaves on A than B on pipes 😉

I find the Musical Priest and the Bucks go well together, or for that matter
The Musical Priest
The Wind That Shakes the Barley
The Bucks of Oranmore

Liz Carroll plays a fantastic rendition of this tune, but she starts with The Silver Spear followed by The Earl’s chair leading on to The Musical Priest. it works very well! try a combination of those 3 in a different order perhaps

Yeah, but Liz Carroll plays it in a different key (Gmin, I think). It’s a brilliant rendition, to be sure, but the success of her set depends at least in part on the key change (and in part on the fact that she’s Liz Carroll).

JC’s has a tune under "Broom of the Cowdenknowes" which is the sames as Musical Priest. Anyone know any history or background on this? Bob

I can’t find the "Broom" you’re talking about - just the usual one, which is nothing like either "The Musical Priest" or its original "The North Bridge of Edinburgh". Got a link to it?

If there is such a version, the most likely explation is that somebody in the Scottish country dance scene swapped the tunes around for a dance called "The Broom of the Cowdenknowes". But I don’t know of any dance of that name since Playford.

http://trillian.mit.edu/~jc/music/abc/Ireland/reel/

The Musical Priest - supposed other title is "The Broom etc".

It’s quite likely that this is an error on the part of Chambers.
I’ve not heard anybody play the Priest under that title. I don’t think the lyrics would work either - given that there is that challenge to compose a second part to the original tune!

I found this clip of musical priest played on harmonica in between Drag Her Around the Roads and Corner House and Congress

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hjHWabvaho&feature=youtu.be&t=1m6s

play video

X:5 Sligo fiddle setting from Andy McGann and Paddy Reynolds. A similar version taken from a James Morrison 78 was in Ceol Rince na hÉireann III.

I play this reel on an ’ A ’ harmonica , then straight into John Stensons - most A major reels would
work , High Reel as already suggested, High Rd to Linton, Miss McClouds, etc

Great tune to play in G minor on GDAE or GDAD instruments. Here’s a version I’ve been messing around with — enough differences from Jack B’s setting above that I thought another setting could be worthwhile.

I first learned it in Gm, inspired by Chieftains jig version in Gm (into the reel in Bm).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_tY69pi9_I

play video

There are very few tunes I can’t stand. This is one of them. Unfortunately, every fool and his dog plays it and it is inescapable…

This is the version by Jordi Savall and Andrew Lawrence-King from their album The Celtic Viol. I did the transcription.

From the playing of Graham Wells. The C Part is fairly different from most settings here, being closest to X3.

Joe said his setting came from the playing of James Morrison in the early 1900’s.

Graham, starting at ~ 2 mins 20 s:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dk8b7LjvRnM

play video

A few variations on X14.

This is the Dubliners version, or as close as I can get to it. They play it with the Blackthorn Stick and it makes a killer set!

Setting in B Minor with chords and with triplets as the only ornamentation.

Great tune. Priests often musical as they need to sing lots of chants on a Sunday!