Reel, D, Composed by James Hill (1811 – 1853)
For well over a century James Hill’s tune The Scholar has been part of the Irish dance tune repertoire. It lives on in session playing and in dozens of recordings, and still has the power to move dancers.
Recordings
- Video – The Dubliners: The Scholar / The Teetotaller / The High Reel – featuring Barney McKenna on tenor banjo. From the album Jigs Reels & Hornpipes.
- Video – The Good Tune: The Scholar – featuring Kevin Lees (fiddle) and Sebastian Bloch (guitar)
Sheet Music
As always for traditional tunes, the musical notation and chords do not indicate the “right” way to play the tune, but are a useful reference.
Play-along Tracks
Sets
Examples of sets that include this tune.
- Scholar Reel Set: The Scholar (D) / Dick Gossip/s Reel (D)
- The Scholar / The Teetotaler / The High Reel
- Paddy on the Turnpike / The Scholar
References and Resources
For those who want to dig deeper, here are some other resources.
- Books
- Book & Audio – Stephen Ducke: Irish Music – 400 Traditional Tunes
- Book – The Portland Collection, Volume 1 – Contra Dance Music in the Pacific Northwest. By Susan Songer with Clyde Curley.
- Lessons
- Video – Aidan Crossey (The Irish Mandolin): The Scholar – played on mandolin, with tablature in video.
- Additional Resources
- Webpage – The Session: The Scholar – crowdsourced sheet music, comments, and more
- Webpage – Irishtune.info: The Scholar – archival information about the tune, curated by Alan Ng
- Article – Wikipedia: James Hill (folk musician) – biography of the composer of The Scholar