While there is no single 'right way' to sing a ballad, there is a wrong way - one that puts the audience off listening either to the singer, or to ballads as a style of song. I love ballads - just as well as I am married to a ballad singer - but there are singers (some renowned) who make my heart sink when they launch into a ballad.

I remember looking through the window of a door in a big singaround where the audience was almost entirely mirroring the singer's favourite posture - leaning back in their chair, and staring at their boots. Admittedly it was late in the evening, but I am sure that at least a quarter of the audience woke up suddenly when the clapping began.

A ballad is a story; you wouldn't tell a story in a dirge-like fashion unless trying to encourage a sleepless child to drop off. Singing that way doesn't help paint pictures in the mind of the listener.