I know less than nothing about English folk dancing and traditional intrumental music, but I found myself very interested in, and very much in agreement with, John Kirkpatrick's article.

Even within the context of a completely different culture -- late sixties American college-hippy acoustic jam sessions -- I recall the difference of opinion between, on the one hand, singer-strummers who liked to move quickly from one number to the next vs, on the other hand, instrumental improvisors who preferred to repeatedly -- indefinitely -- explore the structure of each song without abandoning it so quickly.

I was never a flashy "lead"-type guitar player, but I was always willing to stretch out a song, if only to listen to the other jammers while running through the chord changes over and over again, maybe managing a few subtle little variations to my rhythm-guitar fingerpicking. And I was always glad to sing one verse, then play two or three instrumentally, sing one, play several (one per soloing player), etc. The best musical moments always seemed to come *after* all the participants had achieved hypnoism-by-repetition.

(PS --Wrote this Sunday night, previewed, forgot to submit. Sending now, Monday morning...)