People don't sing because we've forgotten how to teach.

I work with people of all ages doing banjo and guitar workshops in strip-mall bookstores. Everywhere I go the crowd almost always starts singing along. The "why" of this is a combination of how the music is presented and how the crowd is encouraged- and even cajoled - to join in.

When I was a kid this was how "folk music" was presented. I knew an old Washington Square beatnik who treated singing and teaching other people as part of the "craft" of being a banjo player. The old guitar slingers I knew back then worked pretty much the same way.

The only time you see people feeling awkward is when the person leading the workshop, jam or hoot is a card-carrying phony. I won't name names, but nowadays the average folk-guru is more interested in showing the crowd how well he or she plays (or pretends to play). Part of making that routine work involves convincing anybody in earshot that he or she is the only person capable enough, socially conscious enough and educated enough to run though a group of three chord songs.

If you want people to start singing all you have to do is make them feel welcome, point out that this music is the shared cultural heritage of every person on earth and - this is the biggie - be casual enough about your own image that you won't be afraid to point out how simple making music really is.

Anybody can learn to play. Anybody can learn to sing. "Talent" is nothing but a word. Nobody is born knowing how to play the banjo.

It's our music, but we've let a bunch of sleazy pseudo-intellectuals take it away from us. Taking it back is easy. All you have to do is sing.