Yes we do like unaccompannied singing but we also like accompanied singing and unaccompanied tunes. What's wrong with mixing them - it seems to me that some people have climbed up on on their high horses and can't see the ground from where they are, they certainly aren't listening to any of the arguments. Do they really want to live in a world where tunes are in one venue and songs in another? I don't! Vive la difference!

I hope others agree when I come next year and insist on playing my banjo sets in the singaround....*Smiles*

The issue was really a very specific one but perhaps a general response toward the idea of mixed sessions would be helpful.

As a player and a singer - I tend to agree. For many of the very best sessions I have attended have been mixed affairs. But these are usually happy accidents - when a small group of individuals (usually unknown to each other) - find themselves making music together.

But at festivals - where there are many people wanting to play - although is still a place for such events - surely it does make perfect sense to cater for specific types of informal music-making and their different requirements?

If you have say 4 pubs willing to host infomal session - and specify (loosely) the nature of what each pub is hosting - this should be enough to cater for most tastes.

Singing (even informally) is about performance more than it is about participation. Tune sessions are more about participation than they are about performance. It is quite wrong to think (as I feel many singers do) that a tune session is just a song session with tunes. A whole different set of social and musical conventions apply - which may not be immediately clear and may - on a shallow look - seem to be a free-for-all.