And it's not as if musicians in the tradition didn't receive tuition. Sidewinder, I know you're talking about people who never had a CONVENTIONAL music lesson in their lives, but that doesn't mean they didn't have any kind of tuition, it was probably just unofficial and spontaneous. Then there were the budding players who went to the village's best player to get some lessons before developing their own style.

When the informal systems (of passing on tunes at farmhouse get-togethers; and skills via the local experts) recede, then it's surely good to have a new system in place. We'd be naiive to think that the old players just sprang from the earth untutored and unlettered (isn't this just the assumption that one C J Sharp is always criticized for?).

We can't be force-fed an appreciation of any form of music in a classroom, but if we love the music already, the classroom's one hell of a good shortcut to get the necessary skills to take that music forward. What you do with those skills afterwards is the important bit ... Good luck to the new graduates