Gervase and The Shambles - thanks for your comments on my paper. As to the question of why so much writing on this topic is "elegaic" ... well, perhaps it's because so many of us doing the writing are getting into our autumnal years (even if we still think of ourselves as young at heart). Most of the young people I know who are interested in traditional music, dance & song seem too busy playing, singing and dancing to spend much time theorising about it. Which is probably a good thing. However, somebody needs to look back and ponder occasionally. As Santayana (the American philospher, not the Mexican general) once said: people who cannot remember their history are condemned to repeat it. But being a historian by trade, I would say that, wouldn't I?

Wassail!