Sorry- no time to log in as I'm a bit pushed just now.

No-one, not Faye Roche, Tom Bliss or I is criticising singarounds. If you run your club as a singaround venue, fine. Keep it up if that's what your members want.

As Tom's article said, the folk "scene" (I don't like to use that word but can't think of any other) needs professional performers in order to present the music to outsiders and newcomers. Without them it will revert to being ONLY disparate groups of people who get together to sing to each other. And when they all die out, the music will go with them. In another post Tom gave the club circuit another ten years. It might be more than that, but certainly it ain't going to be around twenty years from now. Can you imagine groups of people in their 80's coming out to their local singaround each week? (And I don't mean the octagerarian who comes to YOUR club every month- I'm talking nationally!)

Yes, the clubs are run for the benefit of their members. But SOME clubs have to introduce new musicians if we are going to keep the tradition alive. Otherwise it will stagnate. (Yes I know that your club is fine and well- please don't write and tell me again!)

My definition of a pro differs from Tom's, as it's impractical to make your living from the folk circuit but we do need performers of tprofessional standard. BTW Tom; if you read this, why don't you just continue on a semi-pro basis?

Look at it this way- what is more likely to attract new audiences into folk music; a concert by on of the newer young bands like Isambarde (no, I'm neither a member nor a friend of theirs!) or any of the other talented young bands, or sitting in a dingy pub room listening to a bunch of people the age of their grandparents, singing to each other with (I'll put this politely) varying standards of competence? (All right- I know that you have some good singers in YOUR club- don't remind me! And I'm not being ageist- to attract younger audiences you have to be seen as relevant to them, which partly means putting on artists in their age group.)

I'd like to see an organisation like the one Faye proposes to introduce- not force- just make available- new performers onto the circuit SO THAT AUDIENCES CAN ENJOY THEM! Those clubs that want to preserve themselves as enclosed singarounds could carry on as they are, but it would be a wonderful way for new musicians to get started and for clubs to bring in some new people at zero cost. Perhaps they just don't want to do that?

My club was exciting. People didn't go just to hear the guest- most of the time the guests were unknown locals, though we did invite them back when they went down well. Our audience went because they wanted to hear what this new singer/band sounded like, AND to enjoy the rest of the evening (singers, resident band, convivial atmosphere, etc.) So by providing a platform for the musicians, I was also giving the audience what they wanted.