Well, we have a very spacey woman in our song circle who listens to the song on her iPod through headphones and tries to sing along with it. It doesn't work very well, and there's a lot of 'dead air' during the instrumental parts. Still, she tries. I hope she'll improve with time.

I can see value in reading lyrics from some source, because I'm a choir singer and have always sung from a hymnal. I tend to screw up songs if I don't have a crib sheet or hymnal.

I suppose, though, that folk music must be all about excluding people, so that we can feel superior to somebody. I guess I should humbly admit my inadequacy and not bother trying to sing, since I'm not very successful at memorizing songs. That's the message in this thread, isn't it? Beginners aren't really welcome among folk musicians, are they?

-Joe-