Certainly, money is not the focus for many who get involved in their communities to share music of all kinds at all sorts of special events. Many love to play and sing and have the support regular jobs of some kind, that they use to support their love of music. The vast number of those that I meet, who are involved in some capacity with musical endeavors, are either active in some kind of a job skill other than music, or they're enjoying their retirement from such. They feel compelled to be involved with sharing the music they love at social gatherings, as a community service simply because they have fun doing it.

At its root, the sharing of music freely within our communities is a folk tradition and so is the free support of such activities. For many countless generations, this is how so many of the songs, stories and ideas of our varied cultures have been handed down and keeping this simple folk process intact is important. It's more than important, it's a necessary means of sharing our collective identity.

Over the eons conquerors of various cultures have all had a hand in trying to unite those they had dominion over. Part of that process was to suppress certain aspects of native cultures and to insist that new ideas be instilled in the hearts and minds of the masses.

The pursuit of money can create much the same outcome. When money comes between the folk process of sharing our music with one another, we can all end up losing something in the exchange. We lose our idendity.