terrific experience. You'll learn more about real folk music, and making an effort to perform, and communicating with an audience than just working to audiences that fawn on you politely.

You will also learn to be philosophical - sometimes you meet people who are so partisan they make noises through everybody else's act - there are some really horrid characters.   And you just have to accept defeat, but decide this is what I want to do. Its important to me. Prats of any colour will not stop me. This is wonderful training for ignoring some of the human warts on the folkscene.

And in the final accounting its all profit, and you will return to folk clubs with more appreciation, more ability, more confidence - and probably less patience for the people who haven't bothered acquiring those skills.