"Here in Ireland over the last 20 years, there's seen an amazing upturn in the fortunes of traditional/folk music proper, with many thousands of young people taking up traditional instruments and going to the older musicians, either in the flesh or through recordings, to learn the older styles of playin - no need for constant searching for 'something new' - they've realised that, played well and with respect, the traditional tunes and styles work as well as they have for centuries.
Doesn't mean that some don't experiment with new forms, but the fact that the improvement has built a firm foundation in the tradition to come back to means that folk music has been guaranteed a future for at least another two generations and does not need to seek constant change to keep it alive"
some of the upturn is due to CCE, However their competitions do not encourage innovation, to be fair they get a lot of children playing ,but the downside is that it seems to encourage a competitive attitude, their marking system encourages over ornamentation and a homoeoginsed CCE STYLE, Their marking system d couragesis harmony and innovation in certain competitions, in my experience there is very little experimentation within CCE and not much experimentation or innovation outside CCE, If this trencd continues the music will not progress.
In my opinion Jim is painting a rosy picture , that is not acurate