I don't agree that singing is sustained talking. I think it is possible to communicate a song that way; but I would not call it 'singing."

Maybe because I was classically trained and tend to place a lot fof importance on intonation, phrasing, etc. But I sure as hell know that speaking and singing are two very different things. And GOOD singing DOES require musical talent. A great deal of it sometimes. (Why does everyone think it takes skill and practice to learn an instrument but not to learn how to sing properly?) One would hardly compare Cecillia Bartoli and Joni Mitchell, though both are wonderful singers...but then throw Ethel Merman into the mix!

A lot of this sort of categorization depends on what TYPE of music is being sung. Some people could not sing classlical msuic if their lives depended on it; but most people can at least fudge their way through a folk song; I guess that is why it is the music of the masses. And speaking as someone who has worked hard to become a good singer, I would not want my thoughtful rendition of "Red is the Rose" to be compared to some drunken yahoo's version of "Peggy Gordon," but it doesn;t mean we both don't have a perfect right to sing them in a circle. Anyone who WANTS to "sing" and can only manage to do so by "talking" their way through a song should not be discouraged from expressing themselves.