dwditty,

I think RUS met (meets?) a great need. I wonder just how many they have sold? A bunch I bet. The group of friends I gather with have gone through two cases of the books. I suppose it all depends on what you want to do.

This group meets monthly and are not "serious singers." Only myself and the guy from the Barber Shop Quartette perform at all. Mostly it is a group of people of "a certain age" who remember the times they all sang in their youth and wish to continue enjoying doing so. Most times there are no more than two instruments in the group. We were friends before the group began and the monthly meet grew out of our joy in singing for fun when we had parties.

Being of a "certain age" we remember songs better than we remember lyrics. So RUS was a blessing and freed me from the task of creating a songbook for the group.

There are only two of us who explore new acoustic music and we slowly add songs to the group's repertoire. As new people come, they use RUS to explore their own interests. I can understand all the negatives about RUS and I cringe to hear of Sandy's experience at Augusta. You'da thunk it wouldn't happen there of all places.

I figure I can fake about a third of the songs in RUS. Occasionally, I'll learn a new (to me) song and only later find that it is in RUS.

I have not heard the tapes. I would suggest relying on group members to teach new songs that they know from RUS rather than starting with tapes. A part of me sees a challenge to "know" all of the songs, but I realize that has little to do with enjoyment of music.

My suggestion is, hold off on the tapes and see what the group can teach you, there is the joy.

And as for singing circles, I have not been to a great number. I dislike structure so I hate going "around the circle" with each person selecting a song. And I have been in too many where it seems the idea is for each person to present a song no one knows (what's that about???).

The group I'm in sometimes develops themes. We may do only "dead people's" songs (yes, we have a weird sense of humor) or maybe only songs that follow C, Am, F, and G7 structures (watch out here comes rock and roll). And no one has ever asked, "Is that folk music?" because we're just singing songs we enjoy.

Enjoy RUS dwditty. Watch out for rigidity. We don't sing "Banks of the Ohio" like RUS so we just ignore the book.

Roger in Baltimore