When I was in primary school (50s) all the songs we sang in school were folk songs, although we didn't call them that then, they were just songs. I just knew they felt older than most of the songs that were on the wireless, although didn't think about it much at the time. But thinking about it now, it gave me a good grounding for my current abiding interest in folk music.

Children in school nowadays don't have the same exposure to folk music, but really, that's where it ought to be, to have lasting effect. Cecil Sharp et al managed to convince the education authorities of their time that the songs they collected would die out if they weren't passed on to the youngsters. So our music teachers used collections of folk songs to teach us music. I have very fond memories of the class singing with gusto while the teacher played piano. And of the BBC radio broadcasts for schools (those booklets have been discussed on other threads). All folk music, all good fun, taught as mainstream music lessons to youngsters of an impressionable age.

The education authorities of today probably couldn't care less whether folk songs died out or not - priorities are totally different. And folk song organisations would probably cringe at the thought of trying to convince them (all over again) that tradition is important. And yet I can't think of a better way of passing on the tradition.

Except perhaps for the Irish/Celtic musical tradition (as mentioned by Sleepy Rosie), where the teaching of music begins even before school, within the family. But that's a whole different culture.

And without that culture, either family or school, it's an uphill struggle. I'm not saying it can't be done, but it's so much more difficult without the mainstream grounding.

Singing should be fun, whatever the teaching method(s) used, so that participants want to carry on doing it, after their initial introduction to it, for the rest of their lives. And teaching methods need to be flexible, to be able to address the different learning requirements of students. I am not a qualified teacher, although I have trained adults in certain skills (not musical ones), and have received rudimentary instruction in how to train. So I am speaking primarily as one who has been taught and encouraged to sing, first at school, then various other choirs and groups (which I would never have dreamed of joining had I not had the initial grounding at school).

I suspect, Jim, if your project does take off, that it would attract those who have already had some initial grounding and encouragement, and some contact with and interest in folk song. In which case, there shouldn't be a problem in sticking exclusively to folk songs. On the other hand, if you're aiming to attract primary-school-age youngsters, it would help enormously if the parents were folk-music-friendly, so there'd be back-up encouragement from home as well. You don't say what age group you're aiming at, or what your objectives are. Is there just you, or a group of potential teachers, and is the project short-term or long-term?

Joan