Thank you, Crow Sister, for your last paragraph. Exactly what I would wish to say, but put much more eloquently.

At the 2 clubs I go to there are a very small number of persistent 'offenders'. Curiously, it is more mindless humming along the entire length of a ballad that annoys me more than singing all the words, although both are, to my mind, ignorant. When it is my turn to sing, I can live with it. It's annoying and distracting, but I can vary tempos, volume and expression sufficiently to (I hope) continue to put the song across in the way I wish. But when I am listening to other people, expecially some of the fine singers we have in this area, it drives me mad. I have seen some excellent singers completely thrown when they have taken great care with a particular phrase, have almost all the audience in rapt silence following the song with them, and then realise the tune is being fed to them at a slightly different tempo and slightly in advance by someone reading a book at the back of the room. Mood lost. Story lost. Sometimes words lost too. Nightmare. I feel so cross that the performer should have that level of interference, and so annoyed to have been robbed of what would otherwise have been a special moment.

Yet perversly there is a tradition locally of not only joining in with choruses with gusto - and I heartily applaud that. It's a wonderful experience - but also of 'adopting' certain traditional songs and ballads and singing the last line of each verse with the singer. And this works just as well, is just as enjoyable to listen to and just and fulfilling to lead when it happens. But the difference between this tradition and that of the individual hummer or mouther of verses is that has evolved with the collective agreement of all the people in the room, and is done in sympathy with the singer, not contrary to their interpretation. I would hate to see this practice quashed and as a consequence do not tackle the people who are joining in inappropropriatly because I'm not sure I am tactful enough to make the distinction bewteen 'good' and 'bad' without causing offence.

It has been suggested that performers could say 'join in' or 'please don't join in' with songs if it was important to them. This may perhaps work for a guest artiste - If they are unhappy with joining in on an song early in the evening, they may risk asking for a little mor respect on the next ballad - but other than 'Shhhh' how can an audience member ask?