Two recent posts have described a desired ballad style as mesmeric, possibly boring and subdued, I'm not entirely sure I understand what this would sound like, but I definitely feel that there has to be some inherent tension - to carry a long narrative like Matty Groves through all its twists and turns, or to delay the inevitable tragedy of one of the repetitive ballads like Lizzy Wan.
And I entirely agree with Pip Radish about taking time to get the song to performance level, though she's obviously a faster study than me because it took me over twenty years before I felt I had Lord Randall where I wanted it!
Just to divert a little - who are the people who are currently singing ballads? Predominantly male? Predominantly female? Even mixture of both? (In past ballad workshops we've done, it's frequently 90% female.)
I'm loving this thread!!!