Melissa, I'll be teaching an intro to Quebecois tunes class. I'm hopeful that what you say is true. I'm generally a good multi tasker, having been a professional chef for a while, and I find that I can sing relatively well while playing the fiddle, as long as I'm singing the same melody I'm playing, but even to say "out" or "switch" while playing is tricky.

I wonder if people don't progress because they
a. don't believe they can, and/or
b. don't listen well enough to themselves or others to realize that improvement is needed/possible.
I am fascinated with fiddlers who play fast, know complicated tunes and have been at it for years and are wicked sloppy about pitch and rhythm. I'm kinda like that with spelling and punctuation though, so I shouldn't be so surprised, I guess.