The largest of the groups with which I play is 8 members strong (4 singers, 4 instrumentalists), or weak, depending on the point of view. I find it very frustrating when folks don't attend pre-agreed practices, suddenly and inexplicably refuse their pre-agreed and arranged parts, or pull some autocratic stunt. Virtually every gig requires special arrangements of songs because we don't get everyone in attendance due to lack of commitment. Now, this has trained us to be very flexible and versatile, but it's still frustrating. Even with a fully committed group, there are too many voices and opinions. It wasn't always thus, but has been this way since a forced personnel change a few years ago. We actually work better as a smaller group, but it never remains so. When we're good, we're great, otherwise we're simply mediocre, and that's disheartening.

My other groups are both duos which work extremely well. The fiddle/guitar duo is my favourite because we both like a wide range of tunes and are adaptable and democratic. The singer/songwriter duo also works well but just doesn't work enough. A couple of times these duos have combined to a trio for one-off gigs and those also have been great because everyone is professional and co-operative and commited.

Trouble is, this ain't a perfect world, and I have to be prepared to be disappointed by a lack of commitment from others, no matter how worthy the project. The other problem is that after so many years it's tough not to respect the opinions of bandmates (agreed or not) because they have all become friends.

All in all, I find a smaller group works best. The exception is the church choir, but that's a different animal to me.

Peace, Mooh.