The smearing out of regional styles seems to me the most cogent arguments against any formalisation of the teaching of folk music. This could only really be avoided by having one college in every village(as it used to be, but informally). Now, maybe the staff at Newcastle are equipped to watch out for this danger, and avoid it, I dont know. Does anybody with any actual knowledge of this course have any opinions in this direction?
   Presumably, as this course has been running a while, there should be some pudding around, which we could prove by eating: I mean, what musicians were actually on this course, and are their records(or live performances) notably better, or worse, than when they went to the university? Anybody know? Incidentally, it is no use arguing that people who have been on the course play better than those who weren't, as the university selected high fliers to start with.A difficult question this, I know, as you would have to make allowance for the fact that most 18/19/20 year old musicians would be teaching themselves even if they weren't at university, as people always have done. So, just how do you go about proving this course is a good thing?
   My own general impression is that these courses are not of any particular value in improving the standard of musical performance, but of great value in disseminating knowledge of the music. I would not, personally, use a university to teach people how to play Soldier's Joy. I would definitely use a univesirty to teach people how to teach other people how to play Soldiers Joy.