Guest JT.
Sorry for the knee-jerk reaction; I really shouldn't do that.
I must also apologise for complicating things for you – I was just thinking how pleasant this thread has been just because it wasn't complicated by big words or convoluted ideas – not a sign of an incremental repetition anywhere so far - there you go; I had forgotten that there are people around to whom all ideas are complicated.
I wonder why you should object to some of us thinking about the music they are involved in - particularly as many of us are singers and musicians - or have been in the past. I assume from the tone of your posting that you also disapprove of Newcastle or Elphinstone or Limerick or Sheffield or Galway or any other faculty where they waste their time thinking about and discussing music and song as well as playing it.
Of course, the fatal flaw of your argument is that if it wasn't people who were not content with just playing and singing, but who got up off their bums and wrote about it and collected it and annotated it and transcribed it and published it and released it for others to listen to – people like Captain O'Neill, Sharp, Child, Bronson, Henderson, Breathnach and all those other saddos, you wouldn't have any music to play or songs to sing in the first place.
Tell you what; I won't object to your playing your tunes without thinking if you don't object to my wasting my time researching.
Some of us pathetic individuals actually get pleasure from knowledge
All the best
Jim Carroll
PS, Sorry Greg, I wasn't commenting on Newcastle - I have a couple of friends who teach there and have a reasonable idea what they do - more power to their elbows.