Jim - "a continuing tradition requires three essential elements; creative composition, ... ": I'm wondering why you consider "creative composition" so essential. If you have a community (hypothetically speaking) in which only old, handed-down ballads are sung, would this not constitute a "continuing tradition"? I know of instrumental traditions - as I'm sure you do - that could be robbed of all their relatively modern tunes without great damage having been done to their continuance. In other words, there would be plenty of well-known tunes left ...