Mikefule - your side is lucky to have such a choice of musicians, including people like you who take the trouble to learn to play. Many sides simply don't have enough people with the talent and/or enthusiasm to take up an instrument, and I know several morris musicians who play for more than one side because in some areas there simply aren't enough musicians to go around.

As far as playing to an audience goes, I agree up to a point that the dance has to be done for its own sake, but if you forget about your audience, you do yourselves and them a disservice. A good side will think about where their audience is positioned before they decide "which way is up"; they'll make eye contact with the audience and perhaps involve them in an occasional novelty or closing dance. Dancers who appear to ignore the audience come across as self-indulgent and precious, and that just irritates people. If you're going to invade people's space and impose music and dance on them as they sit ouside a pub or at a fete, you owe them some sort of respect and attention.

Marje