Here's a question that somebody might have an answer for: Is there a way to orchestrate a big song circle so that it doesn't always plod around one after the other? The people who've prepared a song worry that it'll go on so long, they'll never get a chance to sing it. The shy ones tell me they get anxious knowing their turn is creeping up. I wonder if anyone has thought up a way to mix up the order and still give everyone a turn. Names in a hat? Folk clubs in the UK usually have someone who runs the floor singing, and those who bring a song are chosen in the order that person chooses.

Also, in an unstructured singing circle, deliver me from the singers who don't seem to realize that a little silence may simply mean somebody is trying to screw up the courage to begin a song. It doesn't mean nobody has one to sing. But there are those who instantly jump into the void, even though they've already sung three while others haven't sung at all.

Joan