The old reading music hare is runing again - I've just left a dance group where the dance leader castigated the musicians for using dots..

As a child I had my knuckles rapped with the narrow edge of a 12 inch ruler if Miss 'name omitted to protect the guilty' thought I was not reading each and every note and it's pencilled annotations from the paper in front of me - subsequently even when I know a tune I feel totally lost without the obigatory stand and piece of lined paper on it.Hence I rarely go to sessions.

Incidentally the group has actually lost the full band! 6 musicians in one hit, and some dancers.

None all of of us are young enough to have folk degrees but some of us have lived folk music for more years than we care to admit and can perform and appreciate music without a degree. That is important.

I agree too, I always thought the Thatcherite principles were wrong and we do not necceassarily have to provide vocationally based degrees for all. But there again to suggest as the current rulers do that 50% of the community need degrees is totally irrelevant. I have watched the dumbing down of british degrees and the desecration of british HE by a number of administrations ir is sad. Teh Folk degree is one of the bright spots for me even if I don't agree with everything I know about it, it should eb seen as a benefit and a good advert for folk music in general.

I think it is time the English woke up to their heritage in music and dance and all oral traditions. As above the Scots and the Irish have great pride in theirs both of which overlap with ours in some areas and to study such as part of a degree course is a good idea and we get what we get at the end of it.

Sadly Gateshead has been getting clled Newcastle for some time now....More folk Geography courses needed....

nad typping for the folky is very portant 2

Andy