As a student in my fourth and final year of the folk degree, someone invited me onto this forum to give a reaction to your discussion. Well, I'd like to, but so far I've re-written my response about five times, and haven't managed to get it under 1,000,000 words!

I'm saddened by the negativity towards the degree, and us students, from some of you. I suspect some of it stems from ignorance of the way the degree works - even how university in general works these days. There's a lot of confusion about how one goes about 'studying music' - any music - and I understand why it would be treated with suspicion. I also think that the reason behind some of your negativity is jealousy - because let's face it, if you could spend as much time playing music, performing, and being taught one-on-one by your favourite musicians, you'd grab the chance with both hands, as we have done. I know some successful, professional folk performers who wish they could suspend touring, promoting and recording in order to just enjoy their music in an intensive environment for a few years!

Many of your comments seem quite alien to me - we don't see what we're doing like that at all. Maybe if you talked to us and asked us, instead of assuming, what we think of our 'position' within the folk scene, what we expect to gain from the degree, and how we compare ourselves to musicians who haven't studied on it, you would be able to make a more rounded judgement of us. I don't know anyone here studying with a view to being a professional performer who DOESN'T want to be judged against every other performer out there, on their own merits and skills and ability, regardless of whether or not they have that bit of paper. We don't think that having a degree makes us better musicians, but we would hope that four years of intensive playing, under the guidance of brilliant performers, would.

Even though I generalise here, I also have to say that I don't think there is an example of the 'typical' student performer - everyone here is very different, and pursuing his or her own path. Almost all musicians are influenced by more than just the one genre they play in, and so our individual influences come into play as well. The idea of some sort of 'carbon copy' performer being punched out after four years is a notion circled by people who haven't heard or seen enough of us perform to make a valid judgement.

The weird thing about this course is that, even though we all want something for our efforts - ie, our degree, because after all we've worked for it - most people are here just to learn. To take everything they can from brilliant teachers, to meet like-minded people and network with others on the scene, to indulge in the fact that they are lucky enough to be able to spend this much time playing the music they love, and to discover where that music comes from and what about it is still relevant today. There are very few degrees where this is the case, anymore - the government treats university simply as a ticket to better things, not an experience to be valued for its own sake. The folk degree, for this reason, is a rare and brilliant thing, and I don't mind adding: it's the best thing I've ever done!

The course is not perfect - neither are the teachers, and neither are the students. But why do you care? Your turn to care is when ex-students start turning up to play at concert venues and festivals, and you are subjected to our music. Then, you can make a judgement about us based solely on how good or bad we are, the same as you would anybody else.