Snail:It takes a pretty perverse definition of folk music to see participation as decline.

That wasn't a definition of folk music, but of folk events.

Personally, I see exclusion as a decline. Having a session or a singaround is fine for the participants but rules out most of the audience. If the folk music in an area is restricted to a bunch of buddies singing/playing their old favourites, that's a decline. Even if it isn't quite as dire as that, having a "musos only" time together is just an elite form of a folk club. There's a place for such, in nurturing and bringing along new players, or just having somewhere for the more established ones to play and relax, but unless the rest of the scene is thriving they draw away talent that could support a more open, friendly, club. Which then can, indeed, decline.

But not all clubs are friendly - so I'm told, not having experienced one - and some may well get stuck in a rut, as vividly described above. That isn't a criticism to be thrown as a soggy blanket over all clubs.