Speaking of opera.

Why do I sing folk songs? Well. . . .

I like music and I like stories. I have occasionally commented here on how similar the plots of ballads and the plots of operas are (case in point, compare Lucia di Lammermoor and Annachie Gordon).

If I want to sing a ballad, all I need is my voice and my guitar. And I don't really need the guitar. If I want to sing an opera, I need a full orchestra and anywhere from a dozen to several hundred other people who also sing and who might have to be rehearsed a lot.

It's less expensive to sing a ballad than it is to sing an opera, and I'm not a wealthy man. And the neighbors don't complain as much about the noise.

Same problem with symphonic music. The last time I played Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture, the authorities got all snarky about my firing off cannon inside the city limits.

Folk music is relatively inexpensive to perform, which is probably why it's folk music.

Don Firth