Dave,
No, the fishing community did not come together once a week to sing - just a dozen or so of them; they were not the community, just a part of it. No more does 'the farming community' come together at shepherds' meets, again, just a small part of it.
Would you honestly describe the half dozen or so people who meet regularly in this town to discuss the book they've been reading, a 'community'? Come on, give us a break!!
Guest TJ,
Funny you should mention that game - it always comes into my mind when I get involved in these discussions. It's called Chinese Whispers, and its purpose is to show how wrong people can get a simple message.
Tom - definition;
There are enough examples to be found describing the folk process, Lloyd, David Buchan - Funk and Wagnall gives a beauty, look it up, it's part of the 'folk song' definition. Reluctant to put it up as I'll be accused of sending too long postings (97 verses maybe)! But it's there for the perusal.
Discussions like 'what is a folk song?' I 'am a traditional singer' and now, 'what is the folk process? always call to my mind the Alice In Wonderland statement "words mean what I want them to mean"; I invariably find myself looking over my shoulder for a white rabbit with a pocket watch or a dormouse in a teapot.
Jim Carroll