Well actually, I don't think Don was anywhere as Tank-like as Spaw about WAV's performance skills... just a little more passionate and detailed as to what would improve him.

Now WAV said

"I do indeed try to play like I sing, and sing like I play, Foolestoupe¹ - good or bad at it, that's my thing, within the English tradition"

- which may well give the impression that he cares NOT about quality - indeed based on the amount of self promotion of his website and the ... er, interesting musical concepts thereon, he seems far more interested in quantity.

Now the 'source singers and players' of trad folk music may well be rather 'inept' musically due to lack of performance training skills, but remember that it is their CONTENT that we 'worship', not the lousy performance! I seem to get the impression from WAV, that he reveres the lousy performance more than the content - which if he is just repeating their limited content in the same lousy performance skills limied style, is not by itself sufficiently unique that he should be equated 'god-status' with them...

Well if he insists on refusing to change/improve his performance skills because he sincerely believes that lousy perfromance skills are part of the unique and interesting 'tradition' that he is promoting, fine.... but as others have said - if you put yourself up for public performance and can't cope with negative feedback, then don't cry...

I can be good or bad at performance too - Once grabbed a fistful of wrong Bass buttons - one row off! :-) so had to stop, say, "sorry about that, playing the wrong buttons, I'll start again" - and the applause afterward (when I finished, not for saying that!) was no less... :-)

I remember performing in front of some elderly long term (Om-pah-pah style) Piano Accordion players who criticised my use of just a single keyboard reed in parts as 'not real Piano Accordion music style' and was told to stop doing that if I wanted to improve .... GAAAAAHHHH! :-)

People have different ideas... some of them VERY strange...

I am not 'attacking WAV' because I enjoy picking on him (can't speak for others!) but because I used to be that bad once myself... :-)


¹ sic... a wrong spelling of my handle, but I haven't yet criticised him for that... :-)