The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #113071 Message #2412706
Posted By: GUEST
13-Aug-08 - 02:25 PM
Thread Name: Where have the audiences gone?
Subject: RE: Where have the audiences gone?
Been to another folk club since my last posting (bus trip this to the other side of the city).
And yes!, only 3 of the 14 people there were listeners. It was a superb session.
This raises the question of what's an ideal number of singers in any folk gathering not based on consuming who the Music Industry (Folk Dept) is telling us who to see (coz we couldn't possibly be as good as them and should hang up our instuments or voices and all become punters...)
This particular session, unlike the other two I go to in the city, has seen numbers drop over the year. BUT in the old days (last autumn/winter) it was attracting up to 30 supporters - again nearly all singers; and a small number were getting annoyed at only one song for the evening despite arriving fairly early.
If I was starting a new club I would go for about a dozen singers as a basis for it now.
So it looks like it has settled to a balance of about a dozen performers to create a lovely atmosphere were everyone is happy.