Stu - I got distinctions for the majority of my essays (which I've kept) during my anthropology major...although I confess to having checked them more carefully than my posts here.
Ralphie and his friend CB - I've placed in a few NE folk-festival competitions (see here if you wish), where they don't have to award places, but do sometimes give feedback forms, which I've read and kept - much more positive than the last few OPINIONS.
And CB - you accompany your songs with chords NOT tunes, yes? Playing chords is NOT what English folkies, nor those in the country you've emigrated to, have done for centuries. Have you tried to learn to play the tunes you are singing, or should be singing to? I have heard someone play the tune they are singing on a concertina, and it sounded great.