Hey, c'mon, this is getting a bit ridiculous—not that it has ever come close to being anything but.

Under the assumption that David is sincerely interested in folk music and isn't just a troll, and that despite the silliness of some of his assertions about who should be allowed to go where and why, and who should be allowed to sing what and how they should be allowed to sing it, I will put on my genuinely serious face and make one more attempt to bring order out of chaos.

Okay, David, listen up.

If you are truly interested in folk music and you enjoy it and you want to perform it, that's great. I'd say more power to you. Keep at it.

But—if you want to perform for other people, unless you are content just to drop in on folk clubs and merely be tolerated out of politeness by the other people there, and especially if you have ambitions of performing the songs you sing for a wider public, then you owe it to them, at the very least, to learn some basic skills, one of which is to sing in key and on pitch.

Playing a line on the recorder and trying it duplicate the pitches with your voice is better than nothing. But it would be better if you were to play the line and try to sing it at the same time. You can't do it with the recorder, obviously, but you say you play keyboard? Okay, you should be able to do it with that. So do it.

And your idea of not accompanying English folk songs with chords as you sing is counter-productive. When you are learning a song, once you have the tune in your ear (by repeatedly playing the melody line), sing it while playing the appropriate chords. This doesn't have to be a fancy accompaniment, just "block chords" will do. If you wander off-pitch, the clash between your voice and the chords will let you know. Once you know the tune solidly and can sing it without wandering off-pitch, then try singing the song without accompaniment.

If you have a cassette recorder, or, preferably, a small digital recorder (which, I presume you do have, since you've posted recordings on MySpace), record your singing, then play it back and listen to it carefully with a critical ear. Do this as a regular part of your practice (I mean, you do practice, don't you!?). Once you think what you hear when you play it back is just fine, then have someone else listen to it; someone whom you can trust to give you an honest evaluation—even if it hurts.

I'm not suggesting that you take voice lessons, although this would be the best approach, because good singing teachers are expensive, and I assume that if you are unemployed, you couldn't afford lessons. But—do you attend a church? If so, talk to the choir director. My local Lutheran church has a superb choir director, and he conducts free classes (in addition to regular choir rehearsals) one evening a week for choir members and anyone else who wishes to attend. In any case, you could ask the choir director to listen to you sing and give you an evaluation and make some suggestions. Perhaps you might even volunteer or audition to sing in your church choir. If accepted, this is a good way to get a bit of free vocal coaching and do some solid practice singing a variety of songs under fairly stringent conditions (not wanting to draw glares from the director or your fellow choir members).

And as I tell people (particularly singers of folk songs) who are nervous about taking singing lessons, or getting any kind of vocal coaching, all a voice teacher can do is teach someone correct vocal technique (how to use breath support, to sing without damaging their voice, to project, and help develop their ear so they can sing on pitch—unless they are just hopelessly tone-deaf). Taking singing lessons or coaching will not make you sound like an opera singer. Believe me, there are lots of young singers out there aspiring to sing opera who wish it was that easy; that all they had to do was take a few lessons and, voila! next stop, Covent Garden or The Met. Ain't gonna happen!!

One well-known singer of folk songs said the following:

"The value lies inherent in the song, not in the regional mannerisms or colloquialisms. No song is ever harmed by being articulated clearly, on pitch, with sufficient control of phrase and dynamics to make the most of the poetry and melody, and with an instrumental accompaniment designed to enrich the whole effect."

So don't think that because you want to sing folk songs, you don't have to at least try to sing well. The source singers, from whom these songs come—even if they don't have very good singing voices—at least try to sing as well as they are able.

Show them some respect by doing the same.

And as to the manner in which the songs should be sung, regarding matters of interpretation, vocal mannerisms, accents and such, another fine singer of folk songs said this:

"The most ticklish question still results from that awful word 'Folk Music,' which gives the erroneous impression that there is one body of music with one standard texture, dynamic, and history. Actually, the term today covers areas that are only connected in the subtlest terms of general feeling and experience. A United States cowboy song has less connection with a bloody Zulu tale than it has to 'Western Pop' music; a lowdown blues fits less with Dutch South African melody than with George Gershwin.

"Most of us agree in feeling as to our general boundaries, but more and more we search for our own particular contributions as musicians within these variegated provinces. There doesn't seem to be much point in imitating. What, after all, is the point of doing Little Moses exactly like the Carter Family? Yet it seems vital to convey the massive, punching instrumentals and the tense driving, almost hypnotic voice of the Carter Family performances.

"On the one hand, there is the danger of becoming a musical stamp collector. On the other, there is the equal danger of leaving behind the language, texture, and rhythm that made the music worthy of our devotion in the first place. So we have arrived at a point where in each case we try to determine those elements which make a particular piece of music meaningful to us, and to build the performance through these elements. By continuing to learn everything possible of the art form—techniques, textures, rhythms, cultural implications and conventions, we hope to mature constantly in our individual understanding and creativity in this music."

Read these two quotes carefully and think about them.

The first quote comes from a singer who was born in England and was a descendant of the peerage. He was educated in England, in Germany (prior to World War II, where he first developed an interest in singing folk songs), in Canada, and in the United States. He learned some of his first songs from fellow students in Germany, and early in his career was greatly inspired by Swedish lute-singer Sven Scholander to follow the tradition of the ancient minstrels. His singing attracted the attention of impresario Sol Hurok, and he has sung at both Carnegie Hall and Town Hall in New York, and regularly sang some fifty concerts a year during his active career, along with club appearances and American School Assemblies programs. He has many, many records out under various labels , including a dozen under his own label.   He had a repertoire of over seven hundred songs, mainly from the British Isles and the United States, but also from Germany and France.

The second quote comes from an immigrant to the United States. He was a German Jew who escaped from Germany when he was a teen-ager, just prior to or during World War II. He became interested in singing folk songs and taught himself to play the guitar. He was particularly interested in American blues, but eventually sang songs from a wide variety of sources, including the Appalachian Mountains, the Caribbean, and the British Isles. He was also a fine flamenco guitarist, and occasionally played for Spanish dancers. He was one of the finest, most subtly creative musicians and singers of folk songs I have ever met. Think of it, David:   a German Jew who sang American blues and played flamenco! And did both very well indeed!

The first quote is from Richard Dyer-Bennet. The second from Rolf Cahn (on the left, with guitar and kazoo, playing a bit of jug band music with Jim Kweskin and Debbie Green).

It's good that you want to honor your own culture. But—what "your own culture" actually is seems to be a bit ambivalent at this point. And your understanding of what English culture amounts to is severely limited and greatly flawed. Even I, an American, can see that. I don't think you have lived in England long enough to really know what English culture truly is, beyond your limited preconceived notions.

And as far as folk music is concerned, you've only been at it for four years. You are a neophyte. A beginner. Rather than trying to tell people who have been involved in folk music for many years, and some for many decades, how they should be doing it, you should be listening to what they have to say, learning from them, and thinking about it. You do have a great deal to learn. Far too much for you to be trying to tell others what they should or should not be doing.

Download these pages and print them out. It is a PDF file containing seven pages altogether, three pages of vocal exercises and four pages of instructions. I use them myself and they help keep my voice in good shape. Follow the instructions and practice them.

Vocal Exercises.

And again, record them as you practice them, then listen to them carefully. Keep the recordings so you can compare them and check your progress.

Go. And sin no more.

Don Firth