I think this is an important thing to discuss because many have had attendance problems lately. The last one I went to I said I will be honest.

I know that for some people it is the social factor. For some it is the act of creating music. For some it is the chance to try stuff out for an audience. For some it is a heart to heart connection through music. I think all are very valid points of view...especially if a camp is starting up from scratch. The organizers should just state their preferences and other can go or not.

There are a couple of camps coming up for me. I have limited time, transportation and money, so I can't go to everything I would like. If I were nearer to them, my preferences would be much looser...I could go for a day, or go shopping if the music weren't so great etc. But I am fairly far from most.

Here are my preferences and I think they overlap pretty well with those who no longer attend certain camps but I could be wrong.

1. I want to hear great music, especially if the camp had it in the past. If it is a new camp, I am more flexible. I hate to see the good music go away though. I also want to participate somewhat in singing..in the chorus, in the background, whatever. I do not have to have a single "turn" all weekend if truly great groups of singers are there..and I do like the group stuff..small groups especially of 5 to 10 people.

2. I hate the flourescent lights that blast your brain with toxic waves of whatever. They almost drown out the music for me. There were some good attempts made to reduce them at the last camp..and frankly it is as easy as pie to not have them..jjust have a few local people bring lamps.

3. This is only concerning the evening informal sessions and any other informal sessions. What people do in workshops etc. is not of concern to me. I can go shopping or hiking if I don't like ;the setup. But I want to hear the best music possible sung by people with the prettiest voices. That is inverse proportion, in my experience, to the number of blue books and the distance between singers...and some places either start out with these huge circles, which I can understand, but as people leave bring the circle closer in...but the music is not going to be great usually...or what Ihate is when an informal group starts, other people want tohear them and stand in the back rows, which is where I think we belong if we are not the original group, and then there is this "nice committee" that wants to make sure everyone gets a turn and what was a great collection of people gets more and more diluted and we are back to taking turns in this endless circle. It seems to me that you shoudl start out with a designated size of the circle and then have second or third rows behind. If it is a formal song circle you can zig zag and not leave people out, but you have moreof a condensed sound. If it is an informal group, I do not see why people should break into the circle, or insist that others move their chairs to make room for new members, therefore breaking upthe original group. THis happened to me again and again recently. I am totally fine sitting in the back row. No one ever has to make room for me and I don't expect to have a turn in a group I am essentially joining, breaking into or whatever. I think what happens is the music gets more and more diluted and the people who originally formed the informal group get split up by several people in between them. Others can sing in the back along with the original group...that is what I expect myself to do....

Well, it is a huge factor to me what happens in the informal session and at the evening session.

Other factors would be cost, ease of getting there, access to noncamp food as I need a special diet, people I want to see, etc.

But people are not attending like before. It is not because of age...the people attending are as old as those not attending. I think it is because a number of factors, associated with blue bookedness, lead to people deciding it is just not worth it.... based on those criteria. Of course, if you want to just see old friends, walk in the woods, etc...then it will still be OK..

I know it sounds snobby but I think the time for honesty is almost past us. I think there are plenty of workshops and song circles at camps that can include the blue books and the taking turns religiously etc...but the days of the grand free for alls may be over and done. I don't know.