The voice is an instrument, like any other and, to use it properly and at its best, technique and practice make it sound better.

If you take any instrument other than the voice, you wouldn't expect to be able to play your way competently through a repertoire of folk tunes without a decent understanding of the basic technique and plenty of practice. And you would surely want to master, say, half a dozen tunes before performing them in public? I've been playing guitar and other fretted instruments for over 40 years and have earned money from doing so. However, I took up the violin some months ago - mainly to play traditional tunes in sessions - and one of my first acts was to find a good teacher so that my fingering and bowing technique would be correct from day 1. She's an excellent player and teacher, and my fortnightly lessons have been inspirational and unmissable.

Why should the voice and vocal performance be any different? I'm a great believer in encouraging people to join in at sessions if they can, and to get to grips with playing and performing music in public. But I'm also a believer in encouraging beginners to improve their performance at every opportunity - they will get more pleasure out of doing so and so will their audience. The way to improve technique and performance is through good mentors, lots of practice and through listening.