MikeL
"You have to try to ascertain what level the requestor is at..."
It would appear that we have no disagreement whatever - you are applying the same standards I would expect.
There is a tendency to exaggerate these arguments - all I have ever asked is that a singer ON A PUBLIC PLATFORM be able to hold a tune and remember the words well enough to convey the meaning of the song to an audience - no more, but certainly no less.
I, and the people I have worked with have probably spent more time than anybody on this forum encouraging and helping new singers. The London Singers Workshop ran from 1969 to about 1990 and worked with a total membership of over 60 people. Before that, The Critics Group set up by MacColl, of which I was a member for a couple of years, ran for 10 years.
Before that - the Manchester workshop ran for over a year until I moved to London.
Not too bad a track record!
All of these were run on the basis of giving new singers a platform before they went public.
Is that not feasable and desirable for today's clubs?
Leveller:
"a wide variety of music in the (for want of better words) folk idiom"
No problem with that at all - providing we can agree on what consitutes the 'folk idiom'.
I am not - and have never been (quoting Senator Joe Mac) a member of that group who wishes only to present traditional songs, not because I would find it boring, but I would find it quaintly antiquarian and reactionary; as I said 'Sealed Knottish'.
I've given examples of what people present at their clubs - now that I find sharp practice (and probably boring as well).
Jim Carroll