You obviously don't know many—or any—musicians, Conrad. Especially not professional musicians.

I have an old friend, a woman I went to high school with, who was an operatic soprano (she's retired now). She was not just "an ordinary person" for whom music was just a part of her life. It was her whole life. She sang in opera houses all over, and when she wasn't singing a role in some opera, she was doing recitals.

Another high school friend got a bit-part singing in a movie with Bing Crosby just a couple of years after he graduated. Then he headed for Broadway. His first big break was singing in "Damn Yankees," and he was understudy to the lead. When he wasn't singing on Broadway, or "Off Broadway," he sang in the lounges of big hotels all up and down the East Coast. Music was his whole life.

The choir director at a nearby church gives voice lessons during the week, sings with a group called "The Esoterics," that does concerts all over this area and I believe they have some CDs out. He is also a brilliant pianist and does occasional recitals. Music is his whole life.

These, and many others I know, are professional musicians. That's how they make their livings.

"Professionals have a role but it should not be a major one and in public settings they should not be specialists."

In what way should professional musicians and singers not have a major role? And how can they be in a public setting and not be a specialist? What do you mean by "specialist?"

Barbara Johansson specialized in opera and art songs. Frank Bouley sang Broadway show tunes and songs by Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, and others. Jim leads a church choir, sings a variety of different songs, frequently early music, with "The Esoterics," and plays classical music on the piano. These are all specialties.

I sing folk songs and ballads to the accompaniment of a classical guitar. That is a specialty.

And how are these people to live if they don't get paid? If Barbara isn't paid by the opera company she sings for or the audience she gives a recital for? Or if the Broadway show company doesn't pay Frank for his rehearsal time and time on stage, or if he's not paid by the hotels where he sings? Jim is paid by the church to lead the choir, and I don't know what arrangement "The Esoterics" have for paying their singers, but they do pay them. And when he does a piano recital, those who sponsor the recital pay him. Jim is versatile, but each of the things he's engaged in is a specialty.

And these are just a few of the professional musicians that I know. I know far more than these, and of course I know whole bunches of professional singers of folk songs, including some very well-known names. Considering the wide variety of music and song that is there for people to perform, those who sing folk songs and ballads such as Bob Nelson and I do—or as people like Joan Baez, Richard Dyer-Bennet, Peggy Seeger, Dave Van Ronk, and all the rest, are specializing in one particular area of the broad range of music available.

. . . paying pro musicians . . . simply puts specialists and their fees ahead of the tradition."

Conrad, I can guarantee you this:   if it were not for professional singers of folk songs constantly re-introducing folk songs and ballads to today's audiences, the tradition would be a very small, little known pigeon hole of music (speaking of "esoteric!") that most people would never know anything about. What with radio and television as the entertainment of most people, the tradition of providing an evening's entertainment by taking the fiddle down from the wall or picking up the banjo or guitar, even in those areas where people like Cecil Sharp and the Lomaxes found and collected songs, would have long since died out. And in most of these areas, it has.

So be thankful to both those who sing these songs because they enjoy singing them—and the professionals who also chose to sing these songs because they enjoy them—and whose need to keep performing (and being paid to do so) so they can keep singing them is one of the major factors in keeping folk music alive and reasonably well.

By the way, here's a news flash. I hate to be the one to tell you this, but Santa Claus does not exist.

Don Firth