As a 21-chord autoharp player who took up that instrument particularly to deal with the "what key do I sing it in?" question, Saul's question about the key of C hit home with me. Initially the 21 chord autoharp was a crutch to keep me singing in the same key from verse to verse through longer songs. This has worked very well for me for 3 decades.

Years of trying things in the keys they're written in, when working from the sheet music, singing acapella to learn the song, then working with the instrument lead me to realize that I am most comfortable singing (most. but not everything) in C. Woefully average, I guess, but knowing WHICH key I prefer does give me a strong clue to what key I should have my 2nd string autoharp chopped to as a diatonic 'harp.

OTOH, if I decided to forego having a diatonic 'harp to sing with and choose to concentrate on picking melody for dance tunes, then I'd go for the keys most used for the tunes: G, D, A. It seems like with songs, ya shift the key to what's comfortable for the singer, though if you are playing with other instruments (or singers) that have key limitations/ranges, compromises come up.

One thing nobody has ever explained adequately to me is why you DON'T want to transpose a song. "it sounds much too different" Ok, I can buy that... but can we have some examples where this makes a seriously qualitative difference to how it sounds, please? Perhaps this is something only evident to those with sophisticated vocal training, but I would love to know, as voice lessons aren't in my immediate future.

A thing I've enjoyed in my mostly learning instruments on my own is that every time I delve into something new, I learn new things about how music works, and bits of music theory sink in to beyond the "merely theory" stage. The only failure as a folksinger (Although I did really like the "folksiner" concept- it has possiblities!) is to NOT SING AT ALL.

Joanne in Cleveland