We've had people over to our house for some song circling. Some folks do go to the kitchen to talk while the main event is in the living room. There's not too much sound carry over, because they tend not to talk too loudly. Ian Robb once wrote a column in Come For To Sing Magazine about the difference between social functions where music may occur and music functions for socialization may occur. An interesting distinction. Our local folklore society has a song circle in a bar back room every Wednesday. There, the tile floors make the acoustics suck, if someone talks, so we're pretty quiet.
    As was mentioned above, some people start talking as soon as music starts at some of these functions. When we were kids, my folks would have us play our french horn, or piano pieces for the relatives. Invariably, my grandmother would start to talk as soon as the first note was played. That sort of behavior can be annoying at a song circle. Not sure what you would call that syndrome.