John, I know what you mean. Here at the Mudcat there are far more arguers than players, that's for sure.

Q, I was going to say that, but words failed me. You expressed it better.

Cute story: Last year my sis-in-law asked me to demonstrate the dulcimer for her sophisticated friends. I was both wary and leery; they were looking at me as if I were some mysterious animal that had just emerged from a burrow. But I felt that I should oblige my sis-in-law, so I played a couple of things. My husband suggested 'My Grandfather's Clock,' and they all denied ever having heard of it.

I thought to myself, "Television generation..." but started playing. When I got to the chorus, they all chimed in! They knew it, they just didn't know they knew it. All ended well, and I think we can say that that 1850's parlor song is now a folk song.