I do understand where you are coming from Howard, but it seems to me that there are a large number of people who would attend a singaround who are motivated purely by a love of folk song and the desire to sing, but have no aspirations to 'perform', and therefore welcome the chance to get together with a group of friends (or at least acquaintances) where they can do so in an un pressured environment.

From a personal point of view, I would never perform a song to a 'formal' audience that I was not 100% confident of,(although, like even the consummate professionals I'll make the odd slip and forget words!) but I would feel quite comfortable to 'test run' a song I was in the process learning, or drag out an old song that does not normally feature in my current repertoire at a singaround where I was known.

John