I've found this a valuable and enjoyable exchange of ideas but what I have missed is a suggestion of an overall 'cunning plan' of how to tackle work on singing
The nearly ten- years of the Critics Group produced one that satisfied my requirements so I'll put up a summary of one of the ways it tackled requests for advice from singers
This is a description of an evening at one of the very earliest days of the group - I would very much appreciate comments
It comes from a talk Pat and I did at a week-end in Salford commemorating Ewan's work
I'm posting this now to give it time to run (hopefully) - I'm not going to be around from Sunday till Wednesday
Jim Carroll

The Group’s work would cover many aspects of songs and singing, but a constant throughout its existence was ‘the group criticism’, where a singer would be asked to present a number of songs for discussion, sometimes performed as if at a folk club, complete with presentation, accompaniments, introductions, etc.
This would be discussed and comments would be made on how successful it had been and in what way it could be improved, if at all.
MacColl’s main role would be that of chairman, summing up the points that had been made and adding his own to them. These would often include in depth observations on specific aspects raised by the singing or the songs.
Here is part of MacColl’s observations of the song Annach Cuain following Luke Kelly’s performance rendering at a group meeting

SELECTIONS ON DISCUSSION OF ANNAGH DUIN - SOUND CLIP

Luke was in London in 1964 and became an enthusiastic member of the Group. He was a great admirer of MacColl and fully appreciated the value of the work being undertaken.
One evening that year was devoted to a performance by Luke when he sang nine songs such as he might present to a folk club audience. Most of the Critics Group meetings were recorded, hence these examples.

LUKE’S PERFORMANCE - SOUND CLIP

At one point, one or maybe two songs from the performance would be selected and a working session would take place, the singer responding to and trying out suggestions made by group members, to see if the singing could be enhanced in any way. These, were just that, suggestions, and were in no way considered instructions set in stone.
Invariable the singer would be given a number of alternative approaches to try out, and would be asked to bring back the results at a later date to see if the songs had been helped in any way by the discussion, or if had led the singer to handle the songs differently.
These critical sessions were very much a two-way process, with both the singer and the group in general benefitting from the discussion by having to consider the singing in detail.
The evenings would usually finish with a discourse by Ma``cColl, both informative and inspirational, on a general aspect of folksong and singing

EDOM O’ GORDON AND OTHER BALLADS? - SOUND CLIP