As a 'young folk musician' I hope I am receptive to new ideas. I play in a band with four people who are substantially older than me and have been able to introduce new tune sets and different ways of arranging them than the 'more obvious' ways they would normally choose. From them I am learning heaps about how to accompany songs on the fiddle and complement the rhythm section and vocals.

Having just written my MA on the English folk music scene I was very interested to see Ian Anderson's editorial included in Roger's post as I recently quoted the same editorial in my MA. It is inevitable that the technical ability of and the resources available to young musicians has improved because the English folk scene (since the arrival of folk clubs, 60s revival etc) is now over 40 year olds and networks to support and develop the music have been established, their aim being to develop folk music so that more people have an opportunity to learn to play and hear folk music and song being played and take part in folk music events, surely the point of the revival in the first place.

Nevertheless alongside the technical expertise that exists among young musicians there is also plenty of experimentation and new ideas. The other thing I would say is that good musicians and singers are by and large creative people who will develop new ideas if they are given the time and space to do so. I have some buzzing around in my head at the moment.

It seems to me that Folk Roots have complained about the lack of young musicians, welcomed the arrival of new young musicians and folk development agencies and then complained that young musicians are technicians - in other words one can't win.

In the words of Martin Carthy - 'the only damage done to traditional music is done when traditional music isn't done at all'. And that certainly isn't the case - the folk scene is increasingly vibrant and opportunities exist for young people to find their own musical direction, formulate new ideas and share them with enthusiastic audiences. Young musicians do need new ideas but no more or less than any other age group. And another thing - is it really necessary for us to go on with this constant pigeonholing?

pf