This is mildly tangenital, but...

Is there really a way to sing something 'improperly'? Amongst my singing friends, we have a saying that 'Unless you wrote the song, or personally know the individual that did, you can't say that a folk song is being sung wrong'. One of the vital things about folk music is it's ability to change to suit the needs of those singing it at a moment's notice. Be honest... how many of us out there have heard a wonderful new song, and then tried to sing it later... only to alter the melody because a) it's out of our range, b) we didn't like a bit of it or c) we were too drunk to remember how we got home, let alone how the grace note on that last 'Too-ri-aye' went... The same goes for the lyrics. My personal motto has always been: Keep true to the spirit of the song, and the music will follow.

M