I'll put my hand up to being the 'trained-type singer' - obviously having a strong voice is frowned upon in some corners of the folk scene. I'm sorry that I was one of the few people joining in the choruses in the theatre session - I would have preferred to be one of the many.

At all the previous sessions which I attended during the week (Including the one that was currently happening in the bar) chorus singing had been one of the main features of the festival - shanties sound pretty silly without one. Several of the performers, Tim Laycock and Sid Kipper especially, were making big "join in" signals with their hand - why didn't the audience - if enough of you had, then perhaps you wouldn't have noticed me.

One of the reasons that I usually avoid the big concert sessions is that people are usually too embarassed and intimidated by the space and size of the venues to try and join in. I've been on the other side of the mics on many occasions and usually try not to sing songs with a chorus because I know that there won't be any response. Perhaps a sign should be hung up in the front saying "The singing of chorus is discouraged" then we'd all know how we stood.

Many folk clubs are also becoming 'concert-ised' these days - Linda and I were at a venue recently where the guest (who was at Lancaster and specialises in chorus songs) was doing his best to get people to join in and when we did (not over-loudly) we received very strange looks from a completely non-participating audience.

Still, it's not confined to folk music. I used to sing in a small choir (consort really) and we used to specialise in weddings. On one occasion the priest suggested that one verse of a well-known hymn would be sung by the congregation alone - the result was an organ solo !

I will always remember the late Mervyn Vincent saying at a concert "Sing you Buggers, Sing - or I'm p---ing off !".