Wow! Quick start to the thread, and good answers.

Hm, let me clarify.... the "singers" aren't unaccompanied ballad singers. They either play an instrument or don't, but their orientation is a singable and playable song. Or they are older adults who just want to sing along with whatever words are put in front of them. I'm happy when they come-- but I am talking more about the guitar-playing singers who have songs to share and want to learn others' songs as well.

The reason IMO that people are not going to give up books, binders, or songsheets is that very few of the participants care enough about music, in between the monthly get-togethers, to make time to work on their music. Not just skills work, but listening to and learning material they're passionate about sharing-- I think they feel like it should all happen at the meeting, and if it were happening better, I think maybe some of them WOULD get passionate about learning songs they've heard there. This is a sparse, rural community-- we have to work with what we got, and that's what we got.

~Susan