Slight misconception here, Greg. Taking voice lessons does not mean training to sing opera. No voice teacher who isn't an outright charlatan (and granted, there are a few of those) would try to turn somebody into an opera singer unless they have the kind of vocal instrument it takes, and then, only if that's what they want to do. Operatic voices are not that common, much to the general upset of many young singers who would like to be able to sing opera.

As far as anyone trying to turn Leadbelly into an opera singer is concerned, it would not have happened. He was a tenor, but not that kind of tenor. No good voice teacher would have ever tried to steer him in that direction. And ten years? Not likely. I took lessons off and on over a period of about three, maybe four years at the outside, and this gave me more that enough to learn to "place" my voice and breath properly, allowing me to sing without strain and thereby avoid damaging my vocal apparatus. If I ever started having problems, I would go back to a voice teacher and have them help me get it straightened out. But nobody has ever mistaken me for Ezio Pinza, even though we have the same category of voice. So, for that matter, does Gordon Bok.

And as to saying, "I don't say classical training makes it impossible to play traditional music. I say it makes it very, very difficult." I don't see where the difficulty comes in. The classical teacher doesn't get into your head and rewire your brain. You are always free to make your own judgments and accept or reject what the teacher is telling you to do. I did a fair amount of that as I went along. If lessons of any kind seem to induce a pupil into being able to do something only one way, that's not the fault of the lessons, that's the fault of the pupil.

Granted, a long time classical musician is probably going to have trouble putting folk music across. I can't conceive of Luciano Pavarotti ever being able to do folk songs very convincingly. But I'm not suggesting that someone who wants to do folk music take as much training as someone who wants to do classical music and devote themselves exclusively to the study of classical music for years before returning to folk music. I'm suggesting that some study can be of great value in that it teaches you how to use the most efficient techniques for doing something. Then you can use them or reject them according to your own judgment.

Don Firth