Anything goes? Recognising norms, leadership and moderating behaviours at folk clubs in England

Abstract

Understanding the behavioural norms at folk clubs in England is complex because their rules of operation are rarely explicit. It is unclear how singers acquire the appropriate skills for successful engagement, and how rule management works within a musical community that prides itself on following egalitarian principles is unknown. Data from four fieldwork projects between 2008 and 2018 is combined with the authors' experience as long term participants to trace how folk clubs in England operate, with an emphasis on how normative patterns of musical behaviour are established and maintained. We found variations in how explicit folk clubs are about stating what music may be performed and how the performance context is structured. Concepts of accepted repertoire and membership show that appropriateness is incrementally learned, alongside generating a sense of belonging. This process of developing cumulative norms makes explicit rule making difficult, resulting in moderating behaviours that are correspondingly complex. As a result, opaque techniques such as humour, sarcasm or avoidance are applied. The projected images of openness and inclusiveness disguise the extent to which various forms of power operate in the range of musical experiences available within the same folk club tradition.

Producing Liveness

“…Furthermore, and significantly for our purpose, many clubs also prioritised participation (e.g., 'chorus songs') irrespective of whether they were of traditional or contemporary origin. While some clubs specialised in either traditional or contemporary material, many accepted a wide range of songs, and most folk clubs (of whichever type) maintain the expectation that all or most people present will join in performances in some way during the evening [31,20,26,27].…”

“…Clubs do vary in their programmes of events, however: a minority resemble small concert venues with a predominance of professional guests; at the other extreme are clubs that never, or almost never, have paid guest performers and adhere to a singaround model, in which those present perform in turn [27]. The two examples we discuss in this paper fall between these two ends of the spectrum, as many clubs do, with most club meetings 1 The third who joined the team later is also an active folk musician as well as an HCI researcher, but taking part in other clubs that are not covered in this paper consisting of 'singers' nights' (like the singaround model but branded differently to indicate that club activities are not confined to singarounds), but with regular guest nights also included in the annual programme of events.…”