Lurking

On the internet a "lurker" is someone who observes what is going on in discussion groups but does not take part. So I have been lurking recently to find out if there is anything of interest to folkies within the news and mailing lists.

My first port of call was the newsgroup uk.music.folk. This a lively discussion forum with a number of regulars, including a few names you may recognise such as Scottish folk-superstar Dick Gaughan and the editor of fRoots magazine Ian Anderson.

uk.music.folk is a great forum for the beginner, or the researcher, to ask folk-related questions and where some sort of response is usually forthcoming. Some questions might have appeared many times before, so you may get a few cynical responses or be referred to previous threads. Other recurring questions are seized upon by those eager to re-open the debate. If you are looking for banjo jokes this is the place to do a search!

Topics discussed over the past couple of weeks have included:
* a question on first steps with using an Appalachian dulcimer to accompany singing.
* top 10 cheesy folk instruments (I think the djembe won).
* what songs to play at weddings.
* some banter relating to possibly pirated cds of the folk-rock band Hedgehog Pie. This thread included the tale of the HP gig when a huge potted Christmas tree appeared in front of a mic when its owner turned around to adjust his amplifier.
* the continuing debate over learning by ear versus learning from music notation.

Commando is a very popular U.S. list devoted to the mandolin. I personally find the traffic on this site overwhelming, even though the mandolin is my instrument. I find it is best to download the list digest from Mandolin Café, but even this takes quite a bit of reading. However there are some gems of information to be found for anyone doing any research or just trying to pick up a little gossip.

On a much more manageable scale is the Northumbrian Pipers mailing list - Now, I don't play the pipes and don't intend to, but I find this discussion fascinating at times. It is quite an intimate bunch of makers and players - mainly Northumberland based, but quite a few from Europe and the Americas. A good place to pick up tunes, traditional and contemporary. Look out for Bobby Robson's Rant - it's a cracker!

These are just a selection of the discussions available on the net. There must be many more devoted to specific instruments and regions. And while I would rather be out playing music, there are times when it is interesting to find out what is being talked about in the rest of the folk world. You might even be tempted to "de-lurk!"

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