Aspectos abióticos

As an active singer in the field under study, I regard myself as a core participant in the research. However, the majority of the data collected for this thesis is based on the experiences and perspectives of others. These „others‟ fall into two categories; those who were engaged in their normal activity at events I attended and those who agreed to participate in various additional data retrieval methods.

The first category includes those I have come into contact with through my „normal‟ singing activities, and some events I attended

specifically for the purposes of this research. This includes singers from a number of Sheffield based events: Raise the Roof folk club, The Kelham Island Singing Session, Folk at Home, Royal Folk, The Hollybush Folk Club and Rivelin Folk. This observational knowledge bank is not limited to the three years of active research for this thesis, but has been on-going

throughout my 30-year long involvement in folk singing. Notable participants in this category include long term and short term attendees of the Bacca Pipes folk club, Keighley (1990-2008), song session goers at The Half Moon, Oxford (2001-2008), and singers from The Cumberland Arms, Newcastle (2000-2005). As described above, my activity as a professional performer also brought me into contact with a large number of other folk clubs and festivals on a less regular basis and these interactions have further enhanced my knowledge on the activities of others within the wider folk scene. These participants range in age from early 20s to Late 60s, with the majority falling in the 50+ bracket. All events contain both male and female

singers and attendees; however there is an overall majority of male performers.

Recruitment of the second category of participants was conducted on a more localised scale through appeals for volunteers at events that are labelled as „folk‟ within the Sheffield area. Having built relationships within the local folk scene I was in a position to ask those with authority over particular events for permission to present my research and call for volunteers; this was universally granted. In order to broaden the field of research I visited events I did not normally attend as a singer to recruit participants. These appeals generated 48 responses representing a variety of participant roles including audience members, organisers and professional and amateur singers. They also cover a range of depth of involvement including some new to folk singing and others for whom it has been the mainstay of their social and/or professional lives for many years. There were 20 female and 28 male participants and, although I did not specifically ask for their ages to be divulged, I estimate they span a range of mid 20s to 60s, the majority being in their 50s. I prepared a consent form for each person who agreed to participate in one or more of the data retrieval tasks that required involvement beyond their normal singing activity. From this participant pool, 27 people returned diaries, 16 attended the focus group and 7 people were interviewed.5 Numerous others have contributed through the informal means of email correspondence and face-to-face conversation in non-interview contexts.

After a year of conducting research I approached the organisers of three events I regularly attend for permission to record their meeting using a digital audio recording device. „Raise the Roof‟ is a public monthly

singaround-type folk club who book guests twice a year and actively

encourage chorus songs. They meet in a private upstairs room of The Red Deer pub, Sheffield and attendance can vary from between 15-40 people and both singers and non-singers sit together. An MC orders the

performance which contains an interval for people to replenish their glasses. „Folk at Home‟ is an invite-only group of around 20 singers who meet roughly

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A list of these participants along with the data retrieval methods in which they participated can be found in Appendix 1.

monthly at various members‟ houses around Sheffield. They encourage the performance of songs that might not be accepted elsewhere, such as long ballads or works in progress. The host usually orders performance and they break in the middle for drinks, nibbles and socialising. The „Kelham Island Singing Session‟ meets monthly in a public room in The Kelham Island

Tavern, Sheffield.6 There is no MC, structured interval or explicit rules on the repertoire though they ban the use of all instruments. Although there is no explicit organisational system, the session is perceived to be led by members of the local semi-professional instrumental and vocal harmony band,

Crucible. This event attracts considerably younger participants than either of

the former. Attendance ranges from around 10-25 participants.

Two of the three organisers I approached consulted their regular members before agreeing to my recording, while one organiser agreed outright with no consultation of the other singers. The semi-public nature of events meant that permission could not be sought from everyone likely to attend in advance so before I commenced recording in each of these environments I introduced myself and the research I was conducting. In each case I invited objections, but as none were forthcoming I proceeded without seeking any further consent.

I considered preparing written consent forms for all attendees, as this would be useful for defining future uses of the material. However, I felt that making a recording in these contexts was intrusive enough, and to further interfere with proceedings through the formality of gaining signatures would be prohibitive. I was also undecided as to the extent of consent needed for these purposes. Would just the lead singers need to complete a form for „their‟ songs, or would those contributing the odd chorus also have to

comply? If someone refused to sign, would that render the whole recording unusable? I could find no definitive guidance on this within the literature so, in order to avoid such complications and intrusions, I decided upon a system of assumed informed consent. I have sought explicit written consent from

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It is not the main bar, but other punters have to pass through the room to access the outside smoking area and coffee machine. People not intending to attend the singing session are often in the room at the start of the singing event and can remain throughout.

lead singers after the event for material I want to use in forms beyond the thesis.

As the research progressed and the focus of my research narrowed, I sought richer detail from specific people and I have therefore not collected a comparable amount of material from all participants. Trends have been identified where appropriate, but I have frequently illustrated points from individuals‟ perspectives rather than attempting to be broadly characteristic. The nature of my changing relationship with participants from fellow singer to researcher and other ethical issues arising from conducting the research will be discussed in Section 2.5 towards the end of this chapter.