Decline or Not?

Social music-making: the kind of music that happens on the coach home, round a bonfire, at a party, in a pub, or even at work. People making music together, not for performance, not to be heard, but to share the sound and the feel of a blend of harmony and rhythm in their bodies, with that extra something which comes of making it yourself, of being a productive part of the group.

It seems to be accepted that it happens in other parts of the world, but rarely in England; maybe in Scotland, Ireland, and Wales - but not England. It is also accepted that it used to be common. Pepys records family music-making in the evenings, and we have mention of pre-twentieth century music round the piano or the fiddle (depending on social and financial status), of sailors singing while they hauled and women singing round the well, of music in the fields at harvest; there are notes of early twentieth-century singsongs in pubs and charabancs.

This is the picture of the glory and the demise of English social music-making. Is it true? Did almost everyone sing and play music as a natural and intrinsic part of convivial gatherings and in their daily work, or are we perpetuating romanticised and idealised images made popular by folk-music collectors? Has it really changed? Does music no longer happen, and people prefer to listen rather than take part?