Barbara wrote: "on the "other tunes", people seem to be more inclined to just comment on the original posters submission, rather than submitting their video of that tune in the discussion."
Yeah I've noticed that.
Barbara wrote: "It could be that people watching/reading the original posters discussion, don't want to 'intrude' on their discussion, out of respect."
Ah. That might be the reason then. I've often wondered what was going on with that.
And I suspect that sometimes it might just be that people aren't sure where to obtain suitable free sheetmusic/tabs, which is one of many useful tools to have available to help learn stuff. (Yes, yes, I know, learning by ear is essential too, but seeing a basic outline of the notes on paper/screen can work together with ear learning.)
Myself, on the rare occasions when I start a thread about some particular tune I'm playing, I would be delighted to see other people's versions posted in that thread, even if those versions are a lot different than mine.
In my view at least, one of the things that makes music fun and a worthwhile endeavor, is that there is so much room for variety and interpretation and re-imagining things in different ways. It's not like just having one version that everyone has to play.
When I started with music, of course I worked hard at copying my various mentors' playing note-for-note as exactly as I was able to at the time, to try to make it sound exactly like theirs. I did that for more years than I care to admit to, but I did eventually learn more about what made their playing sound the way it did and I was able to (sometimes) duplicate what other people had already done. So, but then what? I didn't know what to do after that. I did a little bit of original(ish) stuff but not really a whole lot, it was more about playing in the style that I'd learned rather than deviating from that. Then I didn't play music at all for many years, and when I came back to it I found myself gravitating towards stuff I *hadn't* tried before - still fiddle-tunes melodies but with different (more modern) accompaniment styles.
I think it's always interesting to hear many different versions and interpretations of a particular tune.
This MandolinCafe group provides a friendly venue for posting all sorts of musical/artistic creations, without too much risk of getting shot down or scolded for "you're playing it wrong" or other silly anti-music concepts. Music is art, which (IMO) means it's neither "right" nor "wrong", rather the whole point of creating music in the first place is either to express something and/or to bring joy to others (and oneself). Lots of different musical approaches to achieving that.
Barbara wrote: "I feel it is time to drop having the (now monthly) polls, and have our group just be for people to submit what has been called "other tunes" and discussions about tunes"
Seems reasonable.