Of course it has, Don, and met with a considerable amount of hostility (could just be the messenger). Since we never seem able to reach a consensus on song choice, I'll propose yet another approach. Although the opportunity to post music is always there for anyone, perhaps we could set up a dedicated post (maybe as a "sticky") for members to post any tune they'd like to showcase or even just get feedback on. It could be arranger based or not, vocal or instrumental, any genre', in fact, anything other than singing over a SMF (that's just Karaoke, as far as I'm concerned). "Theatre organ" will be allowed (despite the pain it inflicts - same goes for hip-hop ). Original compositions will be encouraged. Comments and feedback should be HONEST but not 'brutal'. Mid-eastern, oriental, and other 'ethnic' styles should be encouraged, as the exposure should help us all to enjoy and appreciate music styles from other cultures.

The idea here is that it will remove some of the notions of a 'contest' and allow members to post the music that they think will show them in the best light. I'm guessing that this has been done before and, in fact, may not produce any more member participation than the monthly 'ejam' format. I'm also suggesting that this 'permanent' post run simultaneously with the regular monthly ejam, but with the monthly ejam modified per Don's suggestion but going even further, IE not only one genre' per month, but also just one SONG per month, to get back to the original premise of looking at different approaches to the same song. THIS version should be more arranger-based which would give us more opportunity to experience styles from arrangers other than the ones we own. These are just ideas to promote more participation and encourage members to post music they may have recorded in the past (and not just for 'this months ejam'). What do you think?

chas