Another problem of the lessons in the city is the absence of spontaneity. In a tribal situation a performance will take place at sundown provided that the weather is suitable, the firewood available, and the people are present. This alows a flexibility which is totaly absent in a more rigorously-timetabled schedule that has to enable students to meet other university demands. There can be no choice of the right moment, the right group of people, the right atmosphere. The performing has to occur at the allotted time, irrespective of who is present and whether or not they feel like performing.
Confusion also arises because there are mixed sex groups at all lessons.
This creates difficulties with teaching since the men traditionaly taught the boys, and the women the girls. For purely economic reasons it is only possible to bring four tribal performers to Adelaide at any given time and sometimes these are all men. This difficulty disappears when women teachers come, but then the songs are usually not intended for men to sing at all. As I have had lessons both in the field and at CASM I am more able to compare these different experiences than are most CASM students. I found that it was much easier to learn the structural elements of the songs away from the other pressing difficulties of field work within an alien culture.