"We began with the observation that there appears to be too much English around Gaelic music - too much English spoken where Gaelic songs are sung and too much English written where Gaelic songs are presented and explained and that this is problematic from the standpoint of Gaelic language maintenance and development. It weakens Gaelic music as a domain for Gaelic language use (and therefore for language revitalisation efforts) if English is used as the sole medium of communication at concerts and ceilidhs, and in the packaging and presentation of recorded music, in order to accommodate non-Gaelic speakers. Gaelic music is thought of as a stronghold of the language, and it certainly represents a reservoir of great cultural wealth and distinctiveness; indeed, traditional songs, especially those of the 17th and 18th centuries, constitute an important element in the canon of Gaelic literature. Our fear, however, is that Gaelic language use may in fact be weakest where people think it is strongest, and that a thriving Gaelic music scene could be masking the most serious problems facing Gaelic falling speaker numbers, low levels of literacy and linguistic confidence and lack of intergenerational transmission of the language."