[Lauraine Graham- with the Lord]

As you know I am a dedicated karaoke patron and I see everything from the really talented to the merely enthusiastic. I try to enjoy them all, and those I don't would never know that I don't. I feel there is nothing wrong in imitating a style for those who do not have the confidence to try out one for themselves. As it happens I do not imitate, but that is not out of any snobishness on my part. I simply do not have the talent to imitate. I have, however, been known to copy phrasing when I feel that it is just right. And not just of the professional whose song I am singing. If a fellow patron sings a song I like, and I admire that person's phrasing over my own I am not ashamed to admit that I have incorporated that in my own future rendition of that song. I call it honing my performance. I know that karaoke is an amateur setting, but I enjoy my own performance so much more if I feel I have not fallen below the standard of my professional days. Indeed, if the truth were told, I probably sing better today than I ever did when I was being paid for it. Less pressure, I suppose, and I sing what I like and not what the members want - not always the same thing.

Back to your poser "imitation v innovation" I think there is ample room for both.

Best wishes