I keep seeing the use of lyric sheets or other "crutches" equated with ill preparedness. I can only say that this may be fine and well for people with no memory issues. The last I heard the average age of Mudcatters is somewhere close to 52. Those of us who are somewhat above the mean often do have memory issues. I can play the same songs I did regularly 20 years ago with little effort. However, despite hundreds of practice hours I have a hard time remembering some of the lyrics of songs that are newer to the repertoire. Chords are rarely an issue. My wife, on the other hand, would be at a tremendous disadvantage on both fronts if annotated lyrics were not in front of her.

There are also folks who, even with the use of cheat sheets, etc., have issues with tracking. They cannot look away from their sheets for even a moment for fear of completely losing their place.

Then, of course, there is simply the problem of stage fright. No amount of persuasion can convince some people that an audience or even a song circle might be forgiving of an error or two. I well remember my first time at a Getaway song circle. I got a third of the way through a song and simply could not remember the next chord. I simply switched to a different song. The song circle very generously forgave me.

So if you are saying that there is no place in sessions or song circles for "crutches" then you are denying a good many people, who may have some wonderful music to share, the opportunity to do so. This sounds rather selfish to me. Perhaps a solution is to have different sessions or certain times during a session in which "crutches" are allowed.