Gedpipes, when did Europe and England become part of the US? Officially, I mean. (Haha)

What it all boils down to is whether the printed stuff interferes with the audience's enjoyment. Most people don't deal with paper well, and it comes off as clumsy and obvious and weak. It's like watching a very bad magician.

The biggest sin a performer can have is a lack of confidence, as perceived by the audience. Reading from paper can come accross like that. I've done it. While it might be a good idea to have the words if you need them, if I try to use them when I don't need them, it messes me up. Instead of flowing into the next line, I wait until I can look down and my eyes find it on the paper. I swear I forget lines simply because I expect them to be on the paper and not in my head.

I'm not saying this is universal. Other musicians use paper for dots or words, and they can do it very well. The funny thing is, I think it's because that, just like a from-memory performer must practice recalling and playing/singing, a from-paper performer has to prectice playing/singing while reading.

I also think that if you're performing piece and either the piece, the style or the setting are traditional or have a tradition, anything you do that goes against that tradition is going to be noticed, and possibly really annoy some listeners. Like the Far Side cartoon I keep in my fiddle case that shows a violin player sitting in the orchestra. As the conductor raises his baton, the voilinist turns to the person next to him, and referring to the music score, says, "Gee...look at all the little black dots." Then there are those sea shanty groups with the operatically trained singers heaving and hauling in prettily arranged 4-part harmony. Of course they'd need to wear black tuxedos and have a conductor. I heard a speak-o yesterday on the radio, and in the future, I'll be referring to all sea music performed like this as "barbership" music.

In the end, the short version of this post comes down to this: If it bothers people that you use written music, you shouldn't use it.