"I don't think EITHER having a printed page in front of you and perhaps occasionally glancing at it OR making an occasional lyric flub makes your performance seem amateurish."

It depends what you mean by "amateurish", and that in turn can depend on the genre, the circumstances and the context. For the purposes of this discussion, I think it can be taken to mean behaving in a way a professional would not. For reasons we have already discussed, it would be acceptable in classical music for a professional to have the music and words in front of them, whereas in most forms of popular music it would not (and if they have to be used, performers go to some lengths to hide it from the audience).

In my experience, and in the circles where I listen to and perform folk music, professional folk singers will only use lyrics in exceptional circumstances. In this context therefore, using the lyrics will inevitably appear "amateurish" ie it's the behaviour of amateurs. Now we can't all reach professional standards, but we should at least aspire to, which means working to eliminate amateurish behaviour.

Making a mistake is different - it can happen to both amateur and professional. However the risk element involved in a live performance is part of what gives live music its extra vitality over a recorded one. It's not often a mistake completely ruins a professional's performance - they usually know how to deal with it. Again, this is something an amateur should aspire to.

It's about standards, which Jim Carroll keeps banging on about, and I realise there is a gulf between those who think standards should apply to folk music and those who don't. I'm afraid I'm with Jim on this - I don't expect amateurs to achieve professional standards in all areas, but I do expect them to make some effort to try to do so.