Joe's observation is correct. In "The Three Tenors" program (Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo, and José Carreras), there was a music stand in front of each of the three of them. But—each of these singers has sung perhaps hundreds of full-length opera performances out of sight of sheet music and they normally did concerts and recitals without sheet music in evidence. The music stands on "The Three Tenors" were a precautionary measure. In a solo recital, more often than not, if a singer of, say, Pavarotti's experience has a lapse of memory, he can cover it and most people in the audience won't even notice.

On one occasion, I saw Andrés Segovia blow a passage and quickly cover it without a break. I spotted it because I was very familiar with the piece (having tried to play it myself), but out of an audience of around 1,500, I'll wager that not more than half a dozen spotted the goof and they were all guitarists themselves.

But in a live concert which is being televised for repeated broadcasts on PBS stations, the music stands were a precautionary measure. I've seen the program a number of times and there were no more than half-a-dozen times when one of the singers glanced at the music, and these occasions were mostly between songs, as in, "What's next?"

Doing a program like that is similar to making a recording. If you goof in a concert, even if you goof badly, it's done, and it's gone forever. But if you goof on a recording and don't do a retake, it's there forever. When you are recording a live concert for an indefinite number of plays on national television, (à la "The Three Tenors"), it's pretty messy to do retakes in front of a large live audience, so to forestall the possibility, the crib sheets were there in front of them. Which they didn't use all that much, if at all.

As far as church choirs are concerned, they are generally made up of members of the congregation rather than professional singers, and more often than not, they rarely have more than one or two rehearsals before they perform a hymn or some such during a service. Not sufficient time to memorize something all that well. So using music is customary.

The question is, what is your ambition? If you just want to sing for fun, then do it however you want, and in whatever manner is acceptable or customary for those you sing with / for. But if you aspire to performing professionally, concerts, clubs (other than folk clubs), recitals, and such, there are certain standards that one needs to meet. And this holds for singers of folk songs as well as any other kind of music performance. One of those standards is to know your material well enough so you don't need to read it out of a song book while you're singing before a paying audience.

This takes practice and rehearsal. Which is expected of a professional musician.

Or in the words of a political figure who has become prominent within the last few years, "Drill, baby, drill!"

Don Firth

P. S. For recording (doing the home studio thing), I would definitely have my song sheets (I keep a large three-ring book of the songs I sing, for reference and occasional refreshers if I need them) within sight. I would not try to record a song that I didn't know, but I would have the song sheet handy just in case I felt a glitch coming on, mainly to avoid having to do a retake on a song that has gone quite well up to then.

But what gets up my nose is the person who comes to a song fest of any kind and stands there with a song book or song sheet in their hands, struggling with a song that they obviously have little acquaintance with and keep everybody waiting (and rolling their eyes) while they stumble around with it.

P. P. S. Keeping a song book or sheet in front of you all the time is like using a crutch. The more you use it, the more you get to depending on it. Take a chance! Try working without a net!