Rich, there is little I can add to what Will Fly said just above. He is exactly on point. But here are a couple more things to contemplate.

There is a reasonable expectation that a professional performer KNOW his or her material before attempting to sing for paying audiences. And successful professionals do. Knowing the material from memory is a prerequisite for professional performing—in ALL genres of music.

I have attended concerts by dozens of performers of folk music, including Pete Seeger, Joan Baez, Theodore Bikel, Ewan McColl, Peggy Seeger, Richard Dyer-Bennet, Peter Paul and Mary, Bob Gibson, Guy Carawan, and the list goes on and on. NONE of them used crib sheets or written music, save, I presume, to learn the songs in the first place.

And this extends to all kinds of music performance. Opera singers know—from memory—often fifty, sixty, seventy entire opera scores and are expected to act as well as sing their roles. I've attended concerts and recitals by well-known classical singers, and I have never seen one sing from a crib sheet or written music. Popular singers do the same and are expected to do concerts or night club sets without referring to written material, save, as I said, to learn the material, and as a memory refresher from time to time—before going before an audience.

"What about wheelchairs? Do you also sneer at musicians who use one?"

As to that comment, Rich, be it known that I had polio when I was two years old, and all my life I have walked with crutches. I got interested in folk music in the early 1950s and have been singing for audiences since the mid-1950s. In fact, I've managed to make a fairly decent career of it.

When I go on stage to sing a concert, a stage hand sets a straight-backed chair on stage, and puts my guitar on a stand beside the chair. When I'm introduced, I walk on stage—using my crutches—sit down, pick up the guitar, and start in.

If you have ever seen a television show or a film clip of classical violinist Itzhak Perlman, he (having also had polio when he was young) does the same thing:   walks on stage using his crutches, sits down, someone hands him is violin and bow, and he begins to play.

My last few performances in concerts and at folk festivals, I have had to do from a wheelchair. It does not affect my performing in any way, and the audience does not seem to care.

Now, I'm sorry you have memory problems. That's a real bummer! But unfortunately, being able to sing songs from memory is a standard requirement for professional performance. That's just a fact of life.

In more informal sessions, such as parties or at multi-performer performances at folk clubs, I would assume that, if the audience is aware of your memory problems, they would—should—cut you some slack about having to use crib sheets.

Personal anecdote:   when I was in my early teens (and walking with crutches) I "OD"ed on Errol Flynn swashbucklers and Rafael Sabatini novels (The Sea Hawk, Captain Blood, Scaramouche, et al.) and I wanted to be able to fence so bad I could taste it!

One evening I went to the local YMCA to watch a fencing class. The teacher came over to talk to me and I told her that I would really like to fence, but obviously it was impossible for me. She said, "Well, wait a minute, let's see what you can do." We discovered that with the aid of one crutch supporting me on my right side and holding the fencing foil in my left hand (I'm naturalliy right-handed), I could stand in a stiff-legged approximation of the bent-legged guard position, and although I could not lunge, I could step briskly forwards and backwards. She said that I would have to learn a strong defensive game (parries and ripostes and well-timed counter-attacks), but she could see no reason why I couldn't fence.

A couple of years after this, I entered my first competitions—against physically normal, non-handicapped fencers. Over the next several years, I competed actively. And I won a nice collection of second and third place trophies and medals. No first places. But I was having one helluva lot of fun!!

I knew that there was no way I would ever be able to fence in National competitions, or World's, or the Olympics.

But I had to keep my expectations within the bounds of realism!

So—considering your memory problem, there is no reason, if your fellow singers and the audiences in folk clubs and such are aware of your difficulties, they should not cut you some slack as far as crib sheets are concerned—and if you lay down an otherwise decent performance.

But under the circumstances, in the same way that I could not reasonable expect to be chosen for the U. S. Olympic Fencing Team, it is probably not reasonable for you to aspire to Carnegie Hall or the Royal Albert Hall.

And "elitists," "intolerant, prissy, purist dilettantes," and "pretentious traditionalists" have nothing to do with it.

Don Firth