You will rarely, if ever, see a classical violinist such as Itzhak Perlman or Jascha Heifitz using sheet music while giving a concert. The piano accompanist, or the orchestral musicians accompanying them will be using sheet music on music stands because they do not play this music regularly and generally have only a limited number of rehearsals. S.O.P. But the soloist who hasn't memorized his or her music is not going to get many gigs. That's just the way it is.

I have seen many full-length operas, and the singers do not wander around the stage squinting at scripts or peering at tablets. In addition to singing, they have to act as well. If they didn't have it all committed to memory, they would not get any work.

I have seen "shows" on stage and in lounges at Las Vegas. Not a crib sheet in sight.

I have seen, in concert, Pete Seeger a couple of times, Joan Baez on two occasions, Theodore Bikel, Richard Dyer-Bennet (four times), Ewan MacColl, Peggy Seeger, The Weavers, Peter, Paul, and Mary, the Gateway Singers, and the rest of the pantheon of singers of folk songs and I have never seen any of them use three-ring binders or crib sheets on stage.

They engage directly with the audiences they sing to.

Sorry about that, but that's the way it's done. I don't make the rules....

The audiences do.

Don Firth