It all depends on the performance. When I'm playing "my" music with my regular band, I don't use a music stand because before I go on stage with a song we've rehearsed it so many times that it is ingrained deeply in our brains. We don't leave the stands home because we are opposed to them, but because we don't need them. But I also go on stage a lot as an accompanist. In those cases I don't often have time to learn all the chords to all the tunes and I am perfectly comfortable with having a stand sitting nearby. Since I can't sight read anyway, it's usually a chord chart. I don't depend on the chart to tell me how to play the chords, just which chords to play when.

I often view written music as similar to a road map. The map will give you a pretty good hint about where to drive, but if you are driving with your eyes glued to the map instead of watching the road, you will crash and burn.

I have seen lots of musicians connect with the audience just fine with a music stand in front of them and I have seen lots of wooden performances with nary a stand in sight. It's all about the quality of the music and the performace and the communication with the audience, not about what props you have on stage with you. How about performers who don't use music stands but who tell the same jokes before the same songs in every performance? Are they connecting with the specific audience in a unique way? I always have a set list on the floor at my feet. Does this mean I don't what songs I know? I use an electronic tuner on stage. Does this mean I don't know how to tune my instruments? I rehearse most songs literally hundreds of times before I take them on stage, and the arrangement is very nearly the same from one performance to the next. Does this mean my performances lack spontaneity?

John Peekstok