Chord charts/lyric sheets when performing.

Oh, and on the other point, I love capos! But that's for another thread.

As a solo performer, I never use chord charts, lyric sheets, or apps, I feel if I don't know a song properly in my head then I shouldn't be playing it in front of an audience, however, I realise that more and more musicians are using them. A group setting is different especially if only playing together occasionally or playing complex music. It also depends on how much you can successfully store in your head. Stefan Grapelli apparently said that while he learned and could play perfectly well by ear, he had to learn to read music to play with others and to remember the tunes.

Sorry you seem to feel so miffed, John, but I've carefully examined my own post, and those of the others who have posted so far, and I can see no indication that's anybody was disparaging people who do use memory joggers. So in reply to the points I've hoghlighted from your reply:

1) no, of course you shouldn't be barred from anything. Anybody brave enough to get up and perform in front of others deserves as much encouragement as possible.
2) Absolutely, which is the spirit of this lovely forum, as we both know very well. And that was the spirit in which I started this thread. I would have been very surprised if this had been a one sided discussion.

I wrote a long post on this earlier this afternoon - and managed to "lose" it somehow. I'll try again, hopefully less long-windedly.

Some great responses to this excellent thread. here's my take -

When I started performing, mostly in folk clubs to listening audiences, there was no question of mics or music stands. It never seemed a problem to me or anyone else to remember what to play and sing, and the audiences were attentive enough so those at the back of the room could hear well enough.

But, 60 or so years on (and for quite a while before !) things are very different. Although, like FFJ, I can remember chords and stuff alright, my memory can't keep up with words nowadays (except for songs I learned 60 years ago) and, with generally less attentive audiences in many venues, amplification of voices and instruments has become the norm, even if only for the benefit (and rightly so) of hearing loop users.

I would always choose to perform literally unplugged when possible, but bowing to the inevitable is more realistic in most situations. This, for me, means a vocal mic and a music stand. As both these things form a barrier between me and the punters I try to keep these barriers as unobtrusive as possible. I prefer to stand to perform, and have my music stand set low, and as flat as possible to present the least visual obstruction for the punters who, somewhat surprisingly, sometimes want to see me, or my instrument at least! I use large font printed lyric sheets with a quick downward eye glance for reassurance if nec at the start of some verses in order to maintain connection with the punters, which is vital.

In the situation so far described the microphone and stand are the main visual obstruction - much more so than a discreetly placed music stand. I minimise this by keeping my vocal mic a little below my gob and singing across from slightly further away than many might, though the overall sound and venue put a limit on this in some instances. Even then I try to avoid entering for the Microphone Swallowing contest as I think this is often a visual impediment for the punters, though as I said, may be necessary in some venues and situations, though not normally with solo/duo performances. Having the boom approach from the side rather than vertically can help visually too.

Seated performers can still achieve visibility and connection with their audiences, though equipment positioning becomes even more crucial. As a punter I prefer not to experience the face of a seated performer being completely obscured by a music stand (or electronic gadget) at their eye level when it could be set lower. Even then, if the music is OK, that's fine with me.

In summary, do music stands spoil a performance? They can, but they don't have to - it has more to do with how and why they are used than their use per se. And planty of other things can be equally distracting - microphones (as mentioned), but also excessive capo fiddling/retuning, multiple instrument changes etc - but, as these take place between songs, they can be turned into chances to chat with an audience

As a punter I really don't mind how performers do their thing, as long as they aren't too shoe-gazery. I hugely admire those performers who can strut their stuff without reference to word sheets! But even pro performers seem to use electronic gadget thingies for words more often. I suppose many of them are getting on a bit too!

Keith

Sorry, still longwinded!

The use of lyric sheets and prompts by professional musicians is more common than one might think. There are products for this, like the Stageprompter - look at this list of users. I am agreeing with Keith that these things need to be discreet, and not detract from the performance, but I have no problem with them in principle.

Peter

As a follow up to my previous post, I wouldn't have a problem using a prompt sheet or app if I needed one, that would be like refusing a crutch if I had a broken leg. What I notice more and more is young people who seem to think they don't need to learn the song in their head before they perform it. Consequently they never commit it to memory in the first place, I think you could call them the "karaoke" generation.

I travel a fair bit in Vietnam and this is exactly what they do, they find it amazing that I have memorised so many songs. It simply doesn't occur to them to learn the lyrics when they are available on the smartphone. A cultural and generational difference, not right or wrong,  simply different. I do genuinely believe that this dependence on technology is going to be harmful to the human brain in the long run, but that's a different discussion and unlikely to bother us old geezers very much.