Jon Johanning wrote:

>How do list members feel on this issue? I would especially like to hear
>what non-performers think -- do you tend to look down on a pianist, singer,
>or other soloist who performs from the score? Is it time to say farewell
>to this particular tradition in this tradition-happy art?

I would not be offended by the sight of a score in front of any performer.
Actually, my own piano performing skills are laughably rudimentary, or even
worse, but I did get to the point where my fingers often found the right
keys more easily than my eyes found the right place in the score, and I've
heard stories of important conductors who lost their place on the page at
times, so I would be just as impressed by a performer with a score as one
without.  If use of a score could prevent the sheer terror of a momentary
mental lapse for any musician performing in public, I would be all for it.

Jim Tobin