There is certainly no right and wrong when it comes to playing by heart, I don't question that. 

In response to Heinrich C. Kuhn, I would like to add that I believe that how the performance will be depends on HOW it was memorized - percentage of "muscle memory" vs "brain cell storage". I generally feel freer to communicate with the situation and the composition without music on the stand, but in cases when I want to extemporize and improvise more, keeping the page in front of me makes me more daring in my excursions. Kind of easier to get back on track.

Btw, I am one of those who prefer not to use music stand from acoustical reasons. I'd rather put the music flat on top of the jackrail.

Andreas.

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