My instrument is Arranger, not Piano. It isn't a crutch, it's a tool. It's my band, in which I control all the parts. Don't need to turn anything off and don't want to, and don't feel any need to justify playing Arranger.
It's what I do. Does this make sense?
If I don't remember the words to a song, I look at them. I get requests for songs I have done 10 years ago and need to look at the chords and lyrics sometimes. They are not crutches, but tools.
My next step MAY be to get one of those laptop antenna things so I can connect to the internet from anywhere at any time. If I get a request that I want to try but don't know or have the words and/or chords, I can Google it, download it, play it and pocket the LARGE TIP. If I can't play it, I could even download an MP3 and play it on break for them. Whatever tools are necessary!
I only started singing because I didn't want to pay a singer, but I'm slowly getting tolerable at it. Just another tool.
DonM