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I'll need reading glasses in a few years (my eye doc told me a few years ago to hang on as long as possible before giving in), so I'm very interested in this topic. Currently, I am quite nearsighted, so I wear contact lenses during my waking hours.

Is there some reason a pianist can't just wear reading glasses (for seeing the keyboard) and contacts for seeing the music? I sure hope so, as that was my plan.

Cindy: What you describe is perfectly acceptable if you can still maintain enough accommodative strength to focus on the music. What would be interested to know is whether there is a big difference in the working distance from your nose to the keyboard and from your nose to the music desk. If these two distances are fairly similar you will most likely benefit from wearing the reading glasses for both.
Jon

My solution is to keep my older pair of reading glasses at the piano or computer. I need stronger ones to actually read a book , but my outdated prescription works great for middle distances like the keyboard (either one). However, I don't have a major correction, so I can still see distances reasonably with my glasses on. (Reasonably = could recognize my kids, couldn't drive.)

Nina

Ok so I'm just a kid and I have good eyesight but I happen to be in the eyecare business. I'm telling you - DO NOT BUT DRUGSTORE GLASSES . Go to your optometrist and buy a good pair of reading glasses. And be sure to get an anti-reflective coating as it illiminates much of the glare from lights and such.

Fiddler said:

"The progressive lens has areas of reduced
focusing sharpness on either side of the bifocal portion (for some reason, that's true of all progressives),"

This is caused by the corridor leading from the distance viewing area to your reading add or bifocal. Having never worn a bifocal before I don't know How it would be for playing piano but I do know that you can choose a progressive bifocal with a wider corridor from one perscription to the next. :rolleyes:

"The progressive lens has areas of reduced
focusing sharpness on either side of the bifocal portion (for some reason, that's true of all progressives),"
This is related to irregular astigmatism created by the manufacturing process. It is a side effect created by either front surface curve or back surface curve changes used to create increasing power through the corridor. Fiddler is correct in assuming that all Progressive lenses have this unwanted side effect.
Jon

An update. I had my appt today with my opthomologist and all is as expected. Reading glasses are needed, no other problems (other than the old floaters in both eyes )

Amazingly, instead of writing a prescription he rattled off a list of stores "Walgreens, Walmart, CostCo!" for the readers. The ones I had bought were a bit too strong so I went down a notch...much better. He recommended the weakest I can find for piano and computer with large lenses to see both up and down...

I guess like over the counter meds Claritin, etc. glasses are no longer something you must get a prescription, go to a high priced specialist to get.

So far so good, now let's see if my playing gets any better! :p

Being 55 I share the problem seeing the music -- Sorry, to be more accurate I could see the music, it was the notes I couldn't see.

After searching high and low I found some glasses at one of those sun glass/reading glass kiosks at one of our local malls that work great for me. They are called Multiview Readers. They are made primarily for "old fart" computer users (like me) who need bifocals to see up close and minor magnification to see the computer screen. They aren't cheap (approx $100) but they work great.

I was so excited that I found a pair I thought that if I went to my eye doc he could do even better. After spending $300 for a custom version I found my store-bought glasses worked better.

Did a little Googling (using the words multiview computer glasses) and found the following website. There are other websites that have these glasses as well. http://shop.store.yahoo.com/goldeneyes/pcusers.html

JD: The glasses you linked to are similar to what we call short corridor lens, or a computer glasses prescription. There are several different types such as the PRIO Browser and the Zeiss Gradal RD. The advantages of these prescribed lenses versus an OTC remedy is the ability to adjust the centers of the optics to the center of your pupil. This is done to assure that you are looking through the "cleanest" part of the lens. The other advantage is the ability to include any refractive error you may have like astigmatism, hyperopia(far-sightedness),or myopia(near-sightedness). For a small group of patients who have very little or no distance refractive error, an OTC pair of glasses is just as effective as a prescribed pair. The most important thing you mentioned was that you saw your eye doctor. Unfortunately, a tremendous amount of people skip the exam and use the OTC glasses for near work, but don't realize they may have some type of eye disease like glaucoma or cataracts.
Jon

I have a stronger lense for reading and a less strong lense for playing and working on the computer. I guess you could call this an intermediate lense.

My reading glasses will not work for playing because the music stand is a further distance from my eyes than a book would be for normal reading. This causes the notes to look blurry, but with the less strong lense it all comes into very nice focus.

If you buy reading glasses at the drug store (non-prescription) then just be sure to pick out the lense that will give the best view from the distance you would be when reading your music, not the closer up view would would need if reading.

Bee Lady and All:

Good luck with the "we're not getting older, we're getting better" eye whammy! Aren't we lucky!

I've got it, too. I am very nearsighted. My contact lenses prescription is -8.00. If I get the proper contact lens prescription that allows me to see 20/20 for distance, I have trouble focusing on close work.

I am going to ask my eye doctor if I can be undercorrected with my contact lenses for seeing distance, to the point where I can see well for close work. My idea is, instead of wearing eyeglasses for closework, I can instead, get a weak pair of eyeglasses for seeing distance that will bring my vision (for seeing in the distance) back to 20/20.

I would only wear those eyeglasses for instance when driving.

Since most of the day I am doing close up work, I wonder if this would be a better solution. Instead of wearing eyeglasses to see close up-virtually all day long - I would instead wear them only when I need to see in the distance extremely well.

An idea that may work for others here as well?

Jeanne W

P.S. I just went thru a successive weakening of my contac lenses (below 20/20 correction) to see if I could get to the point where I could see close up. I'm almost there, but not quite. I now have what my eye doctor called "mono-vision" with my contac lenses in. That is, with my right eye I can see distance better, but it's a little blurry seeing close up; while with my left eye it is just the opposite. I tried this for a few weeks. I just got tired of it. Every time I look up, I am conscious of my eyes focusing different ways and same when I look at close work. I'm back to my old contac lenses that correct my vision way below 20/20. I have trouble seeing perfectly in the distance, but I can see * very * well close up. I guess for me it's more important to see close work.

Jeanne W.: Has your eye doctor offered you bifocal contacts? Assuming that you don't have excessive amounts of astigmatism, there are at least two companies that make a disposable bifocal lens in your distance power. The best part about these lenses is that you don't have to look down to see up close.
Jon

jdsher:

Thanks for the info. I'll check with my eye doctor. I do have some astigmatism. Don't know if it's excessive.

Jeanne W

bump

I actually got a pair of "piano glasses" awhile back toward the end of the summer. I measured the average distance my eyes are from my music and took some Chopin with me. The hardest thing I had to do was make my eye doctor understand that I wanted something to wear over not instead of my contact lenses. I'm very pleased with mine. I find they're also helpful at the computer.

just to let you know that they DO make glasses with the bifocal on the top...most for mechanics that work under your car...go figure. I just got progressives this summer...omg I thought I was getting sea sick all the time...and my golf game, the ball kept moving. But I haven't had any problems with reading the music. I do think I need glasses for my fingers tho, their the ones hitting the wrong keys all the time

Interesting discussion, this. Perhaps my progressive bifocals are why I have a sore neck after playing my piano. I hadn't consciously considered that as a possibility, but it makes sense that I would be tilting my head back to read the music. I tend to look more at the music than at the keys as my music memorization ability has always been poor. I had a devil of a time preparing for recitals as a child because of that particular difficulty. To this day, Pink Panther is about the only thing I can play reliably from memory. I believe I will discuss this with my eye doctor during our next appointment which, as is usual for me, is somewhat overdue.