Special eyeglasses

[RMCarson]

I am struggling to see sheet music. In most performance settings, the space is tight and I have little leeway in the distance of the music stand from my eyes. Neither of the distance correction nor the close-up correction of my bifocals help; they make it worse. I have tried the different grades of non-prescription reading glasses but they’re worse also because the music is too far away. Is there a way to get a prescription made for the distance from your eyes to the music stand?

[norbie2018]

I have glasses made through Zenni that are what I believe they call computer glasses. I provided them with my progressive prescription and, after choosing a frame, I was able to select this variation from the lens options. What it did was changed my essentially tri-focal script into bi-focal, so seeing sitting at a computer or reading music from a stand was clear - no need to tilt your head. Hope that helps.

[hyperbolica]

There is a trombonist in my quartet that has a special prescription for reading music at a prescribed distance. So yes, they make that type of lens.

[Bach5G]

I explained my situation to a salesperson at LensCrafters and they were able to make me a pair of glasses where the focal point was approximately where my music stand would be. No more expensive than any other pair of glasses. I might try bifocals that allow me to read music on the stand but also clearly see the conductor.

[CalgaryTbone]

I started the reading glasses journey about a decade ago. After the first couple of years of making one pair work for everything, I realized that I needed a dedicated pair for music reading. I just updated that prescription the other day. My eye doctor has become used to me bringing a folding stand and some music to my checkups so we can test my eyes with that distance/font in mind. My regular reading glasses that I'm wearing now are great for computer/phone/books/newspapers. The music pair generally stays in my case, and is perfect for gigs. I'm still 20/20 for distance, but the 2 glasses solution has been a lifesaver for close detail reading.

Jim Scott

[tbdana]

Add me to the list of people who got glasses specifically for reading music. Like Norbie and Bach5G, I went to Lenscrafters and gave them my progressive prescription, and they were able to issue a prescription for music distance. It was a lifesaver.

[Doug Elliott]

Any decent optometrist can calculate the correct prescription for a specific music reading distance like 30 inches, given a good distance prescription. First you need an accurate distance prescription , and second you need high quality lenses which you don't always get at the chain stores. You get what you pay for.

[RMCarson]

Thank you for all the very helpful replies.

[KWL]

I'm currently waiting for my music reading prescription glasses to be completed. They should be ready this week. I asked for a prescription that put the focus at 28-32 inches from my eyes and went for a single vision setup rather than bifocals. I tried using my computer glasses (almost the correct distance but with progressive lenses) and was bothered by the narrow band of what was in focus and the angle of my head required for that focus. If the conductor is slightly out of focus, that could be another benefit.

[imsevimse]

I explained my situation to a salesperson at LensCrafters and they were able to make me a pair of glasses where the focal point was approximately where my music stand would be. No more expensive than any other pair of glasses. I might try bifocals that allow me to read music on the stand but also clearly see the conductor.

I did the same. I had the salesperson measure the distance from my eyes to the stand while seated and then she also meashured the distans when I stood up pretending I played a solo and looked down. The result was perfect, but when I collected the glasses it was another salesperson there and he wanted to make sure the order was right because he thougt there must have been an error, the figures didn't make sense to him.

The distance should be larger compared to computer glasses. They don't realise the special conditions we have until we really show them.

/Tom

[Posaunus]

Any decent optometrist can calculate the correct prescription for a specific music reading distance like 30 inches, given a good distance prescription. First you need an accurate distance prescription , and second you need high quality lenses which you don't always get at the chain stores. You get what you pay for.

Indeed. Go to your optometrist and get a personalized prescription for your vision. May include astigmatism correction, etc. if necessary - which you can't get without an exam.

I got my music-reading glasses at Costco. Brought a folding music stand to demonstrate the correct distance to their in-house (very good) optometrist who gave me a customized refraction, and I ordered the fixed focal length glasses there. Received the glasses in less than a week. Price (exam, lenses, and frame) was VERY reasonable, with personalized service. They've worked great for two years - but I just last week had cataract surgery with a fixed-focus intra-ocular lens, so I'll have to start over and get a new prescription as soon as my eyes have settled in!

[Doug Elliott]

Me too, getting the first eye done in a month.

[CBlair]

I, too, had a music stand specific pair of prescription glasses and drugstore glasses for my contacts. There was some juggling, but it worked well or me. Then after a while, mysteriously, neither were really working consistently. Distinguishing, say, an E from a D became a sometimes problem. I wasn't as concerned as might be advisable about seeing conductor expressions, but I had no problem picking up the baton.

About a year and a half ago, I had cataract surgery, which was the reason the corrective lenses no longer worked well. Multifocal lenses, which are pricey, have been terrific. As long as the lighting is good I have lost an excuse for an errant wrong note or two.

[timothy42b]

After my cataract surgery, I went to the dollar store and bought one of every strength.

I found a combination that works for me with my new eyes. My eyes are different of course so it involved popping out a lens.

Before that I relied on single vision prescription glasses made for the distance of the stand.

[Doug Elliott]

After I get both eyes done I expect to get progressives for close at the bottom, nothing in the top, and most of the lens will be intermediate so they should work for music distance. I can use my current progressives pretty well for music although my 15+ year old single vision music glasses are still better even though they are from several prescriptions back. Great quality lenses really do make a difference.

[Posaunus]

Great quality lenses [professionally prescribed] really do make a difference.

Dollar store lenses ~= no-name Chinese mouthpieces
Drug store lenses ~= "student" mouthpieces
Custom lenses ~= Doug Elliott /AR Resonance mouthpieces -(best for your eyes).
How much do you value your vision?
My prescription music reading glasses have been well worth the reasonable price. (Thanks, Costco!)

[andym]

I just measured the distance to my stand at home and asked the optometrist for a prescription at that distance. The music is sharp, the conductor is a little blurry, and you can’t see if the concertmaster is scowling. So improvement all around.

[musicofnote]

Don't know what it's like in the rest of the civilised world, but here in Switzerland, you can have glasses set up for any specific or non-specific distances. In fact, for a few years, my "Gleit-sicht" (don't know what the proper term in English is, but there are no defined deliniated regions - top of the glass is for the furthest distances, bottom for the closest and it "slides" between such, that your eyes settle on the necessary sharpness) were fine for verything EXCEPT playing, so I used a older pair of normal glasses that only worked at the distance needed to play.

Then this time last year, my "Gleit-sicht" glassesbroke while in Germany on vacation and the new prescription actually works now for playing. I have no idea how they accomplished that. But it was on my list to ask my opthomologist the next time I saw her, if she could give me a prescription that would work for playing - about 90cm distance to the music stand. Now I can spare myself the money, but you should be able to get a prescription special for playing distance.

[timothy42b]

Great quality lenses [professionally prescribed] really do make a difference.

Dollar store lenses ~= no-name Chinese mouthpieces
Drug store lenses ~= "student" mouthpieces
Custom lenses ~= Doug Elliott /AR Resonance mouthpieces -(best for your eyes).
How much do you value your vision?
My prescription music reading glasses have been well worth the reasonable price. (Thanks, Costco!)

Oh, I agree, but experimenting with dollar store is a good way to have an idea of what the correction should be, and the real distance. I've done the focal length calculations and not always agreed with my doctor or the charts, maybe partly because what I think is my distance in the office is not always right in rehearsal.

I do wish I could get .25 diopter increments. My doctor says no, and I wouldn't be able to tell anyway, but I'm not so sure.

[timothy42b]

I just measured the distance to my stand at home and asked the optometrist for a prescription at that distance. The music is sharp, the conductor is a little blurry, and you can’t see if the concertmaster is scowling. So improvement all around.

All except one thing.

In performance, the conductor changes the order and holds up a piece of music. He/she's pretty close, people with normal eyes can maybe see the title, but for me no chance.

[cboalesjr]

I asked my ophthalmologist what I should use for reading music. His reply was that I should buy some 1.25 reading glasses. I did, and they do work very well.

[baileyman]

For reading books, my readers are currently +2.00. For music, +1.50 works. It's a good idea to get readers with large lenses so as not to run out of reading space, but not so large as to prevent gazing over the top to see instructions from a conductor.

[Kbiggs]

Like several others here, I had special reading glasses made. I am very near-sighted, and my prescription for both eyes is pretty high. I started wearing progressive bifocals about 15 years ago, but I didn’t have problems until about 3 years ago when I started having a lot of difficulty reading music, especially in dim light.

My music reading glasses have a line separating top and bottom like traditional bifocals except the top portion for distance vision is relatively small and the bottom portion is larger. It’s pretty much the opposite of what you have with regular bifocals.

I know they work because it’s very hard to read music without them.

[Posaunus]

I've tried simple "reading glasses." Good quality readers are available at drug stores, Costco, etc., and might sort of work for reading charts on a music stand. But I'm one of the unlucky ones - my eyes need astigmatism and prism correction, so custom prescription lenses work much better for me.

[brassmedic]

Same here. I showed the optometrist how far away the music stand would be and she did a single vision prescription for that distance. Works great. I can't see the conductor as well, but sometimes that's an advantage.

[pmeiden]

They've worked great for two years - but I just last week had cataract surgery with a fixed-focus intra-ocular lens, so I'll have to start over and get a new prescription as soon as my eyes have settled in!

I had my cataract surgery done in March - its been tremendous. My surgical ophthalmologist was a musician so when we discussed vision goals he had a good understanding of what I was saying and suggested optimizing one eye for intermediate distance and the other for true distance. It works very very well; my combined vision is between 20/20 and 20/25 and I can see both the music and the conductor (and other side of the band!) very well. I use a pair of inexpensive readers for tasks like reading small print, writing checks, etc, but that’s less that 10% of any given day.

I’m very happy with how it turned out, and find that my eyes and I are far less tired / strained after a 2 hour rehearsal or concert than I was pre-surgery.

[psybersonic]

In UK a prescription supplied by your optometrist will have an option for Near-ADD and Inter ADD in addition to your basic correction. The Inter-ADD for computer use is normally +1.75 . 1/1.75 = .57 metreswhich gives a focal length of about 60cm. For music I use an Inter-ADD of +1.25 . 1/1.25 = .8 metres or 80cm. If your music is a metre distant you would specify +1.0.
I just sent my prescription details to an outfit called Spex4less on the internet there are are loads of suppliers doing this and the spectacles turn up in a week or so.
I have no documentary support that this is how prescriptions work but it does for me .

[2bobone]

"I might try bifocals that allow me to read music on the stand but also clearly see the conductor."

"If the conductor is slightly out of focus, that could be another benefit."

" The music is sharp, the conductor is a little blurry, and you can’t see if the concertmaster is scowling. So improvement all around."

" It's a good idea to get readers with large lenses so as not to run out of reading space, but not so large as to prevent gazing over the top to see instructions from a conductor."

All of the above comments remind me of my predecessor in the NSO, Ed Gummell. When it was noticed that he had on new "spectacles" he commented : " Yeah --- They're great ! I can see everything clear as a bell until I get to the conductor's podium, and then they drop off suddenly "! So---- we can see that this has been a concern of orchestral players for quite a while !

[sacfxdx]

why would you need to see the conductor? They're just waving their arms around.

Single vision for me. Blurry conductor is OK. Blurry music is NOT.

[JohnL]

why would you need to see the conductor? They're just waving their arms around.

What's worse, they refuse to follow the orchestra!

[sf105]

Another one for mid-distance prescription glasses. I use them for work (computer screens) as well as playing. I had a couple of incidents of wearing my varifocals by mistake (no good position for playing), so this time I got the music glasses frame in a significantly different colour so I can tell immediately which pair.

[Posaunus]

I had a couple of incidents of wearing my varifocals by mistake (no good position for playing), so this time I got the music glasses frame in a significantly different colour so I can tell immediately which pair.

[tbdana]

why would you need to see the conductor? They're just waving their arms around.

Single vision for me. Blurry conductor is OK. Blurry music is NOT.

As the old acronym LUFU goes: “look up, f**k up.”

[Doug Elliott]

Blurry music, new excuse for unfocused sound

[Posaunus]

Blurry music, new excuse for unfocused sound

Fuzztone?

[imsevimse]

"If the conductor is slightly out of focus, that could be another benefit."

Yes. It took some yeas to realise "look at the conductor" does not mean to look him in the eyes I've missed a lot of entrances because of that.

/Tom

[silverslideman]

In performance, the conductor changes the order and holds up a piece of music. He/she's pretty close, people with normal eyes can maybe see the title, but for me no chance.

A lot of conductors do this. They don’t realise that from more than 1-2 rows back, almost nobody has any idea what they’re holding up.