Tuba Playing and Bifocals or Progressive lenses

[kprinz]

Hey All:

Just came from the optometrist. They've decided I need to move to multi-focus lenses. They brought up progressive lenses, but mentioned that you have to "point your nose at what you want to look at." That seems troublesome when you have a tuba mouthpiece on your mouth and are reading music, but this was just thrown at me and I had to make a decision. I found a discussion with violinists that mentioned that progressives didn't work very well for them because you have to move your head around, but I was wondering if any tuba players had experience with that.

I primarily teach applied lessons where I am reading off of a college students music; I do the occasional recital/gig, and I also do quite a bit of conducting if that helps.

Question: for those of you who wear glasses, and particularly have multi-focal lenses. What has been your experience with progressives/bi-focals? What are some of the things I should ask or consider when talking to the Doctor? Do you have any recommendations for me?

Thanks for any help.

Kendall

[scottw]

The part of the "progressive" lens which works for the reading of music [and generally, computer screen] is what you need for playing. This is measured upon request as "mid-distance", @ 21-24" or wherever your comfort zone is. Get your eyeglasses made with that one only. Keep them in your case, etc., as needed. Cheaper than trifocals, bifocals, progressive, they also offer full field of vision.

[GC]

An alternative would be special glasses just for reading music. Because you're further away from music than you typically are for reading text, the lenses should be less strong than the lower bifocal section would be. Then you don't have to worry about whether to look through or above the lower bifocal section.

The problem with reading music with bifocals is that a sheet of music takes up a lot of your vertical field of vision, and you find yourself raising your head or ducking to keep the music in focus. A whole lens with a single prescription prevents that.

Personally, I use contacts for distance vision, low-power reading glasses for music or computer, and they're also good enough for regular reading.

[Mark]

My "regular" eyeglasses are progressives. For playing the tuba I had a pair of single-focus glasses made up at Costco. I think the were $60 or $70. I keep them in my tuba gear bag. I know a lot of aging musicians who have the same problem and almost all of them have decided that the cheap, single-focus glasses are the way to go.

[SmartFellerAl]

I'm struggling with that myself. I'm going to get dedicated music glasses.

My progressives are fine when I'm playing bass or conducting; I can tilt my head to get the music in focus. But playing tuba locks your head in one position.

[roweenie]

It depends on how bad your distance vision is. Some people are OK with reading glasses only, and seeing a slightly blurry conductor.

Some will wear contact lenses, and use reading glasses, with success.

Personally, my distance vision is pretty bad - I wear progressives for day-to-day wear, but they are unacceptable for playing in a group with a conductor, or for reading music (the "sweet spot" is way too small, requiring constant head movement to see the music). So, I had a pair of eyeglasses made up (just for playing) where the top third is for distance, and the bottom 2/3 is specifically for intermediate distance (the distance from my eyes to the music stand). These have worked very well for me.

If you decide to go this route, I recommend going to your optometrist, bring your horn and a music stand, and be very specific and clear about what your need, as most optometrists will have little to no experience with this scenario.

You could also get trifocals, but I felt that was overkill for my needs.

roweenie "starting to deal with senior citizen issues"

[rodgeman]

I have progressive lenses and computer glasses. I use the computer glasses to play and can use them at work. The field of vision for reading the music is too narrow. I can switch after the concert. You will still be able to see the conductor. I agree with the previous posts.

[paulver]

I ran into this several years ago. When I was in college, my piano prof always changed his glasses when he sat down to play. When he put them on, they made him look like is eyes took up most of his face.... like looking at them through a couple of fishbowls. I never understood that. Fast forward to 25 years ago........ I had to get bifocals. I got the progressive lenses, and as a result, I had a terrible time reading music while playing piano, or any other band instrument. It was even worse with separate lenses.... you know... the ones with the lines between the different strengths.

I suddenly remembered those two huge eyes on my college prof, and realized what he was doing!! I ran to WalMart and bought single lens magnifier glasses. No prescription, no bifocals, no transitions..... just plain old magnifier reading glasses.........dirt cheap!..... At least, at that time. I've had to upgrade the strength a couple of times since then, but I still use them.

They have also come in handy when I've misplaced or walked out of the house without my bifocals. They'll make me dizzy if I forget to take them off and start walking around, but for reading music and playing tuba, they're great. It's a cheap fix!!

[Rick F]

I've worn progressive bifocals for about 15 years for everything except reading music. Your Optometrist is correct in that you'll need to 'point your nose at what you want to read'. That's hard when playing an instrument. The reading correction varies depending on distance and that correction is fairly narrow.



When I first started wearing progressive the reading wasn't as strong and they worked okay for reading music. But as my eyes got worse and I needed stronger correction, the column of correction gets narrower and I had trouble reading music.



I have a pair of 'exec level' bifocals with the line pretty high up on the lens that I wear for reading music. The large lower area is for reading music about 3’ away. The narrow area is for distance... just enough so I can see the dir.

[bisontuba]

I wear trifocals AND have a pair of prescription music reading glasses. I'd be lost without my music glasses.....

[WC8KCY]

Along the lines of Rick F's solution, I use frameless reading glasses with small lenses that allow me to observe the conductor over the top of the lenses. Mine also darken when out in the sun--useful for outdoors gigs. They cost about $US20 at Walmart.

[Bill Troiano]

I wore gas permeable (hard) contact lenses for about 30 years. Mine were set for distance and mid range, so that I could read from a music stand for playing and conducting. At some point, I evolved to needing reading glasses to help with the up close stuff and sometimes when playing or conducting, many times depending upon the lighting in the room.

Shortly after I moved to Texas, my eyes got worse where distance was a problem and I developed cataracts. I opted for cataract surgery and they implanted multi focal lenses. It wasn't cheap. My insurance would've covered basic lenses with no lense prescription, but I said what the Hell, and I sprung for the multi focal lenses. It's great for distance and OK for mid range and up close. I still use cheap reading glasses if I'm reading a book or on the computer. Lighting is still an issue sometimes for reading music, but that has much to do with my age.

[MaryAnn]

Not having read previous comments: I tried progressives way back and they did NOT tell me that I would be looking through a narrow window, and I made them take them back. I music glasses; just measure how far away the stand is, and ask for single vision lenses (separate pair of glasses, separate Rx) for that distance. I've done this with a number of different optometrists and never had a problem. The conductor may be a bit fuzzy but that has not ever been a problem for me (that's not a conductor joke; fuzzy is good enough to see a beat.) Other option is upside down Executive bifocals in which the small, distance part is at the top.

[FreeBandMusic]

It all depends YOUR eyes...

When I had my checked, they came up with a prescription for distance and reading... and I also brought a music stand to set the stand at the right distance for music. For me, my music is totally in focus, and the conductor is just a little blurry.

I concur with whoever said Zenni.... my music glasses are about 35 bucks. Excellent quality!

John Thompson

[MikeW]

I agree with the majority here: Progressive lenses are not suitable for reading music, because the lenses only focus on one small area, so you have to keep moving your head to move the focus around enough to read the whole page. This is not easy to do when you have a tuba on the front of you face. Actually, it's not easy even without the tuba - I had the same trouble with progressive lenses on computer applications, too (especially when trying to scroll though text - most people only try that once).

I also had problems with normal bifocal lenses, which create ghosts, blurring, and double images caused by the transition between "distance" and "close" areas.

I learned of the best solution on Tubenet several years ago when someone suggested "Executive" lenses (sorry, don't remember who, and the search function doesn't turn up the original posting). Executive lenses were invented to allow managers to read financial spreadsheets conveniently. They have a fairly narrow strip of "distance" focus across the top of the lens, with the rest of the lens given over to shorter focus, for closer work (which creates the widest field of view of any lens type). You can switch between close work and distance by just rolling you eyeballs up or down a little. For music, if you set up your stand so the joint in the lens aligns across the top of the stand, you can see the whole page of music on the stand in the reading area, and glance up at the conductor with only a very small movement of the eyes.

You need to get a bifocal prescription that allows reading at an intermediate distance, convenient for reading music on a music stand while playing your usual instrument. You then need to find a dispensing optician who can still make or aquire Executive lenses (which are less readily available than they once were).

When all the parts are available, you need to ask the optician who measures you up to set up the lenses with the join-line level with the top of the iris (you might even tote your instrument and stand into the opticians office, to make sure you get everything right)

The only weakness with these lenses is that the machines that apply lens coatings can't handle the thicker joins in the Executive lens, which may limit the choice of coatings (the last pair I had made didn't get an anti-UV coating).

[MSchott]

I've worn progressive bifocals for about 15 years for everything except reading music. Your Optometrist is correct in that you'll need to 'point your nose at what you want to read'. That's hard when playing an instrument. The reading correction varies depending on distance and that correction is fairly narrow.



When I first started wearing progressive the reading wasn't as strong and they worked okay for reading music. But as my eyes got worse and I needed stronger correction, the column of correction gets narrower and I had trouble reading music.



I have a pair of 'exec level' bifocals with the line pretty high up on the lens that I wear for reading music. The large lower area is for reading music about 3’ away. The narrow area is for distance... just enough so I can see the dir.

This is my exact experience. Progressive lenses do not have a large enough focal area for reading music on a stand a certain distance from your eyes. Executive lenses are the answer. Measure the distance from your eyes to your music before seeing your optometrist.

[MaryAnn]

And when you go to have them made up (assuming not the same place as prescribed) print a picture of the above so they can get it. Likely won't be the first time they have seen it, but might be. For the executives. I'm happier with the fuzzy conductor and the single vision music glasses, but we all are different.

[Rick F]

Executive lenses are the answer. Measure the distance from your eyes to your music before seeing your optometrist.

Yep, the first time I went to get exec-level bifocals I took a music stand with me to get the reading distance correct. After the first time they knew how to adjust the prescription so it was correct.

[LJLovegren]

I use single-vision lenses that give best correction at music-stand distance. They are also perfect for computer work. I also wear them for driving in familiar locations and optometrist says the resulting 20/30 is legal for driving.

[Radar]

I had to go with computer glasses, because they have a focal length of about 2 feet. My lineless bi-focals work for everything but reading music while playing. I've tried the drug store readers they don't work because they are made to focus too close to your face.