Progressive Lenses - Reading Music

[Tubachin]

As an aging tubist, I've recently got progressive lenses that allows me to read the paper without taking off my "regular" glasses. I really do like seeing almost everything with one pair of glasses. It did take some time adjusting the position of my head to the focal distance of what I wanted to see (old dogs, new tricks...)

I have found only 2 activities that don't work with my progressives: reading tuba music and playing golf (that's another story). The position of my head on the mouthpiece and the distance from the music makes reading tuba music difficult. I either have to put the music stand up very high or place the music too close for comfort.

I have taken to switching to my mono-perscription glasses when reading music, which works well, but is a hassle keeping 2 pairs of glasses.

Does anybody have a solution that allows them to read music with progressive lenses? Thanks for your help...

[Bill Troiano]

Hi Matt! I started dealing with this stuff about 10 years ago, but I wear gas permeable hard contact lenses. I first went to bifocal contacts and that bought me about 5 years until it no longer worked for my up close reading distance of about 12-15 in. My optometrist said that I can't have 3 different ranges of sight. I can't have distance, mid-distance (for reading music and conducting) and reading (12".) There has to be a compromise. What works the best for me, and it is still not ideal, is that I wear one bifocal lense and one distance lense. That takes care of distance and reading music and conducting. Then, I have magifiers that I use when I'm sitting around and reading words. I screw up sharps and natural signs once in a while. O well!

[Brucom]

I've had bifocals for years, and just last month got my first pair of
"middle distance" glasses, which is just what I need to see the music
clearly on the music stand. The conductor is a little blurry, but . . . .

I really enjoy being able to see the entire page crisp and clear.

(By "middle distance" they mean no bifocal, but the entire lens
corrects for my nearsightedness, with a "plus one" (I think) which
brings the music into focus.)

[Todd S. Malicoate]

Does anybody have a solution that allows them to read music with progressive lenses? Thanks for your help...

There's always enlarging the music with a commercial copier at your local copy store. Other than a negligible cost, I can't see any negatives to that solution.

[Kevin Hendrick]

... I have taken to switching to my mono-perscription glasses when reading music, which works well, but is a hassle keeping 2 pairs of glasses.

Does anybody have a solution that allows them to read music with progressive lenses? Thanks for your help...

I do exactly the same thing you're doing, and have for about 7 years now. It is a hassle, but it does work (as Brucom noted, the conductor's out of focus, but better the conductor than the music!).

[Kevin Hendrick]

There's always enlarging the music with a commercial copier at your local copy store. Other than a negligible cost, I can't see any negatives to that solution.

I have a scanner and large format printer attached to my home computer, & so can scan a piece at high resolution (9 x 12 at 600 dpi, marching music at 1200), then print it on 11 x 17 paper, and finally trim it to 11 x 14 (fits in a regular tagboard band folder). Much easier on the eyes, and fewer mistakes (marching music blown up to 11 x 14 is almost too big)!

[Rick F]

I have taken to switching to my mono-prescription glasses when reading music, which works well, but is a hassle keeping 2 pairs of glasses.

Yep, I've been doing the same thing for about 10 years. It is a bit of a hassle, but I just keep my music glasses in my horn case. I use a case with a pocket clip so it will clip on the music stand so I can switch easily.

Does anybody have a solution that allows them to read music with progressive lenses? Thanks for your help...

Don't know of a solution because of the way progressive bifocals work. There's actually about 12 different powers of reading correction (depending on how low you look thru your glasses). This progressive area is in a very narrow channel. (see image below)



When wearing progressive lenses you can't just move your eyes left to right to read the music -- because you'd be looking outside of the channel. We have to move our head to keep things in focus. This is difficult while playing and instrument. I now use a pair of exec level bifocals for music... a big reading correction area for about 3' away with the line real high with a small area for distance so I can see the director.

[gwwilk]

I wear progressive lenses for everything but tuba playing. My 'music' glasses aren't mono prescription, but bifocals. The middle distance is in the bifocal window, the top of which is slightly above the level of my pupils. And with my latest prescription for 'music' glasses I had them enlarge the bifocal window as much as possible. Like Rick F. I use a case with a clip on it and attach it to the bottom of the music stand for easy access and storage. I need to see the blackboard at the front of the room to read the rehearsal playlist-order, so mid-distance monofocals wouldn't work.

[DonShirer]

I gave up on progressive lenses several years ago. And since I switched to a new tuba which requires me to hold my face at a different angle, bifocals don't do so well either. So I went the middle-distance route with a pair focussed at two feet for computer/music stand distance. I like them so well, I use them around the house all the time, and keep a bifocal pair in the glasses compartment in the car for driving.

[bearphonium]

I am fighting this battle myself. Progressives work for most everything except tuba playing and shooting my AR-15. With the AR, I just take the specs off; my distance vision is OK and I really like my eotech sight. I am really struggling with the music right now, and think that either a medium distance focus pair that is devoted to music (cheaper solution) or an executive type prescription (too much money) is the solution.

And as for the conductor being blurry...hmmm....

[tuba72]

Same problem here too. I had a set of single vision glasses with the largest frames they had made and it works okay. Director and the blackboard are another story. My next pair will have a small strip on top of the lens so I can see distance. My eye doctor said they can make them. see what happens.

[bearphonium]

I just realized that I have another issue...when I play my sousy with a lyre, I cannot use my progressives, as the music is above my reading cut-off line. For marching, I use single lens readers.

[Dan Schultz]

I can't offer anything about progressive lenses because I quit wearing glasses many, many years ago in favor of soft contact lenses. Hard lenses were not an option due to the comfort factor. I wear 'mono-vision'. I spent many years on a drafting board and was constantly looking from the board up to prints hanging on the wall. I'm no longer a machine designer/engineer, but the system works great for seeing music on a stand about 30" in front of me with my left eye... and seeing the director clearly with my right eye... which is fixed for distance viewing. It cause a little bit of a problem with night driving and screws with night-time depth perception but I just wear a pair of glasses with a corrective left lens.

[rwiegand]

My optometrist made a great pair of glasses for me, progressive lenses with the bottom three fourths set for middle music distance and the top quarter for distance, for those rare occasion when I look at the conductor. He used some kind of specialty blank (he referred to it as an "occupational lens") which I think provides a wide field of view in focus at the two foot distance. They work extraordinarily well.

Roger

[Rick Denney]

I can't wear progressive lenses because I need the sharp line to help my eyes point the same direction. I wear trifocals. But the intermediate-distance part of the lens isn't nearly big enough for seeing a sheet of music, and I cannot move my face. So, I have a pair of glasses with single vision to match the intermediate lens on my trifocals. It's set for arm's length.

I have two pairs of those, and use the other pair for the office when working on the computer. That pair stays in my briefcase, and the music glasses stay in my tuba case. It's the best solution I've come up with.

Rick "liking the idea of the bifocals cut for a line well above the pupil" Denney

[MaryAnn]

Like most people with presbyopia, I use single vision "music glasses" that reside in the case when I'm not using them. (I have two pairs, that are kept in two different instrument cases, because of instances where I arrived at rehearsal 30 minutes from my house and the music glasses were in the other instrument's case.) If I had to read a rehearsal list off a board up front, I'd probably get "upside down bifocals" with a small distance segment on top. But I've not found, so far, that having the conductor fuzzy makes my life more dificult. Now if I could only have him see ME fuzzy...

MA

[Tom Mason]

I have spent time experimenting with my progressive lens glasses by moving them up and down my nose to where they work in the situation provided. To me, this is better than tilting my head and changing where I look through the lenses.

To each their own.

Tom Mason