Macular Degeneration

Chuck(G) · Post by **Chuck(G)** » Sun Dec 19, 2004 4:40 pm

For several years, the trombonist in our quintet has been successfully dealing with macular degeneration. He's taken his charts and blown them up to 11x17 and uses his own stand lamp.

But lately he's been complaining that the enlarged music by itself just isn't working anymore. I've transcribed some of his charts and printed them with wide bar and staff lines and dots the size of pancakes and it seems to help, but it's not a complete solution.

Does anyone have any other ideas, perhaps use of color, that might enable my old friend to keep up his playing for a bit longer?

Thanks for any suggestions!

Chuck(G) · Post by **Chuck(G)** » Sun Dec 19, 2004 9:58 pm

Please allow me to clarify--my friend is receiving the finest care and medication available for his condition. He's even part of a clinical trial for a new drug. Nor is his condition something new--he's been dealing with it for years (he's 75, BTW).

The problem is with MD is that drugs only slow the progress, not stop it. He's been doing pretty welll with enlargement up until now, but that's not working very well any longer. I'll suggest the idea of a fluorescent paper to him--I hope it's available in larger than 8.5x11.

Dan Schultz · Post by **Dan Schultz** » Sun Dec 19, 2004 10:19 pm

I have a very tough time seeing in low light conditions. I don't have MD but suffer from a very bad astigmatism and a higher concentration of 'floaters' than most folks. As far as I am concerned, there is only one music stand light worth considering. It's the Concert Light. Expensive but well worth the money if you consider the alternatives. I own two of 'em so I always have a feshly charged one ready to go.

Chuck(G) · Post by **Chuck(G)** » Sun Dec 19, 2004 11:01 pm

TubaTinker wrote:I have a very tough time seeing in low light conditions. I don't have MD but suffer from a very bad astigmatism and a higher concentration of 'floaters' than most folks. As far as I am concerned, there is only one music stand light worth considering. It's the Concert Light. Expensive but well worth the money if you consider the alternatives. I own two of 'em so I always have a feshly charged one ready to go.

Way ahead of you there, Dan. That's what he uses--I've been thinking of building a souped-up one for him with 2 or three CCFL's.

BTW, when it comes time to replace your battery, go for the 4200 mah videocam battery instead of the ones from Lampcraft--it'll give you about 7 hours of light between rechargings.

Dan Schultz · Post by **Dan Schultz** » Sun Dec 19, 2004 11:31 pm

the elephant wrote:Chuck, Dan,

Can either of you post a link to that light? I am interested in getting one (or five).

http://www.lampcraft.com/

Chuck(G) · Post by **Chuck(G)** » Mon Dec 20, 2004 12:05 am

the elephant wrote: Can either of you post a link to that light? I am interested in getting one (or five).

Here ya go, Wade. They're not cheap, but they're good--they give you top-to-bottom-edge-toi-edge coverage. I've had mine for about 4 years now and am still very happy with it:

http://www.lampcraft.com/

Chuck(G) · Post by **Chuck(G)** » Fri Dec 24, 2004 12:20 am

Memorizing is what came to mind first and I'm sure that we'll all give it a try. I don't mind, as my eyes have always been pretty lame; I generally play new charts as a combination of "looks like this" and "probably sounds like this", then go back and "fix things" when I have a chance.

We play a lot of jazz charts and Jerry tends to write his diagonal-line stuff* out, so getting him to improvise a bit more freely may offer a big chance for growth.

Definitely stuff for thought.

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