Readers and Glasses

[garybaldy]

Just wondering if the reading musicians here, that wear glasses, have specific glasses for reading charts.
Do you take a chart to the optician and position it as necessary for specific glasses?
Thanks

[ragman1]

No, just the usual reading glasses.

[RJVB]

Is there a difference between charts and scores?

Last time I had reading glasses made (a pair of those "Dr Phil" spectacles that separate in the middle 8) ) I just told the optician at what distance range I wanted the correction to work. With the difference in correction needed by my 2 eyes this means that at distances shorter than that target range (i.e. my fretboard) it is the right eye that sees more or less sharp when I wear those glasses rather than the left eye when I'm not wearing glasses.

Still, I don't really need reading glasses to read a score on a stand at a normal "stand distance" and I don't really need to see other ensemble members or the directory in perfect focus (let alone any audience ) so most of the time I just do without glasses.

[dconeill]

Just wondering if the reading musicians here, that wear glasses, have specific glasses for reading charts.
Do you take a chart to the optician and position it as necessary for specific glasses?
Thanks

Certainly, if you're having trouble reading the charts. As for text-reading glasses, usually the distance is different when you're reading a chart or reading a book.

The point of having glasses is to improve your vision. If one of the vision activities you value is reading music, and the vision you have now is troubling you, it's absolutely proper to take some music to your optician/opthamologist and ask about it. You're paying them to helpyou better, after all.

Take with you a couple of pieces that you'd like to be able to see better, and figure out in advance what it is that you dislike about the way you're seeing that music. Maybe take a Real Book as well. Measure the typical distance at which you read music, and be able to describe the lighting you use. Perhaps even take a music stand with you - whatever it takes to demonstrate to the practxitioner the conditions under which you're trying to see printed music.

Remember that these are YOUR eyes, not someone else's. It doesn't matter particularly what others who need corrective lenses are doing - what matters is what works for YOU.

[sgosnell]

Modern no-line multifocal glasses work pretty well. The focal distance changes gradually, from very close at the bottom to infinite distance at the top, although the distant vision does exist from near the center to the top. To focus on a spot you just move your head very slightly. Optometrists check your vision at close range, about 18", then intermediate distance, then far, and write a prescription that covers all of them and points in between, unless you specify something different. After cataract surgery my distant vision is fine, but I have some trouble with anything within arm's reach, so I wear glasses. I've done reading glasses, and putting them on and taking them off is more trouble than it's worth to me. Multifocal artificial lenses are available, but they're expensive and can create issues when driving at night, and in other situations, so I opted for standard lenses. It's a personal choice. But for standard vision correction, IMO the standard multifocal lenses (still called bifocals by many, although they focus at more than two distances) are the way to go. It took me almost no effort to adapt to them long ago.

[nevershouldhavesoldit]

Reading glasses are my only sign of aging

I just use my regular OTR readers. I started with 1.75s at about 65. 12 years later I’m up to 2.5 and stable for the last 5 years or so. I do need them for reading on the stand, especially on a dark stage with spots on me (or the singer if we have one). I use a tablet in dark mode on stage, sitting far enough away from the music stand to keep my guitar from hitting it if I move around. I play keys on a few tunes, so I have to pivot to the right on the stool after putting my guitar in the stand on my left.

I’ve been working on playing without looking at the board for the last few years, so I’m not hamstrung by focal distance. I’ve gotten much better at playing without looking (much…) and the position markers are visible enough to keep me out of trouble on long leaps.

Like sgosnell, I have a pair of continuous bifocals that go from no correction on top to 2.5 at the bottom. They’re great, but I had them made with photochromic glass for general wear, so they darken from the stage spots in most clubs. I look cool, but it’s pretty hard to read music in shades on a dark mode score and a dark stage.

[sgosnell]

I've had the photochromic lenses, and I've given up on them. I have excellent sunglasses, and prefer them to the changeable lenses, which don't change enough for me when driving. They need UV light to change, and I can only imagine how dark they might get in a club with UV lighting.

[JazzPadd]

I been using two pair of reading glasses, one for books at 30cm and another for lead sheets at 60cm. Both do their jobs, and all I did was specify the distances.

[Rob MacKillop]

I brought a music stand and some sheet music with me to the optician. I now have excellent vision for reading music. Recommended.

[ccroft]

My optician actually had a music stand & sheets in his office. I asked and he said several members of our symphony orchestra are clients.

I have glasses optimized for my computer distance, which happens to coincide nicely with my music distance.

I also have progressive lenses. I like the optimized single vision much much better.

[RJVB]

Modern no-line multifocal glasses work pretty well. The focal distance changes gradually, from very close at the bottom to infinite distance at the top, although the distant vision does exist from near the center to the top..

But like with the old bifocals the "nearer-and-nearer" zone tapers down to a more or less narrow band in the centre (just how narrow is inversely linked to how much you're willing to spend). I have a pair of mid-range multifocals which still cost me about 700€ for just the glasses, and I only wear them when I go to a restaurant or shopping. I most definitely cannot play with them.

[Fortune]

My optician actually had a music stand & sheets in his office. I asked and he said several members of our symphony orchestra are clients.

I have glasses optimized for my computer distance, which happens to coincide nicely with my music distance.

I also have progressive lenses. I like the optimized single vision much much better.

Yes, single vision computer/intermediate glasses are best for reading off of the music stand.

[deacon Mark]

I had lasik surgery 22 years was major league myopic. All the years later I can still pass the drivers vision test no restrictions. However in truth my right eye sees only about 20/80 so I can use it for up close reading charts. The problem now is I have the start of cataracts and they are not causing a problem but I suppose will. Seems somedays I need readers for some thing but depends on the light. Other days I can see fine. In fact my vision varies a but day by day. Not a huge deal but enough I am aware of it.

Do any of you notice this especially when working close up or in poor light? If I go into the basement shop to work on guitars I can come up an my eyes take awhile to adjust. The lighting is not natural and not really bright. Reading music is all about the light situation and the day even. Some days I am simply ok with nothing.

If and when the cataract is worked on which may be years, that I think is going to require some clear thinking and goals. Apparently you can get perfect long vision but at the expense of need readers for anything and 3 feet in front is a blur. I would be interested in hearing any stories.

[Fortune]

I had lasik surgery 22 years was major league myopic. All the years later I can still pass the drivers vision test no restrictions. However in truth my right eye sees only about 20/80 so I can use it for up close reading charts. The problem now is I have the start of cataracts and they are not causing a problem but I suppose will. Seems somedays I need readers for some thing but depends on the light. Other days I can see fine. In fact my vision varies a but day by day. Not a huge deal but enough I am aware of it.

Do any of you notice this especially when working close up or in poor light? If I go into the basement shop to work on guitars I can come up an my eyes take awhile to adjust. The lighting is not natural and not really bright. Reading music is all about the light situation and the day even. Some days I am simply ok with nothing.

If and when the cataract is worked on which may be years, that I think is going to require some clear thinking and goals. Apparently you can get perfect long vision but at the expense of need readers for anything and 3 feet in front is a blur. I would be interested in hearing any stories.

The crystalline lens in your eye can adjust its power to better view an object at certain distances through a set of muscles stretching the lens. As you get older, nuclear sclerosis usually occurs, which is a hardening of that lens. Once the lens has hardened, it is more difficult for the lens to be adjusted, causing the muscles in the eye to tire faster than when we were young. The muscles in your eye might just be tired from trying to stretch a hardened lens.

Also, your crystalline lens becomes more translucent as the cataract matures. So what you described about needing a certain light level sounds pretty normal.

[sgosnell]

Replacement lenses are available now which allow one to focus at multiple distances. The downsides are that they are expensive and can cause glare in bright lights, such as when driving and meeting an oncoming car. I opted for standard single-focus lenses because of that, and I'm not unhappy with what I got. I can still focus fairly well at closer distances, but at arm's length or nearer it takes some effort. How well you can see at close range depends on your eyes, everyone is different. Like you, some days are better than others, and that was also the case before the cataract surgery. My only real regret about the surgery is that I waited longer than necessary. I didn't really realize how hard it was to focus on things, until my optometrist was unable to find a better prescription for another year, and I just couldn't focus on anything perfectly, even with the best prescription glasses I could find. After the surgery, everything is much brighter, and in much better focus. I still have glasses, with almost no correction in the top, because I was tired of dealing with reading glasses, putting them on and taking them off. That's a personal preference, some lean one way or another. My advice is to not wait longer than necessary for getting cataract surgery. Medicare covers it. It's one of the most common surgeries performed, and the risks are minimal while the benefits are great. Just find a surgeon who does a lot of them, because like playing guitar, practice is important, lack of it causes issues.

[RJVB]

Do any of you notice this especially when working close up or in poor light? If I go into the basement shop to work on guitars I can come up an my eyes take awhile to adjust.

As with most things, dark-light adaptation doesn't improve with age, nor the speed at and ease with which we can change convergence and focussing.

And the overall state of fatigue has an effect on all that too, even when young.

[deacon Mark]

Replacement lenses are available now which allow one to focus at multiple distances. The downsides are that they are expensive and can cause glare in bright lights, such as when driving and meeting an oncoming car. I opted for standard single-focus lenses because of that, and I'm not unhappy with what I got. I can still focus fairly well at closer distances, but at arm's length or nearer it takes some effort. How well you can see at close range depends on your eyes, everyone is different. Like you, some days are better than others, and that was also the case before the cataract surgery. My only real regret about the surgery is that I waited longer than necessary. I didn't really realize how hard it was to focus on things, until my optometrist was unable to find a better prescription for another year, and I just couldn't focus on anything perfectly, even with the best prescription glasses I could find. After the surgery, everything is much brighter, and in much better focus. I still have glasses, with almost no correction in the top, because I was tired of dealing with reading glasses, putting them on and taking them off. That's a personal preference, some lean one way or another. My advice is to not wait longer than necessary for getting cataract surgery. Medicare covers it. It's one of the most common surgeries performed, and the risks are minimal while the benefits are great. Just find a surgeon who does a lot of them, because like playing guitar, practice is important, lack of it causes issues.

sgosnell, I tell you I was severely myopic and my correct was -12 in the right and -13 in the left eye. When the lasik surgeon did my surgery those 22 years ago I was the worst RX he had done. He said I had plenty of cornea material but was completely reliant on hard contact lenses. They did not have soft lenses for the RX strength. In fact the only was I could read the 20-20 line on the chart was to walk up the the chart and read it at about 7 inches away. What normally some saw at 20 feet I saw at 7 inches. No joke. Dr said I was in the top 1/2 of 1% of those with severe nearsightedness.

The quick story is the next day I could pass a drivers test with no glasses. I manage to not need a revision which was about 40% chance given the large correct. I say this because all my life I have wanted to look out at the long distance and see perfectly. I want to ride my bike and see things way down the road clear sharp. For me that happens rarely.

After 3 months my lasik final RX was that I could see 20/25 the exact same as I was used to seeing in hard contacts. I was one happy dude life changing. Over the years my left eye has remained at 20/25 and the right as I mentioned regressed to -1.5. I have a small correct and if I put those single vision glasses on that correct both eyes I can see 20/20 sharp. That would be cool if I had the lens implant that is used for cataracts if you want best possible distance. I just don't know about the downsize. I could actually be bad as I am working on guitars. Reading all the time and repairing bikes. I might not want to lose all my upclose vision.

A big decision and you cannot know the out come really. Right now with my single vision correct to the best I have to take my glass off for many things to read. I can stlll read the Gospel at Mass without readers and pray the breviary but fine detail work the glasses have to go.

[sgosnell]

My only advice is to talk at length with your ophthalmologist about your history and what you want, and his evaluation of your eyes at the time. I'm just a random internet poster, and all I know is what I experienced. I had 20/20 vision for my entire life until presbyopia began sneaking up on me in my 40s. My near vision became difficult, while my distance vision was still fine. With the cataracts, it all began to be blurry, and eventually glasses didn't completely correct any of it. Close, but not quite. But my experience has little if anything to do with yours. Have a serious conversation with the eye doctor.

[Rickco]

I brought a music stand and some sheet music with me to the optician. I now have excellent vision for reading music. Recommended.

Thankyou for that! as soon as I read it I made my appointment brought my stand and music just got the glasses yesterday...my wife says I sound much better.

[Rob MacKillop]

Haha. Yes, it improves your playing tenfold.

[voxo]

anything that helps the ability to read the tadpoles...i just got the Air turner Usb...nothing to do with Air..add a foot pedal..turn the pages...what an invention..