Old guy problem

[DoubleEagle]

I spent a lot of money for what I consider worthless glasses that were remade a couple times, but they couldn't get them so i could use them. I won't do that again.
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[Bob Stevenson]

Interesting topic........

A few points that might be useful;......

1) I find it very helpful to get my detailed music 'blown up' at the local copy shop. This is very inexpensive and the larger A3 (from the original A4) copies are MUCH easier to see, especially for brass band music which is very detailed and hard to see anyway.

2) Good light is essential as mentioned....this is because the iris of the eye is able to close down to a smaller aperture and thus give better resolution.. You can now get excellent LED lights that clip onto the music stand.

3) Opticians don't like you to know, but the eyes use a small set of muscles to pull the lenses in and out of focus...these muscles respond to gentle excercise of the right type (just like all muscles) which can be found online. Muscle tone and condition throughout the body is vital as one gets older ...there are even yoga excercises for eyesight. During WWII Thor Hyerdalh (of Kon Tiki fame) used eye excercises to pass the eye-sight test (and ditch his glasses) before joining the embryo SAS. Eye sight excercise can be very effective as I know myself.

[Jerry]

I got a special pair of glasses made for reading music just as ML52K described.
(I brought a music stand and some music to my eye exam.) When I got the eyeglasses made, I opted for single vision lenses. I can read my music perfectly at a comfortable distance and the conductor is slightly out of focus when I glance up.

[gstump]

Like some of the posts have already said, ask your eye doctor for single lens glasses that are set up for 24-30 inches like a computer screen or music stand.

Bi-vocals sans line con line were an expensive experiment that failed for me.

The conductors might be a little blurry but as long as he/she can hear you they should follow ok.
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Couesnon Flug (1967)
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[Craig Swartz]

[John Mohan]

I can relate to the OP's troubles (I'm 55 now). I am near-sighted. I wear bifocal contact lenses and these work well for me (no frame in the way; I can see the music clearly and I can see the conductor clearly).

My single-vision (non bifocal) glasses that are the correct prescription for me work "okay" for reading from a music stand, but not great (I need the stand to be a little farther from me than it normally would be for the music to be in focus, and then the music is kind of small due to the distance and difficult to read). My backup plan to my contacts (if I ever had to take them out due to a tear on the lens or something), is actually the same glasses I wear when at the computer and not wearing my contacts - my old (circa 1996) prescription eyeglasses. While things at a distance are a little blurry with them (which is a nice way to view most conductors anyway!), things from about 18 inches out to 3 feet or so are perfectly in focus with them.

If you're nearsighted like me, you might try out an older (weaker) prescription of yours (if you still have the glasses) and see if that helps. Or, go to and eye doctor and have him fit you with a prescription of single-vision (no need to spend extra for bi or trifocals for this) glasses set up to put things in the 1 to 4 foot range in perfect focus. I'd make sure the lens areas on the glasses were fairly large so you don't have to cock your head up or down or to the side to get the music stand in view as you play. In this regard, my old 1996 glasses are perfect - they're the typical mid-90's glasses that now make me really look like the nerd I am (think Bill Gates from back then but without the money).

Best wishes,

John Mohan
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