Klarinet Archive - Posting 000415.txt from 2001/12

From: "Marcia S. Bundi" <mbundi@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] Playing With Glasses
Date: Wed, 19 Dec 2001 15:29:14 -0500

On Sun, 16 Dec 2001 23:06:57 -0500 Bill Hausmann
<bhausmann1@-----.net> writes:
>At 10:36 PM 12/16/2001 -0500, Larry Zaidan wrote:
>>Dear listers,
>>
>>I am finally getting to that point in life, and was wondering if there
is any experience you can share as to >what kind of glasses work well for
far-sighted musicians. Do those "half" glasses (the ones that look
>like the bottom half of bi-focals) work? Thanks in advance!

Not exactly what the lister was asking for, but I've seen some comments
about other types of glasses, so I thought I'd respond.

I am very nearsighted, and have been for as long as I can remember. I've
finally had to join the ranks of those who have "mature" eyesight and get
bifocals -- I was having to take off my glasses to read, as they were too
strong for close work.

The bifocals made playing very uncomfortable, especially the bass (I'm a
short person and it's a tall instrument): I was getting a stiff neck from
trying to keep a proper mouthpiece angle while being able to see the
music through the upper part of the glasses. When I went back to have the
lenses adjusted, the optician was a bit surprised that I wanted the lower
part of the lens to be a smaller portion of it. I'm so nearsighted that I
read music with all but the close-reading portion of the bifocal, and
having too large an area was interfering. Now that this part is a smaller
prt of the lens, I'm not having any problems. They're graduated lenses,
too, and that isn't causing any problems, either. And no more stiff neck!

Our orchestra has some special "cello chairs," whose seat portions are
lifted up about 2" higher than the other chairs. This extra height really
helps me deal with the too-short-person-for-the-too-tall-instrument stiff
neck problem. No, I can't adjust the peg -- I don't even use it. I have a
little piece of carpeting that goes under the bell and stores in the case
when I'm not using it.

Marcia
Great Falls, MT

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