 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Gary
Date: 2011-06-08 03:42
I have been using bifocals for regular daily activities but have a set of "dedicated music glasses" for orchestral/wind ensemble playing (which btw my wife hates because the lenses are in some old half lens readers). Time has come to get some new glasses,since my far vision changed for the worse; my music glasses prescription is still okay according to the optometrist but the frame guy is giving me the "full court press" for progressive lens glasses to solve all my vision issues because the technology has changed so dramatically. Appreciate any input from the aging population that has reached the bifocal age.
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Author: Chris Hill
Date: 2011-06-08 03:54
I have progressives, and they are completely useless for me when it comes to reading music. The problem is that they have only a small area that you can see a certain distance through. As a result, you will have to keep moving your head down for each line. I love my progressives outside of reading music, but I won't even consider using them when I'm playing.
My music bifocals have the line high-over half of the lens is for the music, and the smaller portion is for the conductor. (Insert conductor joke here.)
Chris
Post Edited (2011-06-08 03:57)
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Author: davetrow
Date: 2011-06-08 05:05
Chris has it right: progressives are useless for music. His music bifocals are exactly what I plan to get when I can afford them: for now I use my reading glasses and accept that the director is a bit fuzzy. The only real problem is that I have to put my stand up high (I play bass clarinet) to see the bottom of the music, which makes the trombones hate me.
Dave Trowbridge
Boulder Creek, CA
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Author: tictactux ★2017
Date: 2011-06-08 06:33
I bought dedicated computer/music glasses that are optimised for ~80..120cm distance (halfway between near and far sight). Progessives made the music look like it sounds here. ![[whoa]](http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/smileys/smilie10.gif)
Being a bass clarinet player as well, I wouldn't dream of using bifos, I'd rather have a large field of vision - my head position is already restricted enough with the instrument.
FWIW Zenni and Cheapglasses123 are good and cheap.
--
Ben
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Author: kdk
Date: 2011-06-08 12:06
My experience also is that progressives are great for all-the-time use but the area that you can use for music distance is just too small in a standard progressive lens to be comfortable.
I know at least one local player who has special progressives with a larger mid-distance area that he says works well for reading music. I guess the advantage over single distance music glasses is that he can see the conductor clearly through the top (distance) portion of the lens and can see close objects well enough through the reduced reading portion on the bottom to be able to set a reed on his mouthpiece accurately.
For myself, I use bifocal contact lenses, which work well enough for reading music that is well-printed, so that I often don't need to wear glasses at all for orchestra playing. I supplement them with inexpensive drug store half-height readers when the music is too light, too small, or poorly printed, especially when lots of chromatic signs are involved - the hardest thing is distinguishing sharps and naturals. With the smaller-framed glasses I can still look over the top of the frame to see the conductor.
Karl
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Author: Ed
Date: 2011-06-08 12:11
I completely agree that progressives are useless for reading music. I got them a few years back as my close up vision has gotten worse and found exactly as Chris and others stated. A dedicated music pair works for my needs and I can see the whole page as needed.
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Author: ohsuzan
Date: 2011-06-08 13:28
Just to make it unanimous, progressives DO NOT work very well for reading music from a music stand, unless you can hold your head totally still. Otherwise, every time you move even slightly, your focus field changes, and you will lose your place. Get a pair of dedicated music glasses, or half-glasses, if you persist in wanting to watch the conductor.;)
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Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2011-06-08 13:44
Me too, I agree. I can manage with my progressive on regular clarinet but have to move my head up and down with the music so it's a bit impractical and on bass clarinet its impossible since it sits on a peg and I can't move my head up and down at all so the answer for both is, dedicated reading glasses for music. Bring in a music stand with you to get the distance right when you have your exam for them. ESP eddiesclarinet.com
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2011-06-08 14:02
In addition to having a small in-focus area for the music stand distance, progressive lenses are usable only in a narrow stripe up and down the middle of the lens. Everything to either side is out of focus. That means you have to track your head from left to right to read the line and snap it back, like a manual typewriter carriage return, to go to the next line.
I tried sample progressive lenses once, for 15 seconds, and said "not for me."
Ken Shaw
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Author: Joseph Brenner, Jr.
Date: 2011-06-08 15:09
When my ophthalmologist told me that I needed bifocals, he recommended "straight line bifocals." But I tried "progressive lenses." My new progressive lenses enabled me to regress, by tripping and wasting time trying to find where to focus my eyes to read. In short, they were an unmitigated disaster. The question posed relates to reading music, but heck, regardless of whether you need to read music, or walk down the street, if you need bifocals, forget progressive lenses and buy straight line bifocals OR separate lenses for distance and close work. Whoever invented and whoever promotes progressive lenses should spend eternity listening non stop to to an ensemble of saxophones and bagpipes.
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2011-06-08 15:19
Joseph Brenner, Jr. wrote:
> Whoever invented and whoever promotes progressive lenses should
> spend eternity listening non stop to to an ensemble of
> saxophones and bagpipes.
What? And give them the pleasure of listening to Seamus Ennis and Sigurd Rascher? I think not ...
Perhaps an ensemble of violin students finishing their 4th week of lessons playing "Three Blind Mice" for eternity...
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Author: GeorgeL ★2017
Date: 2011-06-08 16:02
If it would work for you (both medically and financially), I'd recommend corrective eye surgery.
Prior to my Lasik treatment in 2002, I was trying to play bass clarinet from the middle lens of trifocals. I got a monovision treatment; one eye was corrected for distance; the other eye for reading. If I had not been able to adjust to monovision, the reading eye would have been corrected to distance and I would have used reading glasses for music and work.
Since the surgery, I read music using both eyes without glasses. I do use glasses for driving (not because it is required, but because it is more comfortable) with one corrective lens for the reading eye; a clear lens for the distance eye), but I have only had two pairs of those glasses since 2002. For reading or computer work at home, I occasionally use a pair of $10 reading glasses where I have removed the lens for my reading eye.
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Author: Bob Phillips
Date: 2011-06-08 16:48
I couldn't use progressive lenses because only a narrow horizontal strip of the page would be readable, and I'd have to lift and lower my head to put that strip where I needed it.
That raised hell with my embouchure.
I have implanted lenses after cataract surgery optimized for distant vision (a poor choice, it turns out). I have half-glasses for close work that I can see over when needed.
I also have a pair of full-lense music glasses optimized for arms-lenght distance. The conductor is blurry sometimes!
Bob Phillips
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Author: kdk
Date: 2011-06-08 16:56
Which, depending on the conductor, can be an advantage. 
Karl
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Author: Wes
Date: 2011-06-08 19:32
Try Zenni Optical for glasses! They were $9 for prescription glasses plus $5 for shipping. I bought 5 pairs and they fit better than those from the optician.
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Author: Bennett ★2017
Date: 2011-06-09 02:25
I use progressives and love them. However, this is not the place to ask. Take your clarinet and some music to your eye doctor - not a computer bulletin board.
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Author: Gary
Date: 2011-06-09 06:28
I have been to my eye doctor and have been using glasses with a focal length at about a little more than arm's length for about five years 9he uses a sheet of music to make the determination). The optometrist says that prescription has not changed but his frame/optician guy says I can get rid of the "music glasses" and use progressives for everything. They can not simulate the progressives and it takes several hundred dollars to try them out. They'll change the progressives back to bifocals for no charge but the extra price for progressives is not refundable. I think, with due respect, it is a good idea to go to a bulletin board of clarinet players. I have also accessed a bulletin board of violin/string players and their answers are much like the responses in this clarinet bulletin board (narrow midrange window and possible blurring at the edges). Thanks to all for the responses.
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Author: Tony F
Date: 2011-06-09 07:26
I use progressive lenses for normal, non-musical use and they work just fine, but I find them less than ideal for music. I tried going back to my old bifocals, but the prescription was too old to be of use, so now I use a pair of cheap half-frame reading glasses.
Tony F.
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Author: Tom Puwalski
Date: 2011-06-09 13:31
I just got a my first pair or Music reading glasses the other day. I haven't received them yet, but my eye doctor and clarinetist Stu Hirsch, recommended a progressive lens with most of it going from arm's length with a small section of really close, so I can see my reed when I need to.
What ever you decide get Zeiss lenses with the "artistic vision" coating. The artistic vision coating is anti scratch and will help you recognize the important notes in the phrase.
a few safety tips:
Don't go on ebay and try to find lenses made from "vintage" glass, you don't need lenses from "back when they were good"
Don't try to get Harold Wright's, or Robert Marcellus's lenses. Those worked for those guys and may work for you OR even be authentic.
Don't feel you have to have your lenses "after market" modified. Suck it up and play with them they way your Doctor prescribed them
and don't think that sticking the same lenses in new frames are going to make you see any better. Get your eyes examined.
Later Tom Puwalski who is amazed how much eye glasses are like mouthpieces
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