Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Teachers Forum Solution for failing eyesight

My eyes are not what they used to be.

I am wondering if someone has experienced someone's solution to this issue and found it to work very nicely.

I know I can enlarge the print on larger sized paper or purchase a lap top computer and read off of the computer monitor. These options are not being considered at this time.

I am interested in some form of magnifying the sheet music as it sits on the stand.

If you Google 'A4 Fresnel Lens' and can find a way to mount it in front of your music sheets, it may be useful

I hope this isn't to obvious but have you looked into glasses "tuned" to the distance from you eyes to the music stand. In my recorder group, where I am the youngest at 55, many of our players find the music stand to be at an transitional distance, too far for reading glasses but too close for distance correction lenses. Many if not most of them have special glasses just for reading music.

Good Luck

Kurt

For music reading, I have special lenses made up. They are optimized by the specialist for 48 inches. But I had them made as bi-focals, with a larger than normal lower part, and "far" for the upper half, so if I'm working with a group, I can see the director or other musicians.

I had single vision glasses made for the distance of the music stand. It was a bit expensive, but I was about to give up playing in ensembles otherwise.

Like John, I have bifocals specifically for reading (books) a shorter distance, and for computer. The computer option is perfect for reading my sheet music.

I too found that glasses just for reading at piano are helpful.

casinitaly, thanks for signature line chicken poop quote.

Sounds like you just need a suitable pair of reading glasses! The ones prescribed for general reading will be a little too strong. I have a pair of +2.5 on a string round my neck for reading, +2 sitting on the piano and by the computer, +3 by the bedside for reading when my eyes are tired! These are all from the cheapjack shop. My only optician-bought glasses are in the car - I need +1 for driving and don't want to be pulled up for not wearing the right prescription if there's an incident!

For the price, you might as well get one of these and try it out!
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Full-Page-Magnifying-Sheet-Fresnel-Lens-3XMagnification-/250837545942
But I think you'll find it more trouble than it's worth.

I have one I use to read contract language at work.

It's better than nothing, but not much better. I could not imagine playing music with it.

Thank you for the responses, so far.

The suggestions about glasses are good ideas but I forgot to mention that I already wear glasses and have a pair I had made just for playing piano. I could look into fine tuning them for the exact distance I am dealing with but I do not think that is the issue. I still may look into that.

I am basically looking for proven magnification options. I have looked into the various magnifying products and I am less than satisfied that they are the answer. That is why I am looking for someone with first hand experience with one of these products.

But, thank you anyway for your thoughts.

I will check back later to see if anyone with personal experience has chimed in.

I'll be interested, too. I think I know where you're coming from, if it's anywhere near my experience. I have the piano-specific glasses, which work for all normal music. However, when the print is really small I have problems. If I were reading a book, I'd just take off my glasses (I'm basically short-sighted) and read with the book fairly close to my eyes. You simply can't do that at the piano, so I have no way of reading small music at the piano - things like miniature orchestral scores, for instance, which I could read quite easily before middle-age long-sightedness combined with my short-sightedness. If any of these products actually work, I'd be rather pleased. Until then, I enlarge what I can, and insist singers/instrumentalists I accompany give me decently sized scores.

Good lighting helps too.

Excellent point. Some well-directed lighting can be as good as a stronger pair of glasses. More light- pupils contract. Just like a camera, smaller aperture = increased depth of field.

I suspect the best option will be the visual reality glasses that gamers use. But I'm not technologically literate to know if they can work for music yet.

"...I know I can enlarge the print on larger sized paper or purchase a lap top computer and read off of the computer monitor. These options are not being considered at this time. I am interested in some form of magnifying the sheet music as it sits on the stand."

Yes, the right single-distance glasses, the good lamp. I could add, that not all music publishers are created equal, and those which don't trouble to print their music in a manner that is readable, I don't buy.

It is possible to scan and then print out music, at a larger size print (of your choice), on any size paper, and on your regular desktop printer and paper. Though, possibly you may have a happier result on better-quality stiffer, more opaque and whiter paper.

I did not buy a laptop for the purpose, but when I moved up to a newer desktop I found that the old screen fit well on top of my piano, and the display just fit two pages of music. There are monitor stands these days that hold the screen in the air anywhere you wish, so you would still be able to use your piano's present music desk for regular music.

Here's hoping you will find a solution that's agreeable. I think a combination of the right glasses, good lighting, and readable music will work for you. Single-vision glasses are not that expensive.