Dear Anthony,
I recommend the close to medium prescription for lute playing and this
should differ slightly from a regular reading prescription. When you
next go to get glasses tell them you want reading glasses for a
specific distance. Measure your eyeball to music stand distance before
you go. Have them make their prescription for that distance and
dedicate these for your lute playing. A competent optometrist will
make two adjustments to your prescription: the focus at that distance
and the parallax (the distance from the centers of the lenses changes
as you look at close objects to further objects. In other words, as
you look at closer objects your eyes "cross" and allowance should be
made for this. Of course, the distance decreases for closer objects;
at infinity the centers are the same distance as the centers of your
pupils. It may seem negligible but can be a source of eye strain and
headache if not addressed.)
I don't believe the progressive lenses always take parallax into
account though I might be wrong. I've only recently entered the world
of Needingglassess but have worked in optics for a few years.
Always the optimist,
Sean
On Nov 21, 2009, at 2:08 PM, Anthony Hind wrote:
Dear Lutenists
I was having problems sending messages from my usual mail,
so I
am trying out my Yahoo Mail.
Rather than just making a test, I wonder whether any of you can
help me
relating to suitable glasses for reading music.
I understand that the usual progressive glasses are almost useless,
because of their narrow field of view, and it has been suggested
that I
try degressive lenses (close to middle distance).
Have any of you tried these? I was told that they maintain an
excellent
field of view, and could be as good, or better than single purpose
(music reading or computer) lenses.
This obviously means, I will also need either long view glasses or
progressive lenses for normal outdoor use.
Any experience with these degressive lenses would be of interest
to me.
Regards
Anthony
--
To get on or off this list see list information at
http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
