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organists and eyeglasses

goodwill67

New member
Hello Everyone.

This is not a strictly musical question, but it certainly affects many of us, or at least likely will in some form at some point. I am on the verge of it now. The subject is eyeglasses for organists, particularly handling the needs of different visual distances as occurs with age. At age 41 I am starting to see that I will need a reading lense in the not too distant future. I ordinarily wear contact lenses and switch to glasses in the evening. I told the optometrist that if at all possible I would like to continue wearing contact lenses. He said that it would be quite possible to do so and to wear a reading lense bifocal, or even trifocal at some point as needed, over the contacts. I pointed out that organists must look at a music rack that is highly positioned and that I did not want to have to twist my head very far back in order to see through the reading lense situated in the bottom of a regular bifocal lense whether they are progressive lenses or traditional. I also explained that it would be necessary for me to see the gestures of a conductor at a distance and so just the reading lense alone would be insufficient. He said that I could wear a sort of occupational bifocal over the contact lense consisting of a very high bifocal segment, or even a pair of glasses that is mostly all reading lense with a narrow sliver of distance glass at the top in order to see a conductor. I have heard of organists complaining about bifocals and trifocals but never really considered it further. Now I think I see what they mean. Since you were all so helpful with my page turning question I was wondering if anyone has had any experience with this kind of thing and what kind of solution was employed. I am sorry for such an odd question. Thank You. William
 

methodistgirl

New member
I started to wear reading glasses when I was about your age. I started
with the weakest and now I've graduated up to two notches higher.
I happen to be in my late forties.
judy tooley
 

Krummhorn

Administrator
Staff member
ADMINISTRATOR
Hi William,

A very interesting question ... glad you brought it up.

I wear framed glasses and have the progressive bifocal lenses ... the intensity of the prescription gradually increases towards the bottom of the lens. About three-fourths of an inch band at the top of the lens is for distance (normal) vision.

My music rack at church is level with my nose, so I don't have to tilt the head back in order to focus on the notes, and just by moving my eyeballs, I can see the director who stands just to the right of the console.

Depending upon the engraved font and font height, I can sometimes just remove my glasses and read the music without any correction ... the hymnal and liturgy books are a perfect example of that scenario.

I've thought of getting prescription "readers" ... but I can't get the garden variety readers at the local drugstore as each of my eyes requires a different magnification for proper focus. Guess I will have to bite the bullet and have my Ophthalmologist write a Rx for a pair of separate readers this time around.

I used to wear contacts years ago ... when my eyes degraded to the point where I needed bifocals, I abandoned the contacts. I always get the "graduated bifocal" because I can't stand the "line" that juts across the lens - it gives me headaches.
 

AllanP

New member
I have glasses made with a prescription for an intermediate range of focus something like the middle range in a trifocal. The distance for which the glasses are optimum is set for a reasonable distance for the music rack and computer screen. These glasses are good enough for distance vision (somewhat fuzzy) but work great for music and work at the computer. In bright light, they are OK for reading.

A separate set of glasses are used for distance (I am near sighted).
 

Flute'n'Pedal

New member
It sounds to me as though you have a good opthamologist who understands the seriousness of your atypical situation. The important thing is that you communicate with him, Take exact measurements of the distances from eyes to book, eyes to conductor and so on. If possible, take measurements of the angles. Photos of yourself at the organ can also help, so that he can see what you're talking about. Show him samples of the music you play, since notes are not exactly the same as letters.
 

greatcyber

New member
I also wear contacts during the day and switch to frames at night for watching television. I can read the paper and use the computer (most of the time) without any lenses at all, but I do now need bifocals. I detest them. I have some progressives but just can't get used to the head movement...makes me nuts. I tried and didn't care for bifocal contacts. The last go around I had the opthalmologist give me new contacts. One eye is for distance and the other is for reading. It works out pretty well.

Vanity is the only reason I use contacts as I like to periodically change the colour of my eyes.

Stephen
 

methodistgirl

New member
I can go through a pair of reading glasses in just a few short months
and I have to get another pair because I break them. I guess I either
have the big head or thick hair one. I'm rough on them but I can't see
to read without them.
judy tooley
 

dll927

New member
How about this one? The organ professor I had at San Jose State in the late 1950's had his glasses done so that one side was for distance, the other for closeup. I think that would take some getting used to, but it might work.

My own glasses are trifocals (I'm now 71), and if I had to play a four- or five- manual, I think I would proably have to get a separate pair of glasses for playing. The music rack is just too high for trifocals.

Another aspect of this is a person's height. I'm about 5'7". Someone who is 6'2" might be able to see the music rack from a bit different perspective.
 

Krummhorn

Administrator
Staff member
ADMINISTRATOR
Good point dll927,

The other problem wearers of corrective lenses have to deal with is the different character sizes of the music engraving. With my Dupre editions, I can easily see all the notes without my frames ... the Schweitzer editions (and others) are inherently smaller in comparison and as such require the organist to take on that "crinkled neck" look.

I'm 6'5" and required the bench to be further away, only because my knees get jammed into the choir manual and I can't conveniently operate the expression shoes. With that farther than normal distance, the music rack is also distanced, complicating matters, at least for me.

As I said earlier, guess this time around I need two pair of frames, one for reading and one for distance. I hate getting older :crazy:
 

jvhldb

New member
I think the only decent thing about our organ is the music stand, you can pull it towards you (the runners are nearly a meter long) and can be raised or lowered by about 60cm. With this combination most organists don't have a problem reading the music. Our problem is with the conductor, the choir usually stand in front of the pulpit so the conductor is approx 24m behind the organists back and 3m lower. In the past we had to have a "relay" conductor behind the organ, with the time delay between the relay acting on the condutors hand gestures, the time lag for sound to travel and you had a fruit salad of music. Now we stick a video camera on a tripod, hook it up to a monitor on the organ and zoom until we can see the conductor, but we still have to play a tad ahead of the beat to syncronise with the choir.
 

dll927

New member
A meter??? What kind of organ console do you have? And where are those "runners" About the only adjustment I've ever seen on a music rack is to fold it down to close the console.

You must have a complicated setup. Sounds like the best solution would be to move the console where everybody can see each other.
 

Tûrwethiel

New member
Isn't it fun getting used to trifocals ... and paying for them.

I discovered one advantage of getting on in years last time my eyes were tested. I've worn glasses since I was 10, when it was discovered that my distance vision was bad. However, it's now improved at the ripe old age of none-of-your-business and the optometrist says it's quite common for that to happen.
 

jvhldb

New member
A meter??? What kind of organ console do you have? And where are those "runners" About the only adjustment I've ever seen on a music rack is to fold it down to close the console.

You must have a complicated setup. Sounds like the best solution would be to move the console where everybody can see each other.

The mechanism on the music rack is actually quite simple, two metal rods running through two holes drilled in the organ top, they act as the "sliders" enabling the rack to be pulled forward. Their front ends are bent upwards so that the rack tilts slightly backward. The rack itself is a normal rack with two sprint katches at the back enabling it to be lowered or raised on the bent ends or the rods. The only thing is if you lower it completely it goes past the registration rail so you cant change the registration.

Relocating the organ is not a viable option. It's located on a gallery along the south wall, allowing only enough space for a small choir. On the church floor itself there simply isn't enough space to accomodate the organ. Most of the time the choir stand in front of the pulpit and is accompanied by one of the pianos. The video setup is only used on one or two occasions in the year, like the up cumming inter churches christmas song festival. We have a massed choir of 80-90 singers, the Free State Symphonic Orchestra (about 35 instruments) and about 600 "audiance" members per service so there is no way we can only use the pianos. The orchestra and choir won't fit on the gallery so they will be on the church floor, after about 10 rows of pews are removed to make provision for the orchestra, so they will probably borrow a video camera again for the relay.
 
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