Welcome to LivingPianos.com, I’m Robert Estrin. Today’s subject is about the challenge of playing the piano while wearing glasses. I was lucky enough to be born with perfect vision. To this day my distance vision is 20/20. But for close vision I need reading glasses, like almost everybody at a certain age. One of the problems with wearing glasses while playing piano is you can see your score fine, but the bottom of the frames oftentimes forms a line right where the keys are and it blurs everything out.
Find glasses that are the right size for your needs.
With larger reading glasses, you can see everything through the lenses. But it’s really not necessary. I’ve found smaller glasses allow me to see the music just fine, but they don’t go very low. I can see the score well, and I don’t need glasses to see the keys. They’re big. It’s not a problem, whatsoever. But you have to find something that works for you.
Bifocals can be really distracting while trying to play the piano.
My wife is a flutist. She has specific glasses for reading music while still being able to see a conductor. The possibilities and the combinations of what you need to see when playing the piano will dictate what sort of eyewear you need. Contact lenses could make a great choice. But even people with contact lenses eventually need reading glasses. So, I wonder how many of you have found little tricks, like the smaller glasses I have found which allow me to see the keys without going through the lenses, but still see the music through the glasses. It’s an unusual pair of reading glasses that I just happened to notice worked really well for this purpose.
So that’s a little tip for reading your music and playing the piano with glasses. I’d love to hear from you! Tell me about any challenges you’ve faced or solutions that might help other people. Thanks again for joining me! I’m Robert Estrin here at LivingPianos.com, Your Online Piano Resource.
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12 thoughts on “Glasses Made for Reading Music at the Piano”
I actually put my terminal glasses upside down. Looks crazy, but works ad hoc. That way the glasses sit higher on my nose, and I see only the sheet through the lenses.
That’s a very creative solution!
I have the same problem as this writer. I get diZzy looking down at the keyboard. Please pass on any recommendation that you may have
As I mentioned, the solution for me is to have glasses that sit high on my face. So I look at the music through the glasses, and the keys underneath the glasses. Another solution would be to have very large glasses in which you see both the music and the keyboard through the glasses.
This is my very problem! I wear contacts but now need reading glasses to see the sheet music, but not for the keys. Reading glasses drive me crazy when I glance down at the keys; it makes me feel dizzy and I lose my place in the song. I will be discussing this with my eye doctor on my next visit. I had hoped to get away without having to buy any glasses this time (daily wear contact are spendy enough on their own), but that never seems to happen. The good news is, it’s an excuse to buy fun, sparkly glass frames! 😉
Hopefully you can find something that works well for reading the music while playing the piano – good luck!
I solved the eyeglasses dilemma by measuring the distance between my eyes and the music on my piano’s music stand and then ordering rimless glasses for that exact distance. It worked perfectly!
Where did you get glasses made for a specific distance?
Your optometrist should be able to provide a prescription if you give him/her the distance from your eye to the music in your most comfortable playing position. I told my optometrist that I played the piano and normal reading glasses were not adequate. She asked me to go home, measure the distance and report back. She wrote me a prescription without delay.
My wife has a special pair of glasses just for reading music.
Where did you order your glasses ?
I was just lucky that Costco had glasses that were right for this purpose! They have different reading glasses each time you go there. So it’s hit or miss. That video was made a while ago. I now am comfortable using glasses where I can see both the music and the keys through the glasses. However, I don’t use glasses when playing from memory.