Can’t you just use regular reading glasses for piano?
No. Reading glasses are optimized for 10″-15″ distance. Piano sheet music is further away, similar to a computer screen (20″-25″.)
What about “off the rack” glasses at the drugstore?
Actually, you can save some money by doing this but ONLY in the following situation: This idea will work only for people who need readers but who currently have great distance vision. What you do is this: whatever your normal reading glasses prescription is, cut it down by one diopter. So, if your normal reading glasses are a +2.5, then go to the drugstore and get a +1.5. But make sure the frames are HUGE. if you get the stylish narrow frames, you cannot use them for piano glasses.
Why do you not recommend progressives or bifocals for the piano?
This is because the upper and lower lenses are different with these type of glasses. But if you really investigate, at the piano, the distances are the exact same: eye-sheet music, eye-keyboard. It does not make sense to have a different prescription for the upper and lower lens. There should just be ONE LENS (“single lens”) for piano glasses.
Can’t you just get piano glasses at your local eye doctor or optician?
Yes you can, but only if they have “oversize, square, aviator or browline frame styles. Many local stores do not carry these styles.
Why is it important to have large frames for piano glasses?
To allow optimal head angle, where you aim your whole head half-way between the sheet music and your hands, and you look up and down with eyes only. If you have the “modern” thinner style glasses, you end up looking up at the sheet music OVER the rim of your glasses. This defeats the point of having piano glasses!
I Have the Large Frames but They Keep Sliding Down my Nose.
You can adjust two things: if you have wire frames, you can gently squeeze the nose pads together a little. You can also bend the temples where they wrap around your ears a little tighter. If you have plastic frames, you cannot adjust the nose pads but you can bend the part that goes around your ears. You can carefully heat the plastic up with a hair dryer and then bend and hold.
