The Musical Muse
Blog dedicated to music education, practice tips, health & wellness, and geeking out.
My Musicians and Progressives experiment wrapped up just over a week ago. I'm eagerly awaiting my snazzy purple frames, which will return to me as "normal" eyeglasses. Part of me has been mulling over exactly why so many musicians say that that it is impossible to use progressives for music and also, why I am in that 5 - 10% of people who had an adverse reaction to progressive lenses.
For those of you who have been following my Musicians and Progressives Experiment, you'll be happy to hear that I did go to my optometrist's office today and asked for "normal glasses". I did learn a few interesting things that I can share:
This is my third day with my short-corridor progressives firmly closed in their case. It's been heavenly without the nausea. My appetite has returned in full force, I'm back to being my mostly even-keeled self. I've returned to my regular activities. I continue to receive feedback from various sources. Here are some of the comments that I've received from of of my piano students' parents:
Continuing on with where I left on in Day 6 of my Musicians and Progressives Experiment... (5:00 - 6:15 PM) Noticed that if I did everything at "granny speed", no nausea. Even nodding and shaking my head at normal speed was an issue as far as nausea goes.
(6:30 PM) Took advantage of a non-nauseated moment to eat supper. Soup and rice - AGAIN! Have I mentioned how tired I am of eating nothing but soup & rice?
(7:25 PM) Friend is driving us to choir practice. If I close my eyes, I don't feel like throwing up. Great, so now I can't even be a passenger with progressives on?
(7:50 PM) I start the rehearsal with the progressives on. Warm-ups are difficult. It's the same feeling I got when driving. Although I can play these without looking at the keys, I must look directly at Eugenia, our conductor, to be in focus. In doing so, I kink my vocal chords, which is a recipe for injury as far as singing goes.
In this clip, I start by having my eyes move naturally (for a musician). Eyes on the music, looking through the peripheral for cues from the conductor and taking quick peeks as needed at the keyboard. Not good. Nausea is really ramping up at this point.
Then, I try moving my head so that whatever I want to focus on, is in focus. That is just as bad. You may want a barf bag handy to watch that part.
In both cases, too many compromises were made: dropped notes, dropped beats, that feeling of not being completely in sync with the ensemble.
(8:15 PM) Now that I've adjusted to having my "normal" glasses on, I can play normally. With quick peeks down through the periphery, with a slight adjustment of my head so I can view Eugenia, the music and the keyboard with one glance. You can see that I don't need to move my head as much. I can keep my vocal chords aligned and sing while playing. No visual distortion. Ain't life grand.
Have I sufficiently demonstrated why so many musicians say that "progressives are useless" for reading and playing music? The distortion is in our periphery makes it impossible to function as a successful (even passable) working musician. We need our periphery to be without distortion. Period. I think I've also proven that I'm certainly NOT adapting to progressives. There is a positive correlation between the nausea I feel and the time I wear them for. Things are definitely becoming progressively worse with each passing day, pun intended. I can't drive. I can't teach properly. Nor can I read and play music successfully. Nor can I do computer work. I can't do Tai Chi. I can't even take a splinter out with them on. I'm limited to digestive cookies, soup and rice. Quality of life is severely diminished. I don't even want to try another type of progressive. I can't afford it - on any level. I'm not just talking about financially. I mean, physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually as well. I'd much rather have single-vision lenses and just accept that my distance vision isn't going to be as good as it was 20 years ago. I want my peripheral vision to be non-distorted. I want to eat normally. I want things to go back to being normal. At this point, I close the experiment. I refuse to wear my progressives. I'm tired of torturing myself. I want my "non-adapt" lenses. Appointment is on Monday. It can't come soon enough. *** Special thanks to my friends in the 10:45 St. Patrick's Choir for their help!
(11:15 AM) A pattern is starting to emerge but for me to be certain, I need to test it. It would seem that there is a positive correlation between the severity of my nausea to the length of time I wear the progressives for. I will test this by trying to wear these progressive lenses for as long as possible today. I've only told two people at this point, two who will not colour the experiment in progress. I don't want external opinions and suggestions to influence the day. My dear colleagues have been hankering for me to return the glasses for several days now.
You may ask, "Why are you doing this?" Well, two reasons. First, you need at least three recurrences to really show that there is a pattern. The second time could be a fluke but if something recurs three or more times, then you know there's something. Second, I feel that I need to show that I really am trying.
Time Length Goal: Minimum 8 hours or until I can no longer carry out my tasks for the day/night Time Length Progressives Worn: 11:05 AM - 8ish PM (9 hours) Tasks: Chores, cooking and eating, computer work, Tai Chi, teaching music, choir rehearsal Part of the Lenses Used: All three areas but am using my eyes as normally as possible.
By the way, I should also say I needed two drowsy Gravol before bed last night. Here's the first part of my day:
(12:21 PM) Light nausea. Not enough to pop a Gravol. Will eat cookies instead.
(12:30 PM) Got a splinter putting a soup can in recycling. Tried to use the "fine-print" vision range. Found that it was too blurry. I could see the splinter so clearly when I relied on my own near-sightedness (i.e., sans glasses).
(12:45 PM) Headache is starting in occipital lobe region. Starting to wind its way forward around my head.
(2:00 PM) Just finished teaching a one-hour lesson. Floaty head. Lovely.
(2:45 PM) Head in forehead is starting to hurt. This makes computer work truly lovely.
(3:02 PM) Perfect! Nausea is steadily increasing as I continue to work on the computer. Time for two Gravol and a much needed break to fortify myself to teach.
(3:33 PM) Need another two Gravol. Nausea continues to worsen. Eyes flitting at music, hands, student and studio cameras, which is standard fare. I'm not even done teaching second student of the day!
(4:20 PM) Just finished teaching Student #3. Was just about to vomit over the piano while demonstrating a new piece to a student. I'm still shaking.
On one hand, I'm not impressed. On the other hand, I'm happy to see that my original hypothesis of whether progressives could be used for music, is being proven correct. Gloriously so. Will force another two Arrowroot-type cookies down and try to pace the Gravol. Either way, overdosing on Gravol or cookies isn't something I want to do for the long-term.
At this rate, I should ask my friend to pack me a barf bag for choir practice. I'm also thinking that instead of doing the rehearsal with the progressives on, I'll show how musicians' eyes move in normal (read: single-vision lens) situations. It all depends upon how the last two lessons go.
