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Bifocal Glasses
Quick question – does anyone else have trouble with vertigo with their double string harp since getting bifocal glasses ? I had a terrible time when I started playing again – found I had to use my computer glasses where the focal length was anywhere from 18 inches to 6 feet. My reading glasses wouldn’t work for me because I didn’t have enough focal length for the music stand – and the bifocals just caused me to strain my neck looking up and down too much.
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4 Replies
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Hi Pamela,
I don’t get vertigo, but I’ve always had to wear my computer/reading bifocals when playing harp, whether single or double-strung. I don’t have neck strain as you describe, because my head doesn’t move much when switching from looking down at the strings (through the close-up reading lenses) to looking out toward the music stand (through the upper, “computer” lens. Would adjusting the position of the glasses on your nose help?
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I work in eyes and computer glasses are the best as far as design for all of our ranges on the harp. With regular progressives, the clear vision channel down the middle is too narrow and the part that we need, the intermediate and near, is down too low to be useful for the music stand(thus needing to tip the chin up causing neck strain). True office glasses(as you said, for the 16/18 inch range to 6 feet) have a wider area and work well from stand to strings and the music stand portion would then be straight ahead saving your neck. I recommend office glasses for our ranges that we need to see. They are a neck saver when needing help with the near stuff over 40 🙂
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I also have computer glasses, with the main prescription length of 22 inches and the lower “bifocal” area length is more like 6-12 inches (for seeing the keyboard or writing.) I LOVE using them for playing my harp and it works so much better for me than my everyday glasses with progressive lenses. I hope you find a way to avoid the vertigo problems.
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Thank-you for your replies – guess I was on the right track using the computer glasses ! I do appreciate your time and help.
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