Musicians and Progressives Experiment - Day 6 Part 2

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!

Musicans and Progressives Experiment - Day 6 Part 1

(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.

Click here for Part 2.

On Teaching Piano with Multiple Cameras

This week's lessons feature a fun bonus for my students - the addition of the POV camera. My last student of the evening and I had a ball working with the POV camera. By using trakAxPC, I am able to create a split-screen lesson clip. All it took was a little Virtual Choir genius ("Clap 3 times") to sync the two video clips:

Virtual Choir 3 Conductor Video (Soprano) - Water Night from Eric Whitacre on Vimeo.

Here's what a split screen lesson clip looks like:

This way, my students get the exact same perspectives they get when they are sitting at the bench (the straight-ahead view of the score and an HD shot of the peripheral view of their hands. trakAxPC is so easy to use. I haven't even gone through the tutorials!

Music and technology is a wonderful thing.

Musicians and Progressives Experiment - Day 5

Normally, I'm a fairly even-keeled person (or so I'd like to think I am). In the span of five days, I've become increasingly nauseated, emotional and downright snarly. I'm eating the bare minimum because I can't stomach a lot of food. I've probably dropped a dress size. Today, I gave those progressives six hours and six Gravol. I finally broke down and cried. Not just a couple of tears trickling down, but the kind of cry that goes on and on and on. I've wanted to do that since Day 3.  What part of "You'll get used to it and it will feel natural," is this?  Time Length Goal: 12 hours minimum Time Length Progressives Worn: 9:57 AM - 2:57 PM (6 hours) Tasks: Chores, cooking and eating, computer work, Tai Chi Part of the Lenses Used:  48% Intermediate distance, 48% Long Distance, 4% Near "Fine-Print" Distance (accidental) There was a touch of nausea as I practiced Tai Chi. If I feel nausea from practicing a slow martial art, I'd hate to imagine what I'd feel when practicing my sword cuts and Iaido footwork. The nausea increased steadily as I began my computer work. I'm looking at several things to complete my tasks - straight-ahead at the screen, down to the right on my desk to view my student list and quick peeks to the keys to make sure I'm hitting the "CTRL" and "ALT" keys (each of my keyboards are a little different). My eyes moved very quickly from one spot on my desk to the next. I'm sorry. I just can't bring myself to put those progressives on again to teach or practice any of my musical instruments today. I can at least share with you some of the feedback I've received from some of my colleagues with regards to progressives:

• Ivea Mark, a Calgary piano teacher, pianist and organist, liked her first pair of progressives, but not her second. "My first optometrist went to great lengths to find out all my daily needs in order to fit the lenses," she shared. Sadly, that optometrist is no longer available. "The second person did no such thing," she continued. "One question was asked: do you want to see further or closer? And that was it. I now have problems seeing things up close, like reading. Everything is done at arm's length. My peripheral is also limited with this new lens but not in the old pair."
• Another piano teacher hates her progressives. In her words: "They limit my field of vision too much and were a complete waste of money."
• Gwendolyn Richardson Bartek, a piano teacher from Wembley, Alberta, had some hopeful feedback: "I have progressives that are called "office" glasses - They are wonderful. Most of the lens is intermediate range. They are originally designed for working at desks with computer terminals. They have multiple levels, so you can see anything from up close to about 10 feet away just by changing the angle you are looking at it with. I LOVE them!" 
• One member from choir wrote, "I've had progressives since I started taking piano lessons and have always had trouble reading the music. Also, because I work so much on a computer, I've been told that I should have a different Rx for my screen work, which, to my mind is much the same thing."
• (Addendum) Another piano teacher writes, "I have progressives as well. I find they're useless for reading music and for teaching. I need to use single vision glasses for reading music and another pair of single vision glasses for teaching, seeing my students hands etc."
• (Addendum) My colleague, Dan Starr in Arizona told me that he juggles between three pairs of glasses. He happens to teach piano to his optometrist, so his optometrist had a keen understanding of Dan's needs.
• (Addendum) One of my university buddies (a piano accompanist) told me that his optometrist recommended just digging out an older (weaker) prescription to use as reading classes. I have since found my glasses from six years ago. I can report that threading a needle is a piece of cake with my old glasses on.

I've saved the best tidbit for last. One of the ladies who used to play piano in our choir is a licensed optician. She said, "In my professional opinion you are correct," (as far as using standard and short-corridor progressives to read and play music).  However, she does mention a different type of progressive lens, called Home & Office by NIKON. "This lens has wide intermediate and reading with a small distance portion...It wouldn't work as your only pair of glasses but it should work in the musical world."

***

Since I was unable to do anything musical with the progressives on, I used the opportunity to test the in-camera on my smartphone. The phone is holding my music up, so it actually gives you the best view of how a musician's eyes move when they are reading through music in a solo situation:

Really, what it's coming down to is that office progressives are a more suitable choice for musicians. However, at this point, I don't even know if I can even stomach any type of progressive. Literally.  

Musicians and Progressives Experiment - Day 4

When I bought more Gravol today, I took a close look (with my intermediate range vision) at the dosage instructions on the box. It says not to exceed six lozenges a day.

Since I've started taking the Gravol at 4:38 AM Saturday morning, I've polished off a box of 20. That's 10 a day, not including the two drowsy Gravol pills I took before bed. Something is definitely wrong with this picture.

These were today's goals for my progressive glasses: Time Length Goal: 6 hours minimum Time Length Progressives Worn: 12:23 PM - 8ish PM (almost or just about 8 hours). Tasks: Chores, driving, studio-related errands, cooking and eating, computer work Part of the Lenses Used:  49% Intermediate distance, 49% Long Distance, 2% Near "Fine-Print" Distance (accidental) Progressives and chores aren't too bad. Better than Day 3. Wearing progressives while driving, however, was challenging. Shoulder checking and turns were difficult. For someone who relies on her peripheral vision extensively for musical and non-musical tasks, the distortion in those areas is aggravating.

The guitarist in our choir mentioned that he cannot drive with his progressives on. He has a dedicated pair for driving. I can see why. I'm afraid to try driving again with progressives on, especially since I could have caused an accident here:

 

I will try again after I have several days of "mostly progressives" days, which will start...tomorrow. I'm not sure if I'll be able to wear them for more than 12 hours, but I'll try. Our choir director has given the go-ahead to film a small part of this week's rehearsal with and without progressives for the experiment.  I'm so glad I spoke to my father about progressives. His pair sounds more do-able by each passing non-nauseated second. Not sure how well they'd work for music and driving, though.

I'm also curious as to how professional athletes deal with this issue. I imagine their vision focus needs are similar to musicians. Feelings and Symptoms Felt: Fine for the first three hours. A mild headache in the occipital lobe area, which gradually spread across my entire head in a circle as it increased in intensity. It was worst above my eyes. Nausea worsened while driving and reached the point of wanting to assume the fetal position and cry or run for the nearest washroom.