I'm fairly short sighted and have been wearing glasses for the last five years or so and they've never really given me any problems, but for the last week I've been on an orchestra residential, so rehearsing in an orchestra five-or-so hours a day.
For a while I've noticed that because my chin is on my violin (obviously), I can't move my head much while I play and when I look at the conductor, it's over the top of my glasses. This hasn't caused much of a problem, I can see enough to see the beat, only problem being I can't tell if the conductor's grinning or scowling at us
But in the last week, I've got to know some of the pieces alot better, so I can look at the conductor more and for longer periods of time.
The problem I get is that when I do this and then look back at the music quickly, I get a sort of dizzy sensation as my eyes adjust back to looking through my glasses, which is really off-putting.
I've been wondering if getting contact lenses would help with this, or whether I'll need to get different glasses for playing
Any thoughts?

I get this too a bit and also can't use really bright white paper if the room is well lit. I don't know if it's to do with glasses or not. You should be able to move your chin enough to look up though, there is a technique issue if you feel your chin HAS to be in contact with the violin all the time. When I sorted that problem out for myself and stopped "clamping" I found that helped a lot with the re-focusing, but maybe you should go to the opticians just to see if there's anything they can do.

Or get contact lenses

Double post....

I'd imagine this could have something to do with the correction of the lenses. If the correction is quite strong, then the two different views in rapid succession (from uncorrected to corrected) can give you a sudden sense of disorientation, cauing the fluid in the inner ear canals to swish around in what they think is an attempt to stabilise your body from a potential fall.

Contact leneses are very likely to prevent this from happening, but the contacts themselves don't suit everyone. If you've not worn them before, it might be worth trying out some disposable ones first to see how you get on.

I wear bi-focals but I am unable to read music with these glasses; I do have a set of glasses for reading music but when I look at the conductor he is a bit fuzzy round the edges as I sit at the back of the seconds. Perhaps you too will need a pair just for reading music.

Oh no... this thread has just given me something to worry about. We have just been told that my 9 year old violin playing daughter needs glasses as she is short-sighted. I talked to the optician who thought she would need them for violin playing but not for piano playing (music is closer). I thought it's be easy enough for her to play in strings group etc with her glasses on.... but not being a glasses -wearer, didn't think about adjusting her sight to see the conductor (I imagine she just won't bother watching the conductor!!!!!! ) Glasses come next week.

I am also shortsighted and I think I got glasses around the same age as your daughter (loooong time ago now so I can't remember exactly!) I played in string groups/ orchestras with glasses until I got contacts aged 18. Maybe young eyes are better at changing focal distance or something because I don't remember there ever being a problem - except with one pair that didn't fit and kept sliding down my nose, but that's another story! So here's hoping your daughter doesn't have any problems!

I second the contacts idea - the kind of peripheral vision you are using to check what the conductor is up to is just what contacts do best (especially if you have quite different vision in one eye from the other).

Well worth a try - a good optometrist will check after you have worn contacts for a couple of hours, to see if they are likely to cause trouble.

Thanks for all your thoughts, I'm going to the opticians either today or tomorrow, so will have a chat. Looks like contacts will probably be the best/easiest option, but will see what is said.

Nicki - I've worn glasses since I was 11 and played violin in orchestras practically all that time and I've only just started having problems. However, over that time my eyes have been getting steadily worse and maybe I'm looking at the conductor more, now that I'm in a more advanced orchestra, I don't know.

Have you considered making enquiries with your optician about corrective surgery? As someone under the age of 18, could it be done free on the NHS?

I know a fair number of people (adults) who've had the laser treatment to correct short-sightedness and all of them said it was the best money they've ever spent. If you could get it done free, while you are still of school age, all the better. You would never need glasses again - well, not for short-sightedness anyway, and think of how much money that would save you in a lifetime!

I had a similar problem in that i am very short sighted, and when i looked over the top of my glasses, I could no longer see the baton. Solution for me was contact lenses. They are fantastic, and i can see so much better.
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