THE EYES HAVE IT
Hearing loss, sometimes avoidable, often the gift of advancing years, has ended the careers of too many fine musicians and blighted those of others. The subject remains one of the great taboos among professional performers – a burden never to be shared for fear of losing out to younger colleagues. It can also drain the spirit from keen amateur music makers, those who play or sing for pleasure, reminding each of their failing powers. While hearing health tops the musicians’ list of wellbeing concerns, sight loss is often ignored until those little black and white notes on a page have turned from familiar friends into blurred battalions. Pianists returning to, or learning the instrument as a retirement project, may discover that what once could be taken for granted – shifting focus from music stand to keyboard – now defeats their natural eyesight.
One reader’s letter to , published under the heading ‘Wobbly Sight’ in issue 110, opened the floodgates to correspondence about age-related sight loss and how to beat it. Nicola Harvey began the conversation by writing about her experience of taking her first graded piano examination at the age of 60 and shrinking in horror at the distance separating the exam centre’s grand piano keyboard from its music stand. As the wearer of strong prescription varifocal glasses, she became nauseous while
