double vision problem

[supernanny]

Hello,

In April, I got hit by a care while biking and thanks to wearing a helmet I can post this message
As a result of the impact, I have a damaged fourth nerve palsy in both eyes, but more substantial in the right eye. So, I now have to chose the right key out of 176 and figure out which one of the twenty fingers go where. In other words: I love to play piano, but with this acquired vision problem, it is a challenge. Good news is that i need to rely on memory more. Luckily the problem is worse when down gazing, so reading music is a kind of ok, though not perfect. But when playing music that asks for jumps and thus use of peripheral vision......that's really hard. i can chose either to tape off one eye for the lower half by putting tape on my glasses, and then I hardly see the right half of the keyboard, or use both eyes so i can see the whole keyboard, but then have to deal with two images.

Does anyone have experienced a similar thing or had dealt with a student that had similar vision problems? If so, what was your experience while playing, what worked in order to play decent?

for now, I backed off from the more serious pieces and focus on lower level music and try to find my way on the key board by touch. (unfortunately, my sense of touch in the right hand, at the side where my bad eye is, is affected by nerve damage from a neck hernia two years ago).


Nanny

[countrymath]

I'm afraid I cant help you with classical music, but if you want to learn pop styles, you could learn with one of those methods for blind people

[lastfrontier]

One of my sons has fairly significant double vision, and tunnel vision. We've just started him with Vision Therapy through an optometrist who is into natural health. Typically, ophthalmologists are not into using much vision therapy, and miss a lot, which is why I recommend a GOOD optometrist. One like that could be very helpful for you. Check with a local health food store, an herbal shop, or call around to some ND's (Naturopathic Doctors) to see if they can recommend someone for vision therapy to treat your problems.  A good chiropractor could help the nerve damage in your hand. The key is to find a really GOOD chiropractor (few and far between )

Best wishes! 

[traceel]

I ran across this site while researching ways to cope with vision problems while playing the piano. I played for many years, but dropped playing when life got too busy. Now that I am retired, I invested in a nice keyboard, but I have found a disconnect between my eyes and the music. I can read and play well with one eye closed, but I cannot focus correctly on the keys with both eyes. This is very frustrating. Reading glasses don't help, they just make everything weird and too large. The only solution I can think of is to hammer away at the scales until muscle memory completely takes over. If anyone has encountered thhis before, please tell me how you overcame it...Thanks!

[geopianoincanada]

If you have a school for the blind in your general area I recommend you speak with them. Blind people love to play music.