I have posted in the past on various topics about my daughter's experience of learning to read music and the principle of writing letter names / fingerings over the notes.

My daughter has found learning to read music hard. Over the last year she has developed quite a good ability to recognise patterns and to play accordingly but individual notes have still tended to be a bit hit and miss and she insisted that very often she couldn't tell whether a note was in a line or on a space, which I found hard to understand. Anyway, she kept moving the music stand closer when she was playing the cello so last week I took her to have her eyes tested and discovered she is really quite short-sighted (-2.25). Yesterday she got her glasses and when she wore them to do some cello practice she kept saying in an absolutely amazed voice: "It's so clear, the notes all look different to each other." My conclusion is that she genuinely couldn't see at a distance precisely where a notes was and that she was playing by pattern because she could see shapes.

I am now feeling quite guilty about not having done something about it earlier (since she also came home from school saying the blackboard was so much clearer and she had been one of the first to finish her work instead of one of the last). However, in my defence, her teacher at school hadn't noticed anything and my daughter has had her eyes tested at school every year since she was four and they never sent us a letter saying there was anything wrong.

All this to say that if you have pupils who are struggling to read notes, despite a certain amount of good will, it would perhaps be worth suggesting that they have their eyesight checked.

Kerioboe, you must feel so pleased that you have solved this one! I identify with the feelings you describe though - we had a similar thing with our son when he was little, although it was picked up before he went to school. He got through the nhs eye test at ? around 2 I think it was (the doctor was babysitting while working and I guess I should have insisted on a second eye-test, there were signs, looking back, that he did not pick up). It was a year or two later when a neighbour, who is a paediatrician, commented that he was showing signs of possible vision defects. "I'll get you an appointment" she said - and it was only then that he was found to be quite severely astigmatic.

If your daughter has been having yearly eye-tests it makes one wonder what they are doing! Anyway - it's great to have a difficulty explained and solved - no doubt she will enjoy playing even more than she's done already. Her pattern recognition that she's relied on will be enormously useful I think - a lot of children find this quite difficult - but she can now use this skill in conjunction with individual note reading. Hope she forges ahead !

I would wholeheartedly agree with this, and I'm delighted it has made such a difference to your daughter's playing, kerioboe.

I'm shortsighted, and hated wearing my glasses when I was younger. I was always fine playing solo, because I could have the stand at a suitable distance, but struggled if I was sharing a stand in orchestra. The worst thing was playing the National Anthem, with which orchestra concerts always began in those days. Everyone (except the cellos ) was expected to play standing up, and there was no time to adjust the stand height before going into the overture afterwards, for which we were seated. The flutes, unfortunately, didn't play the melody. I never did quite manage to play the anthem successfully!

Now in middle age, I have 'monovision' contact lenses, where the right eye is adjusted for distance and the left for closer work. Playing is fine, but if I'm playing duets with a student I ask if I can stand on the right, so that my left eye is closer to the music. I had problems a few weeks ago when my fringe got too long and kept covering my left eye! I've just got a new pair of contact lenses (same prescription, but the old ones were past their best) and I've found the music much easier to read as a consequence.

If I have a student who seems to be struggling to distinguish note pitches I usually enquire whether they've had their sight tested recently. I've discovered at least two who wear glasses but haven't been bringing them to lessons. The difference is amazing when they come equipped with their specs.

I read this to my son - he's still laughing.

Something similar happenend when my mother first drove after getting her first glasses. (!!!!)

Well, I guess thats better than putting glasses on and saying, 'why am I wearing these? They don't make a difference!' (Unless I close one eye, then they make a LOT of difference!)