JAVS Fall 2008

I N THE S TUDIO U NEXPECTED P LEASURE

by Barbara Sudweeks

After having taught viola for thir ty-five years, having been Associate Principal Viola of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra for thirty three years, and teaching on the college level at Southern Methodist University, I never envisioned myself teaching a young, aspiring, blind violist. I was aware of the aging population of baby boomers and their loss of vision, as well as an expanding population encom passing a myriad of special-needs individuals. However, never did I consider what role I might play in bringing the joy of music—and specifically the viola—to a young woman eager to embrace this instrument regardless of the barri ers that might stand in her way. Rebecca Glass came to my studio in 2005, her freshman year in high school. She had made Texas All State Orchestra at this early age and was eager to pursue advanced levels of training in order to pre pare for a career in music. Rebecca has been almost totally blind since Rebecca learns her music by ear, although she is fluent in Braille music notation. Her desire was to improve her playing by receiving instruction on her musicality and technique. Rebecca’s long-term goal is more complicat ed; she hopes to be a resource and birth, having only a limited amount of light perception.

Barbara Sudweeks and Rebecca Glass.

I quickly learned much about the education of blind people. My sug gestion to sighted teachers working with a visually impaired student for the first time would be to "relax." I came to realize that if I was uncertain on how to approach a problem, I could simply ask the student rather than second-guess ing how to tackle it. With Rebecca, I soon learned words in my vocabulary like "look" and "see" were not a taboo subject, and I did not have to avoid words hav ing to do with vision. As a teacher, I simply had to be receptive to the fact that teacher/student commu nication would totally involve alternative forms to vision, such as touch and hearing. Learning by ear has proved to be the most time-efficient way for Rebecca to learn viola repertoire.

role model for those following in her footsteps.

With any student, a teacher’s role is to ascertain what teaching methods or techniques can be adapted to best fit the individual student. At first I was at a loss as to how to approach this task with a blind student. Unfamiliar with available adaptive technology, I assumed it would be necessary to explore all possibilities in order to consider what might be useful teaching devices. I soon learned the greatest tool was simply my playing. Rebecca’s hearing, as is the case with many visually impaired individuals, was exquisite. She perceives even minute variations in pitch and readily follows my lead. My apprehension soon turned to ease as she quickly grasped notes, phrasing, and pitch and amazed me with her attention to detail.

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