JAVS Spring 2023

why I had cried all those years in the practice room. I was a victim of child abuse. My viola lessons became a representation of separating myself from that abuse, and thus I became less afraid of the viola. The instrument now became a way to soothe that little child, who had not been able to practice in a dangerous home, to reclaim myself, to establish my true identity. Thus, my musical healing was finally possible because Ann listened. She listened not only when I played my viola, but also when I spoke verbally. She heard and honored my frustrated stories of times in conservatory where I felt angry and bitter, stories of my childhood where my family didn’t nurture my musical growth in an affluent manner, in comparison to my peers. She showed empathy and nonjudgment. Her willingness to listen was also more therapeutic than anything I have derived from a standard psychotherapy. This is because she is a violist, she understands the violist’s lifestyle, mind, and spirit, which I too have as a violist. We mutually understand the unique resonance of our specific instrument, which only the viola community understands. I also look up to her as a professional, someone I aspire to emulate in my own way. I believe that the mutuality that Ann and I share in lessons, which has transformed my musical life, is a musical application of the concept of mental health peer support. I myself worked as a peer specialist from 2014 to 2020, and I have studied peer support modalities extensively on the academic level. To define: a peer specialist is a mental health professional who has personally lived experience with mental illness, who offers informed mental health support to another who also has mental illness. Through mutual understanding, a connection is formed, and both parties are uplifted. opportunity, where a teacher can offer peer support to the student simultaneously as the instrument is taught. The domain of mutuality is music, which ultimately is much more than sound production. It is a way of perceiving the world. Adopting a “peer support” dynamic can also serve to create more mutuality in lessons, as opposed to a power imbalance that places the teacher in a dominant, authoritarian position. I observe music instruction to have this same transformative potential. Music lessons provide an

As a therapist myself, I’ve observed Ann to also have traits of a trauma-informed therapist, which I am in my clinical work as a social worker. In the mental health profession, a trauma-informed approach is vital to offering services that are sensitive to the client’s dignity and worth. Consider: if a person is presenting in a distressed way, we may feel inclined to judge negatively, thinking to ourselves, “What is wrong with this person? How can this be fixed?” However, this mindset can be harmful, leading to inaccurate biases and judgment that may stifle a person’s growth and potential. But this attitude can be challenged, if we consider that perhaps something traumatic happened to the person, whether in the past or currently. By asking, “What happened to this person?” we invite an attitude of inquiry, curiosity, and the possibility for open-ended conversation, where a person can tell their story, leading the way for rapport to build, and trust to be formed. Even when I give violin lessons, I now think like a social worker. This allows me to become a problem-solver who views a student as a participant in many systems. Consider: the student has their unique personality, they also are a family member, a student in a school, a member of a community, a citizen of a town or city that has its cultural perspective, which is located in a state or country which operates under a particular government that has its laws. A person participates in an array of systems, and the functioning of these systems (whether healthy or not) will determine the wellbeing of a person. The same can be said for a music student, and how well they can focus on musical studies. I have reflected on my own musical upbringing in this way, which has prompted me to consider what could have been different if my music teachers were trauma informed, or if they thought like social workers. To present myself as a case study: I recall the first time I participated in a Suzuki recital, my family neglected to dress me appropriately for a concert. I wore a colorful dress, while all the other students were dressed in white shirts and black bottoms, as the school requested. I felt embarrassed and ashamed, although my family said I looked fine. The error was not made again. Yet why was I improperly dressed? The clothing I wore indicated that my family did not pay attention to the Suzuki school’s dress code requirements for concerts. But if this lack of attention is present, indicated by my clothing, it is

Journal of the American Viola Society / Vol. 39, No. 1, Spring 2023

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