Abstract
This chapter presents a narrative inquiry in which two of the authors (Katy and Jenny) gathered our stories and those of two other adults who developed musical performer identities and then lost performance capabilities through physical damage, causing emotional trauma and the loss of those important identities. Identity reconstruction meant overcoming the emotional trauma and transforming the sense of self-as-musician. In analyzing our stories, we add to the understanding of the complex processes involved in musical identity development and post-traumatic growth.
The stories people tell about their experiences narrate their identities, giving the experiences purpose, intention, and conviction (Frank, 2010; McAdams & McLean, 2013). These stories create a dialogic space between teller and listener in which described events and choice of wording are open to interpretation (Bakhtin, 1981). The complex and fluid nature of identity suggested that we should seek the meanings that participants gave to experiences through storytelling (Canham, 2021; Clandinin, 2006). We collected stories about developing a performer identity, the emotional trauma of losing that identity, and the relative success of identity reconstruction that followed. Video, audio, written artifacts, and recorded reflections about the experiences related to those artifacts were gathered from the four participants. The findings are presented as narratives exploring the impacts of agency, mentors and teachers, community and its loss, and the amount of coherent positive resolution upon participants’ identity reconstruction. The chapter ends with a discussion and recommendations for adopting trauma-informed pedagogy in university music programs.
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Notes
- 1.
Claire and Skylar’s names were changed to preserve anonymity.
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Strand, K., Snodgrass, J., Sheppard, A. (2023). Reclaiming Musical Identities Confounded by Injury and Damage. In: Griffin, S.M., Niknafs, N. (eds) Traumas Resisted and (Re)Engaged. Landscapes: the Arts, Aesthetics, and Education, vol 36. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-6277-8_6
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