Promoting SEL Through Music Education

The implicit connection between the visual and performing arts and social and emotional learning (SEL) has become explicit, thanks to Arts Ed NJ, Social Emotional Learning Alliance for New Jersey, and the Center for Arts Education and Social Emotional Learning. Through their collaboration, the five SEL competencies have been comprehensively, developmentally crosswalked with four arts standards: Creating; Performing, Presenting, and Producing; Responding; and Connecting.

An area that has seen great progress with this is music education, where Scott Edgar of Lake Forest College has gathered the creative synergies of SEL and music education undertaken by teachers (Portraits of Music Education and Social Emotional Learning: Teaching Music with Heart). Here are three examples. 

Elementary School: Jessica Kwasny, Park Ridge, ILlinois

Jessica Kwasny’s music education methods follow from her philosophy about children: “They come to school to be loved, to learn, to find community, to be safe, to find their passions, and to be supported as they grow into the best version of themselves.” So, it’s no surprise that they walk into her classroom and see posters that say, “When you walk into this room, you are a dreamer… performer… problem solver… music historian… thinker… creator… rock star… musician” and “When you walk into this room, you are believed in, cared for, and listened to, and Important, Loved, Respected, and Valued.”

Kwasny works to define norms as to how students will work together in groups. Some of the most common are to treat instruments carefully, be responsible, let everyone give ideas, and be kind to others. 

One example of a group activity is an emoji board for listening to music. Kwasny pairs up students, and each student gets a board of nine emojis. She plays 30–60 seconds of music, and when the music stops, each student points to an emoji representing their feelings about what they heard. They talk with their partners about their choice and what in the music led them to feel that way. Kwasny visits with many pairs and uses what she hears to guide classroom discussions later to introduce students to the vocabulary of music, such as tempo and dynamics, and the music-emotion connection.

You can learn about many of Kwasny’s other excellent ideas by visiting Gia Publications and selecting Portraits of Music Education and Social Emotional Learning: Chapter 2 (Kwasny) under “Additional Resource Links.”

Middle School: William Winters, Bensenville, ILlinois

The motto of William Winters’s band program is “Building citizenship, character, and community through music.” He starts each school year with getting-to-know-you activities and instrument fundamentals. Middle school students can be particularly focused on themselves, and so Winters wants them to discuss their goals with one another (he also participates), whether the goals are musical or not.  

Middle school learners also like to explore, so Winters often will not initially show students the titles of works they’ll be playing. He has them reflect on the emotions they feel as they listen to the music, including putting the music into words and images. 

Using the analogy of a captain of a boat and the crew, Winters teaches the importance of leadership in an ensemble and ensures that all students have an opportunity to be in a leadership role. He also goes through reflective processes that allow students to acknowledge they made an error and problem-solve how to improve, and how to give constructive, positive feedback to their peer leaders—and to Winters.

Offering choice is an important part of SEL. When learning a new piece of music, students are given the chance to propose changes in how it is played. Would they change tempo, articulation, dynamics, instrumentation, or something else? Once tried out, students share whether they think the change has improved the original and if so, how. Finally, they are asked to reflect on why the composer might have made his or her original choices, which usually means looking into the backstory of the composition.

High School: Brandon Larsen, Herriman, UTah

Brandon Larsen sees music education, and band in particular, as a vehicle for helping students learn how to fall short, pick themselves up, improve, and become more resilient. He believes this is inherent in the musical learning process. He also draws upon SEL to teach students coping and emotion management strategies to use in challenging and frustrating circumstances.

Larsen believes it is essential to establish a culture of caring, pride, and excellence, which begins on the buses going to a performance. He discusses the band as a representation of the school to the world outside and states that each student’s behavior matters. He has a series of call-and-response statements that function as mottoes and catalyze actions, such as “We leave this bus… cleaner than we found it.” Another norm, wishing competitors or other bands great performances, is captured by “We hope they… play as well as we do.” Students’ character improves as they realize how others perceive them and their role as ambassadors of their school and community. 

Norms are essential to Larsen for students to have an open space for sharing, making mistakes, and asking for and offering help. One early school year activity is to ask each student to create a short slide show that tells the story of their life or activities they enjoy. They also have to add a soundtrack of a song or composition of any kind to accompany it. Students then present to the group and take questions. Larsen finds that this activity “creates a culture in my classroom of openness and connectedness.”

An additional technique Larsen uses is “Check-in fist to five.” Fists refer to things at their worst, and fives (five fingers out) refer to things at their absolute best. Larsen uses this musically to have students give feedback on how they feel about a section just played, or the style, togetherness, volume, etc., of a given performance. He also uses it to ask students to rate a discussion that the class/band just had or how they are feeling at a particular moment. He feels that this activity helps with identifying and recognizing emotions and self-monitoring.

Regarding SEL in the music classroom, Jessica Kwasny gets the last word: “We are able to make more music and more meaningful music because of this work. Social-Emotional Learning is helping me be a better teacher for my students, helping my students be better young musicians and learners, and is making our classroom a happier place to learn and make music.”