Trauma-Informed Music Educators
- Hayley Voorhees
- May 6, 2022
- 8 min read
I’m writing this post coming off of the Trauma-Informed Leadership training hosted by Trauma-Free World through an collaboratory I’m a member of called At Work on Purpose. If you want to go deeper, I have three other posts of me unpacking what resonated with me from the training. For the sake of this post though, I want to talk about being trauma-informed from the lens of a music educator.
What does it mean to be trauma-informed?
When you are a trauma-informed leader, you are able to identify trauma from you own life and see it in your colleagues and students. Trauma affects more than 70% of adults. This means that the majority of the students in your ensemble have experienced trauma at some point in their life and they are affected by that trauma. When we have experienced trauma, our defense mechanisms tend to look different. We have greater and quicker access to our fight/flight/freeze mode. We oftentimes have a harder time completing our stress cycle.
How do I address trauma at school or in rehearsal?
You require your students to show up with their very best and ask them to be vulnerable and open to feedback in a quality social interaction. You’ll get the results you want from your students when you create a safe environment for them by supporting their physical and mental needs.
Here are some initial suggestions:
Hydration is incredibly important, especially in adolescents that are running around all day! At marching band practice, have your section leaders or drum majors check in with every member of their section to make sure they have a water bottle. Have extras just in case someone didn’t bring theirs - it is bound to happen. Instead of taking long breaks from rehearsal, take more frequent “walk-by” water breaks or have the students keep their water with them if you’re not marching around.
Make nutrition a priority. Especially if you run any of your programming after school, be prepared to provide or advocate for healthy snacks for your students. Talk to your students about personal nutrition so that they are the best they can be physically.
Exercise. It may seem obvious what to do here for marching band, but for other rehearsal settings, give your students a break to stand up and walk around a little bit. If there is a courtyard nearby, let them grab some water and fresh air before coming back in to finish rehearsal. This also gives them a little social time so they'll focus better when it's required of them.
Respect physical boundaries. Some students may be uncomfortable with hugs or high-fives if they have experienced trauma, especially in this post-COVID world that we live in. Work on your "verbal high-five" by connecting with your students with a verbal greeting and encouragement. Say their name! It will make them feel seen and recognized.
Be predictable. Students who have experienced trauma need consistency to build trust and connection. It's acceptable to be a bit boring. At the start of a rehearsal, have an agenda ready so the students know what to expect and they aren't caught off guard. This is extremely helpful in more physically demanding rehearsals like the marching arts because you're giving the participants and idea of where the end is and what it takes to get to the finish line. Without knowing where the finish line is, students can feel trapped.
Share space. When a student comes to talk to you in your office, come out from behind your desk. Remove any barriers that could potentially cause a feeling of disconnect. If you are a tall person and a small student of yours wants to chat, try to get on their eye-level by sitting or crouching down to hear them.
Encourage. For every criticism you give, it should be cushioned with 8 encouragements or compliments when your students are doing something you like. You can never encourage enough! It will motivate your students more than constant criticism will.
The key here: Not only do your students need to be safe but they also have to feel safe according to their perception of the environment. This can be challenging but I believe you can do this!
Trauma Competent Leaders
6 characteristics leaders can develop and practice:
Understand trauma is life-altering
Can view the world through a wounded person's lens
Sets aside tradition and is willing to lead differently
Are aware of and can manage your own emotions
Lifelong learners, willing to keep working at it
Aware of your own history and how it affects you
The Stress Cycle
Your music program should not be a place that is adding stress to your student’s life. A lot of students probably enjoy their ensemble because it helps them complete their stress cycle. I mention in another post about trauma and self-care that there are many different aspects of rest that complete our stress cycle. Making music is emotional, mental, and physical; this checks a lot of boxes!
Let's quickly look at the different types of stress, because some stress is good! It's what helps motivate our students to practice and study.
Positive stress = This is the good kind of stress. It can help us be prepared for a math exam or running from a bear. It can also come from good things like being accepted into a more challenging ensemble, moving up to high school, or being granted a solo in concert band.
Tolerable stress = This kind of stress not our preference, but it's probably naive of us to think that we probably don't spend most of our time here in ensembles of which we really want to push our students to excel. This type of stress is prolonged and tends to be for a longer period of time, but does eventually come to an end (like when the season or school year is finished). Tolerable stress can be challenging, especially if someone does not have a strong support system while it's happening.
Toxic stress = This is caused when our cortisol (stress hormone) shoots up when we are stressed but it never gets a break and come back down. This constant state of elevated stress breaks neurological connections, diffuses the thinking brain, and weakens our immune system. If a student is in constant fear of being retaliated against or harshly critiqued, they may stay in this state which will ultimately hinder their performance.
How can I leverage my ensemble to complete the stress cycle of my students while still maintaining a standard of excellence?
There are 7 types of rest that help us keep our "buckets full" and operate at our best level. When we rest in these ways, especially on a daily basis, we can complete our stress cycle and keep ourselves from burning out.
Physical rest = Students are oftentimes sitting on their butts all day at school and then go home to sit on their butts doing homework or playing video games to relax the mind. Sometimes, we need active rest like taking a walk or stretching to get the blood flowing again. Get your students up and moving a little bit!
Emotional rest = Music is a great way to express emotion. Bring a variety of repertoire to your group that expresses many different emotions! The other key thing is to keep your space a safe space for your students to be themselves. While teaching emotional poise is important, you also want to promote an environment where it is safe for students to take their "mask" off.
Mental rest = Don't throw the hardest stuff at your students for the entire rehearsal. Give them something that makes them feel good that maybe they have the most fun playing. Throw something at them that isn't quite so taxing on the mind. Mix it up a little bit so they stay energized and accomplished!
Spiritual rest = We experience spiritual rest when we contribute to something bigger than ourselves and find "awe" in creation. If this isn't what we experience when we connect as an ensemble in a powerful piece of music, then I don't know what we do. Spiritual rest is when we connect with each other interdependently in an unseen yet very tangible way.
Social rest = I think this one is pretty easy to understand. For some of our music students, the only social interaction they receive is in music class. Work in a little social time here and there during rehearsal to support bonding and team work. A nice social event after school here and there doesn't hurt either!
Sensory rest = This one is probably the most challenging because when we make music, we are constantly taking in stimulus. Students are constantly taking in stimulus probably almost every second of their waking hours. Maybe introduce a pop quiz here or there or time to journal about one of the pieces they're learning about. It gives them some time in silence and take a break from using their ears.
Creative rest = ... duh. Creating music. You know. I think you get the point. But actually, what I want to say about this one is a little story of my time in orchestra (I played flute). We were playing Rhapsody in Blue, which is obviously not a short piece. To keep us engaged in the piece while we were playing, my orchestra director had us - as a class - create a story that the music was telling. Rhapsody in Blue became about a man who lives by himself and he is traveling to work on his first day at a new job. The different parts of the pieces described the events of his day. It was a lot of fun! And we took more ownership over our interpretation of the piece.
How do I lead a trauma-informed music program?
Trust. Research states that post-COVID, only 57% of students trust their teachers (EdSource, 2021). Ouch. Trust is incredibly important to building a trauma-informed organization. Building trustworthiness can dramatically increase your ability to influence and lead your students. Good old-fashioned honesty and integrity are the best ingredients to proving your character and earning trust.
Peer Support. Help your students (and staff) help each other. Having some sort of organized program to provide peer support can help students heal and become stronger. This could look like a "band buddies" system where all your first year rookies are paired with a veteran who becomes their mentor. This could be identifying those special students to form a "hope squad" for your music program so that any time a student needs to seek support from a peer, they know who to go to. This does not replace talking to an adult, seeking formal counseling, etc. Your student support team would know how to appropriately respond to the needs of their peers. It's a resource for your students to make them feel safe, valued, and supported.
Collaboration. In a simple form, collaboration means working on something as a group. We want our students to feel invited into the challenge and learn to work and have fun together. When we seek input from our students, we reduce the "power distance" and make ourselves seem approachable. Your students simply want to be heard, known, and respected.
Empower. If you utilize section leaders in your ensemble, give them the power to speak up and make choices. Trauma Free World says that only three out of ten employees believe their opinion matters. I would guess this is a similar percentage with our students. Where can you give your students more of a voice or delegate choices that they can own? Sharing responsibility and "power" with your leaders can strengthen their sense of self, safety, and build stronger relationships.
Cultural Humility. What I mean by this is that we are really focused on building practices that help ALL people feel valued, recognized, and welcomed. How do you embrace racial justice and ensure equal opportunity for all students regardless of religion, sexual orientation, skill, etc. Take a look at your traditions as a music program, your communication practices, and your values. Are they excluding any type of student in any way? Think about the composers you introduce to your students. Do they represent the demographics of your ensemble?
Conclusion
Evaluation = How is your program doing?
If you are interesting in applying these concepts to your program and create some concrete plans as you move forward - it starts with taking time to evaluate how you think your program is doing. I would happy to walk you through the Trauma Free World evaluation process. It's very simply to do on your own and then you can bring the results to your team or your administration to make positive changes.
I hope this was helpful and that you found a couple points to walk away with! Please reach out if you have any questions or comments.
Hayley Voorhees
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