Fostering Emotional Awareness and Self-Regulation in the Music Classroom

Lisa Gruenhagen, Ph.D. and Anna McClure, M.M.

Lisa Gruenhagen, Ph.D.,

Bowling Green State University

Anna McClure, M.M.,

David Hill CLC, Akron Public Schools

Positive emotions broaden your perceptions and build your resilience and connections with others. They also support creativity, critical thinking, and promote exploration – three foundational skills for learning (Jennings, 2015, p. xxvii).

In our first article in this series, we wrote that “well-being is often defined as “a state of being comfortable, healthy, or happy” (Oxford Languages, n.d.) and includes the interdependent dimensions of physical, emotional, and social well-being” (Gruenhagen & McClure, 2024). Fostering emotional awareness can lead to better self-regulation – the ability to control one’s emotions, thoughts, and behaviors to reframe situations and manage responses (Gillebaart, 2018). While emotional well-being is multifaceted, in this final article in our series on well-being in elementary general music, we focus on how to ensure we, as teachers, are taking care of ourselves emotionally and how we can help students become emotionally aware and self-regulated, by teaching them to identify feelings, then guiding them in managing those feelings.

Begin by asking yourself these questions:

How do you regulate your emotions when stressors arise during your everyday life?
How can you bring those emotional regulation strategies you are already using into the classroom?
How do your students react to stressors in their classroom environment, both in and out of the music room?
Can students articulate emotions they are feeling?
How can you promote a positive emotional state in your students?

Promoting a Positive Emotional State

Students need to feel heard, valued, and most importantly feel accepted. We have all had those students whose behaviors are perceived as “outside” of the classroom climate. These students change their behavior due to a variety of stressors in their environment, such as students being unkind to them, being put on the spot, or having to work with others collaboratively. We might see these students use explosive behavior directed at students or teachers, or they may seclude themselves and disengage from the lesson. The question then becomes: how can we create opportunities for these students to process their emotions in healthy ways that allow them to feel worthy of being with the class?

Throughout every grade, whenever someone performs or volunteers to do something for the class, we always clap for them. Yes, when they do a musical performance, but also when they volunteer to read, explain the directions to a game, and even when following the correct protocol in the classroom. Students might not like being a performer, but they do like praise and recognition. The more praise given throughout a lesson promotes a positive feeling for you as the teacher as you’re looking for good moments in the classroom, and for the students, who feel the lesson is going well and can enjoy making music with each other.

Self-Awareness of Emotions

Many times, when students are feeling big emotions, they are really struggling with articulating what they are feeling. This can include a wide range of emotions from feeling overjoyed to furious. Students need to be exposed to what these emotions are and feel like. Utilizing the book “The ABCs of My Feelings and Music” by Scott Edgar and Stephanie Edgar can help teachers address this wide range of emotions by showing artwork that depicts the feeling paired with music that evokes that feeling. Having targeted discussions about the music and when students have felt that feeling, broadens their vocabulary to use when identifying their emotions.

Emotional Regulation

Everyone at some point has felt emotional dysregulation. Admittedly, when I (Anna) have been having a particularly rough day and a student decides to start walking on the chairs, my emotions do heighten. However, it’s how I regulate these emotions that help me proceed with the class. With my K-3 students, I talk through my self-regulation stages and have students do them with me. I acknowledge I’m feeling a given emotion by naming it with a descriptive word, then I take a grounding breath. For example, I might say “I am feeling overwhelmed and frustrated, please help me take a deep breath to refocus.” I do not call out a student’s behavior, rather I focus the class on me. Once I am regulated, then I can address the student. Note that this may not work in every situation, especially if someone is being unsafe.

A whole class regulation strategy to use is grounding colors or sounds. When you’re emotionally dysregulated, it can be helpful to pick out colors in your environment to focus on. In the music room, we can look for instruments that make different sounds. For example, you can ask students to “Look around the room and find an instrument that makes a low sound, high sound, metal sound, wooden sound…” Doing this can focus students so they are ready to have a constructive conversation about what might have derailed the class. Entering this discussion with everyone in a calmer state of mind will make it more productive, while indirectly teaching a regulation strategy. Thus, to support students in becoming emotionally aware and self-regulated, teach them how to identify feelings using tools such as emotion charts and mood meters, and guide them to manage those feelings using strategies like mindful breathing, problem solving, positive self-talk, and sensory breaks, while modeling calm behavior and creating a safe environment for discussions. Doing so helps build skills for better focus, resilience, positive relationships, and collaborative music making.

References Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning. (2024). Fundamentals of SEL. https://casel.org/fundamentals-of-sel/

Collier, K. (2024, July 16). Self-Regulation Practices for Teachers and Students. Edutopia. https://www.edutopia.org/article/self-regulation-strategies-teachers-students/

Gillebaart M. (2018). The ‘operational’ definition of self-control. Frontiers in Psychology, 9. https://doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01231

Gruenhagen, L. M., & McClure, A. (2024). Fostering well-being in elementary general music. TRIAD, https://triad.omea-ohio.org/fostering-well-being-in-elementary-general-music

Jennings, P. A. (2015). Mindfulness for teachers: Simple skills for peace and productivity in the classroom (The Norton Series on the Social Neuroscience of Education).

Varner, E. (2023). SEL, Mindfulness, and the Art of General Music Education. Journal of General Music Education, 36(2), 34-37. https://doi.org/10.1177/27527646221130320

Lisa Gruenhagen, Ph.D., is on the music education faculty of Bowling Green State University where she teaches undergraduate and graduate courses and is the area coordinator for general music.

Anna McClure, M.M., is on the faculty at David Hill CLC, Akron Public Schools, where she teaches K-5 general music along with beginning band and orchestra.

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