Conference Agenda

In response to a survey on abuse and trauma in musical institutions, a non-binary performer reported that, “I was sexually assaulted and harassed by a faculty member at a summer music program where I was on staff. I was sexually harassed by a guest artist at another summer music program where I was a participant. I have witnessed bully and been bullied at multiple universities.” Despite the important skills that these music departments, schools, and festival provide for young musicians, musical training programs have frequently been spaces of harm for those who attend them. Musical training programs, and especially conservatories and summer festivals, are prestigious musical institutions with competitive entry requirements that tout exalted professors and teachers. Given the competitive audition process, the years of costly study required to enter these programs, and the celebrated status of faculty, students who attend musical training programs are often elated to have opportunities to attend these institutions. And yet, for many students, the prestige and “excellence” that these institutions claim does not prevent various forms of harm from taking place.

In this paper, I demonstrate that discourses and drives for excellence in musical performance training programs frequently serve as smokescreens for abuse and harm. Scholars like Henry Kingsbury, Bruno Nettle, Anna Bull, and Christina Scharff have addressed the politics of classical music conservatory-style training programs in the US and the UK. I build on their important work through attention to how the gender, racial, sexual, and disability politics of these institutions have historically resulted in long-lasting trauma for many students. Drawing on survey results and interviews, as well as archival documents related to management, faculty, and students at some of the US’s most well-known music training programs—the Curtis Institute, Peabody Institute, Berklee School of Music, New England Conservatory, the Colburn School, and Juilliard—I outline the systemic and historical nature of harmful practices, behaviors, and institutional norms that have often had devastating consequences for students. Through this paper’s focus on trauma studies, I draw attention to the urgency of developing student-centered policies and practices that will reduce rather than exacerbate harm.

Trauma-informed pedagogy (TIP) is based on current understandings of the neurobiological impact of stress and trauma applied to learning in an academic environment. TIP provides a framework that offers guiding principles, techniques, and tools to foster safety, transparency, trustworthiness, peer support, collaboration, and mutuality, and to empower choice and voice through lenses of cultural awareness and equity–minded teaching (SAMSHA, 2014; Thompson and Marsh, 2022). Since the 1990s, Trauma Studies has emerged as a substantial cross-disciplinary field (Bond and Craps, 2020) and Care Pedagogy scholarship has acknowledged and proposed reparative work for music students and faculty (Cheng, 2019; Renihan, Spilker, and Wright, 2024). Our work is informed by this research and sits at the margins of TIP in psychology (Carello and Thompson, 2022) and music education (Bradley and Hess, 2021).

In this paper, we will examine TIP and its uses in navigating the complexities of teaching and learning in the blossoming era of intersectionality. Specifically, we will explore the ways that class, disability, gender, race, and other intersectional identities open new and expansive considerations to bring into the classroom. Considering TIP, we posit reconceptualizing not only content, but also a deeper examination of the policies and structure of learning music in higher education. We aim to introduce a broad range of voices and points of view to support those working in post-secondary education specifically within a music and performing arts context to create spaces that make room for the stress and trauma of living. We bring together cross-disciplinary approaches from a broad range of viewpoints within the music field as well as positions of mental health counselors, practitioners, and specialists to provide a window onto considering and implementing trauma-informed practices to

• Engage music scholars and educators in higher education with scholarship on trauma– informed pedagogy;
• Provide examples of how to introduce trauma–informed practices into college courses;
• Explore how trauma–informed practices increase both faculty and student wellbeing by building strong faculty and student relationships; and
• Suggest practical materials including syllabi, assignments, assessment tools, and activities that instructors can implement into their classrooms.

My participation in the Student Experience Project during the 2023-24 academic year resulted in fundamental changes in the design and the delivery of my music history classes. The project is built on institutional surveys administered throughout the semester to measure classroom conditions in areas of identity safety and belonging. Student responses are evaluated to implement modifications using evidence-based teaching practices that improve student experience in the areas of belonging, growth mindset, inclusivity, and institutional trust. This included reviewing and revising course policies, adjusting the language and tone of the syllabus, fostering student belonging, and utilizing new grading and wise feedback policies. Student outcomes were measured in terms of retention and performance on course objectives that were compared to data from previous semesters.

This paper documents my engagement with the project over the course of two semesters and its impact in my face-to-face music history survey for music majors and my online asynchronous film music course for non-music majors. Since many of the students I teach represent groups that have historically faced barriers entering college (my current student demographics are 60% Hispanic or Latino, 8% Black or African-American, and 41% first generation), I demonstrate how subtle modifications in course design and course policies translate into effective strategies that tackle inequities in college success. I share examples of my learning activities to demonstrate how they foster persistence and achievement and address strategies that develop student belonging and success. My goal is to provide a model and fresh ideas for beginner and experienced teachers of music history who seek to transform the college student experience and create situations in which every student is supported to succeed.