By Rita Gigliotti | Edited by Danielle Bissonnette
Getting students to perform can be a challenge regardless of subject. From rising levels of student anxiety and behavioral struggles to our own professional burnout, our roles as educators has never had more pressure. Teaching, especially in the arts, is a complex balance of creativity and structure. So with these challenges in mind, the question is: How do we move forward knowing what we know?
To this, I answer with this: The solution is already in our hands—or rather, our classrooms.
Sound Healing as a Starting Point
Music itself, when understood and applied intentionally, can address many of these issues, providing both teachers and students with the tools to create sustainable well-being. One tool in particular is sound healing.
Sound healing is an ancient practice gaining renewed attention for its therapeutic benefits. According to the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), specific frequencies in sound healing can reduce cortisol levels (the stress hormone), improve heart rate variability, and increase alpha waves in the brain, which are associated with relaxation and creativity.
Instruments like the HAPI drum are particularly effective in this context. With a resonant, meditative tone, this instrument and those like it can shift the body’s stress response into a state of calm. For educators, incorporating sound healing into their personal routines or classrooms can help reduce stress and foster an environment of calm and focus.
Using Music as the Actual Tool
Music has long been a vehicle for expression and connection, but it also has the potential to address teacher burnout, improve student behavior, and increase well-being for both sides. As music teachers, we have a unique opportunity in that we get to handle music as a tool every day and so we really have no reason to leave this tool underutilized.
As rhythm and melody can help students regulate their emotions and focus their energy, structured musical activities like humming, drumming, chanting, and sound bowls guide students into a calmer state.
Music also enhances cognitive function and engagement by activating multiple areas of the brain. Perhaps most significantly, music provides a safe outlet for emotional processing. For students managing anxiety or trauma, activities like songwriting or improvisation allow them to express emotions nonverbally, as highlighted in The Arts in Psychotherapy.
Restoring Yourself as a Music Educator
For music teachers, well-being often takes a backseat to everyday classroom demands, quarterly performances, and annual competitions, but sustainable teaching begins with intentional self-care. This is why you can and should use the following evidence-based tools to restore balance and energy in your classroom:
Box Breathwork: Take 1 minute at the beginning of each class to do intention breathing using the box breath method.
HAPI Drum Practice: Play simple, rhythmic and melodic patterns on a HAPI drum for five minutes a day to encourage deep breathing and relaxation.
Humming: At the end of the day, take five minutes to listen to music that resonates emotionally, helping you process the events of the day.
A Path Forward for Music Educators
Music education in Virginia and beyond is about so much more than just teaching technical skills. It’s about creating environments where creativity, connection, and well-being thrive so that young performing artists feel safe to express vulnerability and achieve true artistry. As educators, we have a unique opportunity to use music as a tool not just to teach but also to heal—ourselves, our students, and our classrooms.
By intentionally integrating music and sound healing, we transform our classrooms into spaces of calm and creativity. This approach not only improves student engagement but also reignites our own passion and purpose.
If you want to learn more about how you can embrace the power of music to bring calm to the chaos and build a future where you and your students thrive together, you can
Catch my presentation From Chaos to Calm at the Maryland State Music Educator Conference (MMEA)
Join the waitlist for my upcoming 5-Day Workshop.
Request a classroom workshop where I guide your class to greater artistry through well-being (at this time, this workshop is available to Fairfax County, Loudoun County, and Prince William County schools only)
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