college & university
Fostering Freedom, Safety & Expression: Polyvagal Theory in the Music Classroom
David Potter, WMEA State Chair, College & University Jennifer Sharp, Guest Writer
One of the most important parts of being an educator is learning to cre- ate supportive rela- tional environments within and beyond our classrooms. And the task of creating supportive classrooms has be- come progressively more challenging in recent years.
To borrow the title of an independent film, Safety is Not Guaranteed. For many of our stu-
dents, safety is not guaranteed (emphasis added). For some folks, this has been a part of their entire lived experiences for as long as they remember. However, as the po- litical, economic, social and environmental contexts change around us, it is likely that many of our students are feeling less safe in the midst of a world in flux.
Given the increasingly complicated land- scape in which we live, attending to safety is one framework of practice that can bol- ster our abilities to create classrooms that provide a space for supportive and engaged learning. Music educators have historically offered spaces of refuge for creative stu- dents, and we have the unique opportunity to continue to step into leadership roles that create spaces of safety and unique ex- periences within schools. Yet, while music educators are often doing the work of fa- cilitating safe spaces for creativity, neither our students nor the general public may be aware of how or why music teaching and learning further the work of safety. There- fore, the purpose of the article is to make visible the potent work of music education
22
in promoting safety and connection, how it works in theory and how we can prioritize safety through music education.
Polyvagal theory helps us to under- stand our built-in survival responses and patterns of responding to perceived threats. According to polyvagal theory, our bodies are wired to scan for safety and threats, and we develop stories based on our sense of feeling safe/unsafe (Porges, 2017; em- phasis added). This process of safety/threat scanning happens outside of conscious awareness.
In order to make determinations of safety, our bodies read environmental, relational and internal cues to decide whether people, places and things are safe. This is called neuroception (Dana, 2021). Essentially, as there are more threats in the modern world, it follows that a more precarious sense of safety is one of the natural outcomes that we may encounter in our classrooms. For example, when we experience a stressor, we may respond in a social and connected way – we ask questions, stay in commu- nication and lead with curiosity. We may also shift into a sympathetic/activated state (fight/flight) and move toward or away from the stressor. Or we may downshift and freeze. Our total resources, trauma history, learned patterns – and yes, our musicking (Small, 1998) – contribute to our percep- tions of one another and our sense of safety.
As an educator, learning to provide di- rect and indirect cues that you are a safe and supportive person is one of the most important ways you can respond to the changing dynamic of the classroom (em- phasis added). One mechanism of com- municating safety is through the process of coregulation, which has been described as the experience of “safe connection with others” (Dana, 2021, p. 9). Music education offers a wealth of practices that are direct
“…the purpose of the article is to make visible the potent work of music education in promoting safety and connection, how it works in theory and how we can prioritize safety through music education.”
gateways to coregulation; as polyvagal theorists Porges and Porges (2023) note: “Performing or listening to music in a group setting is a potent vagal exercise. Singing or blowing into an instrument activates the vagus nerve, and primes us… [then] almost any type of learning should come easier for us” (p. 166).
Below are several examples of how mu- sicking supports safety and coregulation:
• The combination of breathing, sing- ing, moving and listening contribute to perceptions of safety (Grooten, 2023).
• Drumming, singing, and rhythmic exercises help students respond to emotional experiences (Faulkner, 2023) and calm an over-sensitive nervous system (McFerran et al., 2020).
• Responding to music with others promotes feelings of inclusion (Per- cival, 2021).
April 2025
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57
