Music brings out our student’s creativity and expressive potential. But when students experience frustration or trauma or stress, we often encounter different responses. What is the role that music teachers play in this situation? How do we make ourselves aware of our actions? Stress and trauma can affect our students, which then affects us, too. And that is why building trust and connection with our students is imperative. By using therapeutic techniques, we help calm our brains and our students’ brains, consequently unlocking their potential.
Dr. Gloria Tham-Haines is a Nationally Certified Teacher of Music and a member of the Music Teachers National Association. She is a Trust-Based Relational Intervention® Practitioner and a national presenter on incorporating Trust-Based Relational Intervention® strategies to build a trauma-informed piano studio.
Dr. Tham-Haines has recently been named lecturer of music at Oklahoma Baptist University. She has taught class piano and applied piano there since 2017. In 2019, she was selected as a Teacher of Distinction by the Royal Conservatory of Music, Canada.
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