Scott Edgar
Author
Associate Professor of Music, Chair of Music – Lake Forest College
Dr. Scott N. Edgar (he/him) has dedicated his career to highlighting the potential music education and educators have to build life skills students will long after they leave the classroom. As a notable authority on music education and Social Emotional Learning, Dr. Edgar has emerged as the leading researcher, best-selling author, and internationally sought-after clinician on the subject.
He is the author of Music Education and Social Emotional Learning: The Heart of Teaching Music, The ABC’s of My Feelings and Music (co-authored with his wife Stephanie), and editor of Portraits of Music Education and Social Emotional Learning (published through GIA Publications).
Dr. Edgar priorities facilitating spaces where people can explore their identity, build a sense of belonging, and experience agency. He is grateful for the may experiences he has had a Bowling Green State University (B.M.E.), University of Dayton, (M.S.), and the University of Michigan (Ph.D.) to learn from his mentors. He is Associate Professor of Music, Chair of the Department of Music, and Director of Bands at Lake Forest College, Social Emotional Learning Editor for GIA Publications, and serves as Director of Practice and Research for The Center for Arts Education and Social Emotional Learning.
Dr. Edgar is also a Music for All Educational Consultant, a Conn-Selmer Educational Clinician, and VH1 Save the Music Foundation Educational Consultant. Striving for work/life balance, he enjoys grilling, exercising, and spending time with his wife Steph and their son Nathan.
Scott’s Workshops
Wednesday, July 9
Needs Before Notes
We are exhausted at the end of the day. The children and adults with whom we work are responding and interacting in ways that are much less predictable. Emerging from the physical crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have returned to “normal life” with varied levels of trauma and understanding of what we have all been through. But there is hope! Our music spaces are powerful places for healing and community. We will explore strategies to help develop our sense of identity, build a community of belonging, and facilitate an environment conducive for developing agency through music and education.
2:55PM – 3:40PM
Keynote 1
Wentz Concert Hall
Thursday, July 10
Building Identity, Belonging, and Agency Through Musical Social Emotional Learning
Musical SEL intentionally embeds life skill development into musical processes and practices in service of student empowerment to enrich both musical fluency and human development. There is not one prescriptive way or technique to embed SEL into music education.
This session will help guide educators to better understand their practice and how their classroom can be a space for rich social and emotional growth through music. Teachers will engage in learning experiences that facilitate a better understanding of their learning culture, develop routines and mindsets to organically build SEL competencies for their students, and build strategies that support student empowerment through the SEL Pillars of Identity, Belonging, and Agency.
10:20AM – 11:35AM
Breakout 5
Location Pending
Responding to Challenges in the Music Classroom
I have worked with thousands of music teachers hearing one thing consistently: “my students are facing challenges, and they don’t know how to handle them.” Followed by “How am I supposed to teach music when they’re dealing with these challenges.” Youth mental health has always been something those in education realized needed to be addressed for effective teaching and learning to occur. Drawing from SEL and mental health tenets, we will explore the root of these behaviors and develop strategies for teachers and students to build life skills to become more resilient and ready to learn amidst these challenges.