In the company of veteran teachers, one often hears the lore about the ubiquity of pianos in U.S. elementary classrooms during the late 1900s. Piano proficiency may have even been a condition of licensure for kindergarten in some states. Occasionally, you might spot one of these antique instruments in an older school building, lurking under a staircase or tucked away in a closet, dusty and dormant.

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While these musical artifacts seldom sound like they used to, they bear witness to the value of music in education. With human music-making dating back at least 35,000 years (Haskell, 2022, p. 199), our brains have evolved an innate capacity for music, just as they have for language. Plato recorded this tremendous affinity over 2,000 years ago when he wrote, “musical training is a more potent instrument than any other, because rhythm and harmony find their way into the inward places of the soul” (The Republic, Book III, para. 268).

Because music speaks to us so deeply, it is a particularly potent modality for social and emotional learning (SEL) in elementary classrooms. With this in mind, let’s explore how music can support a key component of the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) framework: self-management. And don’t worry, piano proficiency is not required!

Self-management refers to “the abilities to manage one’s emotions, thoughts, and behaviors effectively…includ[ing] the capacities to delay gratification, manage stress, and feel motivation and agency to accomplish personal and collective goals” (CASEL, 2023). Since musical vibrations interact with our bodies and directly affect our physical responses to stress, educators can use music to engage students’ emotional intelligence and executive function. Additionally, songs and rhymes often accompany group play, which is an essential vehicle for SEL in childhood. It is fitting, therefore, that our first example of music for self-management is a game.

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One of the first steps in developing self-management skills is cultivating the ability to start and stop oneself, epitomized by the well-loved game “freeze dance.” Familiar in many schools, this involves dancing freely while recorded music is playing and then standing still when it is paused. While there are many versions, all of them essentially practice regulating one’s behavior in response to an environmental change. Some contemporary songs that work well for this activity include Taylor Swift’s “Shake It Off” and Dua Lipa’s “Dance the Night.” 

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One particularly powerful variation of this activity involves a student serving as the “conductor” of the music. The student in charge could raise their hand, show a “peace” sign, or raise a small paper stop sign to indicate a freeze. It is often effective to provide this opportunity to a student who needs practice with their own self-management—when they are “in charge” of regulating others, it provides a parallel experience to self-regulation that becomes more relatable.

Some tunes also contain deliberate, unpredictable pauses. In these cases, anticipating the length of the pauses becomes an engaging game to practice self-management. Two favorites of early elementary students are the dance “Seven Jumps” and the action song “My Poor Hand is Shaking.” For upper elementary, “Walk and Stop” and “Hop Old Squirrel” work well, especially when incorporating planned or improvised movement.

Conversely, many songs contain natural, predictable pauses at the end of phrases. For example, in Bobby McFerrin’s “Don’t Worry, Be Happy”: 

Here’s a little song I wrote, [breathe] 

You might want to learn it note-for-note [breathe] 

Don’t Worry [pause, breathe] 

Be Happy [pause] 

Listening to and singing songs such as these provide opportunities to align our bodies and minds with the rhythm, both practicing and enhancing self-regulation. 

Lining up, cleaning up, or moving from one class to another all require cooperative self-management from every member of a class. When these collective transitions are smooth, predictable, and ritualized, students can focus their cognitive efforts on academic content rather than on navigating the social environment. Attention to transitions, therefore, supports both classroom management and student learning.

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Music is widely used to help signal and provide structure for transitions. Common classroom examples include songs for greetings, clean-up, line-up, and farewells. For instance, to support early elementary students in lining up, one might use the song “Goodbye, So Long, Farewell.” By inserting student names as a cue to line up, the transition is “chunked,” which supports students patiently waiting for their turn.

In addition, instrumental music can be applied to transitions for elementary students of any age. For example, after a “think-pair-share,” ringing a singing bowl could signal that it is time to come back together as a whole class. Since singing bowls typically ring for 30-60 seconds, students can wrap up their conversations without rushing before the sound stops. As an extension, students could also raise their hands or touch their hearts after the sound completely decays. This sonic focus facilitates a seamless mindful moment to help students reset for the next activity–a welcome break from the constant verbal input of the school day.

The give and take of conversation, a roundtable group discussion, and sharing class materials are all examples of turn-taking in action. This essential skill requires an ability to manage oneself in a social situation in response to the actions of others. Several song structures provide opportunities to practice this. Echo songs, such as “Down by the Bay” and “Boom Chicka Boom” involve a group repeating a leader’s phrase exactly. Conversely, call and response songs, such as “Jon the Rabbit” and “Hill and Gully Rider,” involve a group consistently singing a “response” phrase after any variation of a “call” phrase sung by a leader. 

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These songs can also practice individual turn taking, one by one. For example, “Jon the Rabbit” could work like this:

Teacher: Oh, Jon the Rabbit… 

Student 1: Oh yes! 

Teacher: Had a mighty bad habit… 

Student 2: Oh yes! 

Teacher: Of getting in my garden… 

Student 3: Oh yes! 

Teacher: And eating all my carrots… 

Student 4: Oh yes! 

In this sort of activity, a singing or talking object, such as a toy microphone held by the teacher, can help show whose turn it is. Standing or sitting in a circle can also help students anticipate and practice waiting for their turn.

Musical games also involve turn-taking where one person is “it” and others are watching, waiting, and/or supporting. Beloved by upper elementary students, the Puerto Rican singing game “Cheki Morena” involves one person dancing in the center of a circle during each verse while others copy them before choosing another leader. These experiences provide ample opportunities to wait one’s turn, to gracefully accept that one does not always get a turn, and to support classmates who do get a turn.

Worldwide, parents know that lullabies are a tried and true strategy for calming down for sleep. Songs with similar characteristics, such as “Wild Mountain Thyme” and “De Colores,” can be used in the classroom as a means for collective calming. Students often appropriate these songs themselves to self-soothe during stressful moments, either by singing or humming. These songs often evoke a muscle memory that transports our entire body into the state we most strongly associate with it.

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Instrumental music can produce similar effects without verbal input. For example, the Jammy Jams series adapts popular music into instrumental lullabies. Soundscapes, such as those on the Calm app, are another option. In addition to facilitating self-soothing, these recordings of nature’s music can also contribute to mindfulness activities.

Conversely, energetic songs of strength can support students’ perseverance. For example, listening to or singing tunes like “Eyes on the Prize” or “Fight Song” can help students maintain a growth mindset and motivation. As a wise teacher once told me, “a good song is like an old friend – always there when you need it.”

Since music reaches us so deeply, it can help us learn to manage our feelings, behaviors, and thoughts. Key practices—such as starting and stopping, transitions, turn-taking, and self-soothing—are not meant to control students, but rather to foster experiences and skills that allow students to develop their own capacity to self-manage.

If you’re new to using music in your classroom, consider starting with just one of the above approaches or activities. If you’re not yet comfortable singing with your class, recorded music is readily available online. Resources for continued exploration include your school’s music teacher, other general education colleagues, and the Kennedy Center educational resources. 

While pianos are no longer found in most U.S. classrooms, music will always be a key part of our learning spaces, just as it has been for tens of thousands of years.