Music as a Resource for Individual and Interpersonal Flourishing in Higher Education

Making space for wellbeing through music

How do you make space for wellbeing in a full curriculum? 

This webinar introduces music as a strengths-based resource for wellbeing and flourishing in higher education. After a brief introduction to the evolving theoretical and conceptual lineages informing this approach, we will explore three ways to put this approach into practice: 

• Individual self-care: curating an intentional playlist as a form of anchoring; 
• Shared individual reflection with partial group witnessing: sharing music as a reflective meaning making process with peers (for application in the lecture hall or online classes); and 
• Immersive Small Group Model: structured immersive progression in small groups, involving facilitated listening and feedback. 

If you'd like to experience the approach first-hand, you can opt in to a short piece of individual pre-work before the session. You'll leave with three music-based approaches you can adapt for your own self-care and for your students, whatever your discipline or class size. 

Barbara Nussbaum is an Honorary Research Affiliate at the University of Cape Town and the founder of Finding Us in Music. Her focus is on social innovation, trauma informed pedagogy, and individual and social flourishing through music.