Meet ICDS6 Keynote: Tawnya Smith
Tawnya Smith is Assistant Professor of Music, Music Education at Boston University.
Dr. Smith is an integrative researcher who explores expressive arts principles to promote holistic learning that is grounded in the learner's authentic and developing self. Her background in music education has led her to experiment with free musical improvisation and multi-modal art response as a means for learners to explore the self in a community setting. Her current interests include pedagogical approaches that draw from EcoJustice Education and EcoPsychology.
Tawnya has published articles in Action, Criticism, and Theory, International Journal of Music Education, Journal of Music Teacher Education, Frontiers in Education, String Research Journal, Journal of Applied Arts and Health, Music Educators Journal, and Gender and Education. She has contributed book chapters to Haunted Melodies: Trauma and Music Education; The Oxford Handbook of Musical Performance; Art as Research, Key Issues in Arts Education; Queering Freedom: Music, Identity, and Spirituality; and Music, Wellbeing, and Spirituality. She is co-author of the book Performance Anxiety Strategies and co-editor of Narratives and Reflections in Music Education: Listening to Voices Seldom Heard.
She currently serves as the Senior Editor of the International Journal of Education & the Arts, is a co-facilitator of the Music Teacher Health and Wellness Area for Strategic Planning and Action for the Society of Music Teacher Education and serves on the American String Teachers Association Wellness Committee. She has presented numerous research papers and practitioner workshops at state, national, and international conferences.