| dc.description.abstract | Emotional trauma affects a large proportion of the South African population. This
article addresses its influence on music learners, including its effects on brain
development, relational development, learning and music-making. The power of the
educator to reshape a child’s brain by providing a nurturing and consistent environment
is stressed. The effect of the environment in modulating epigenetic expression is
discussed in conjunction with object relations theory as a model for human relations.
Brain-damaging consequences of early attachment trauma can be reversed by healing
these patterns through the educational system. Music teachers’ observations of how
trauma influenced their students’ music-making, emotional expression, memory and
relational patterns, students’ observed recoveries from trauma, and the influence of
teachers’ own experiences on their appraisal of students’ experiences are discussed. The
article also examines the advice of healthcare professionals to teachers and the latter’s
legal responsibilities in terms of the reporting of abuse. This is done with reference to
responsibilities regarding witnessing and referring, and the possibility of empowering
learners through unlearning helplessness and fear. Treatment strategies discussed include
pharmacological intervention, psychotherapeutic intervention such as Cognitive-
Behavioural Therapy, hypnosis, Eye Movement Integration Therapy and Somatic
Experiencing. Music can serve as an object relationship representing human experience,
expressing the movement of feelings, bypassing the cortical function and expressing what
words cannot. It can aid in repairing damaged communication processes and restore the
sense of bodily connectedness. Suggested future directions include the incorporation of
teaching modules on educational psychology in music teachers’ training curricula,
providing support for students, reducing the risk of secondary traumatisation to
professionals, and transdisciplinary collaboration. | en_US |
