Bows click wildly as 5th graders bustle hurriedly around chairs and stands, progressing on inscrutable paths that tend steadily towards their assigned seats: the first of the day’s two music classes begins amidst math, science, and ELA classes in neighboring rooms.

Recounted by an untrained passerby, the events of the next 3 to 4 minutes could be labeled generously as disorderly and perhaps more honestly as raucous, but the 11 year old musicians tuning their cellos and basses by ear are, in fact, carefully siphoning order from chaos. As the calamity begrudgingly surrenders to a familiar “open strings” harmony (or the 5th grade equivalent of it, anyway), 16 scrunched up faces that were busily staring at their neighbor’s strings ease one by one into “aha!” expressions of varying intensity.

What’s happening here? And what’s happening beneath the surface?

Much has been said about the need for a hard look at social and emotional learning in our nation’s schools, and indeed socioemotional skills are often - if not categorically - part of a school’s hidden curriculum, or those sets of lessons that are not committed to pen and paper - or maybe not even discussed at all. The trouble with hidden curricula is that they are conveyed with or without the faculty’s awareness, and it only makes sense that school’s that fail to consider the nature of their hidden curriculum are in for trouble, mediocrity, or both.

The Conservatory Model not only deeply considers these hidden curricula but furthermore elevates socioemotional skills into the school’s actual, codified curricula.

Music as Social & Emotional Learning

Music educators touted the socioemotional benefits of formal music training and ensemble participation long before the term “socioemotional” was elevated to a buzzword. Encompassing student self-efficacy, empathy, interpersonal skills, and a range of other competencies, social and emotional learning (“SEL” in educational jargon) has come to the fore of education research. While developmental psychologists such as famed Harvard professor Howard Gardner have long championed the multidimensional nature of human intelligences, more recently researchers like Johnathan Cohen have argued fervently “that the goals of education need to be reframed to prioritize not only academic learning, but also social, emotional, and ethical competencies” if we are to develop students into adults and citizens capable of participating meaningfully in a twenty-first century democracy.

While it seems self-evident to music educators and directors that ensemble participation implicitly facilitates SEL, most ensembles in most schools in the country (and perhaps around the world) are audition-based or at least opt-in. The practical result of this is that band or orchestra in middle and high school is for a select portion of a school’s students who may or may not be the group most in need of additional focus on social and emotional skills.

It is admittedly also the case that not all music education necessarily includes a strong emphasis on social and emotional skills, but it is difficult to speak generally or broadly on the matter; suffice it to say that bands and orchestras can prioritize any number of items - competition results and chair placement to name two - above SEL.

SEL in the Conservatory Model

The Conservatory Model takes up both of these challenges - the need to address every student rather than some subset of our students and the need for more and better SEL in music education - at once. At the Conservatory Lab School, every student is immersed in high quality music instruction twice daily from kindergarten through 8th grade. Instruments are provided by the school (parents do not shoulder the financial burden), and the entire day is structured around these two music blocks. Holding on the one hand improved SEL as a mission and on the other hand El Sistema as a pedagogical basis, the program is animated by a unique core of instructional tenants that have been developed organically by the professional faculty of Conservatory Lab School.

Expected ensemble habits and behaviors are reframed as interpersonal skill development: students are reminded in orchestra and other classes that they are “crew” members - not mere “passengers” - who contribute to one another’s shared success. The cumulative differences in the expectations and methodological decisions of the faculty are manifest in a student culture that is extremely focused on personal and peer improvement rather than on competition or one-upmanship.

The lack of even “friendly competition” in a structural sense is palpable to traditional orchestra and band directors; focused on modeling their traditional programs after “real orchestras,” many directors take “chair placement” (the process of auditioning for ranked seating in the ensemble) for granted, whereas the Conservatory Model leans towards peer coaching and full inclusion.

Full inclusion is indeed another hallmark of the Conservatory Model - music for all truly means music for every student regardless of cognitive, social, or other special demands. The Model flexibly accommodates these students, but insists on their inclusion in actual orchestra rehearsals, not in separate ensembles or classes.

Conservatory Lab ensembles, then, include students with IEPs and behavioral challenges, driving instructors and teachers to deeply and personally consider the goals and needs of each lesson and rehearsal for every student. This commitment to full inclusion is a powerful, tangible marker of the authentic social and emotional learning aspirations of the Conservatory Model, and indeed anything short of full inclusion would be contrary to its design and purpose.

While it may seem idealistic at some level, a mission of music for every student actually becomes a design principal rather than a limitation, influencing the day’s schedule, the school’s culture, and the faculty’s enthusiasm. There is something disarming about the concrete differences between a competitive rehearsal space and a well-architected, inclusive one: as inclusion becomes part of the program’s “DNA,” so to speak, rehearsals become joyful, high-energy, and exciting. Pablo Picasso mused that “every child is an artist,” but a Conservatory Model orchestra rehearsal may very well convince you that every second grader is a budding musician.

The Ultimate Importance of SEL

Literature from the fields of psychology and education have definitively identified socioemotional competencies as paramount in overall student success. A broad study of almost 300,000 K-12 students by Joseph A. Durlak (et al.) found that, “the findings from several individual studies and narrative reviews indicate that SEL programs are associated with positive results such as improved attitudes about the self and others, increased prosocial behavior, lower levels of problem behaviors and emotional distress, and improved academic performance.”

Though it is certainly the case that social and emotional skill development is no substitute for academic achievement, it is also true that these two need not be opposed. The Conservatory Method makes a notably bold claim: infusing every student’s school day with rigorous, well-designed music education can provide the context needed for children to recognize and manage their emotions, set and achieve meaningful goals, and appreciate the perspectives and skills of their peers.

Over the course of the years they spend at Conservatory Lab, our aforementioned bustling fifth graders are on a path that takes them beyond textbooks and multiple choice tests. A path that starts with papier-mâché violins and cellos but quickly moves into performances of classical orchestral literature. A path that develops deep scholarly, artistic, and social competencies centered around service, collaboration, and compassion.

School leaders and community members should reflect - what would a commitment to an authentic, high-quality performing arts program do for my students? Are the arts for some students or all students in my community, and what does it mean to commit to full inclusion in the rehearsal room? How can music education uniquely facilitate socioemotional growth in my school?