Tawnya Smith

Dr. Tawnya D. Smith is an integrative researcher who explores expressive arts principles to promote holistic learning, wellbeing, and sustainability in music education settings. She has an extensive qualitative methodology background and has collaborated on a number of research projects in music and arts education. Her current research is in the area of trauma and mental health, LGBTQIA+, as well as ecopsychology and ecojustice informed music learning.

Tawnya has published articles in the 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 Editor for 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 also presented numerous research papers and practitioner workshops at state, national, and international conferences.

Tawnya Smith joined Boston University in 2014 as a dissertation advisor and online course facilitator, became a full-time lecturer in 2016, and won a competitive search for an assistant professorship in 2017. Prior to that time, she served as an instructor in Music Education at Ball State University. Before teaching at the university level, she taught band, chorus, and general music in the public schools and later directed a community music learning program in Illinois, where she also maintained a private studio as a horn and brass instrument specialist. Tawnya currently teaches Introduction to Music Education Research, Arts Integration, Arts as Active Hope: Reconnecting with Human and Non-Human Communities to Create a Sustainable Future and Creating Healthy Classrooms.

Publications

Tawnya has published articles in the 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.