Some students find it difficult to engage in their learning. Emotional and cognitive difficulties can affect a student’s motivation to learn and may make it difficult for them to participate in class-based educational activities. Music is a unique medium of engagement and creative communication. There is a growing body of research has emerged that sheds new light on intriguing links between music and a variety of cognitive functions, including temporal order learning, attention and auditory verbal memoryToday we have the privilege of speaking with, Dr. Karen Salvador. Dr. Salvador is an Assistant Professor of Music Education at Michigan State University’s College of Music, where she teaches courses regarding music in early childhood and elementary general music as well as graduate seminars in music education psychology and research. Her research is focused on ability-responsive music instruction, and aligning culturally responsive and trauma informed pedagogies in music teaching. Dr. Salvador is joined by her PhD student, Rebecca DeWan. Rebecca earned a Master’s degree in Choral Conducting and a bachelor’s degree in music education from the University of Southern Maine. She taught music in Maine for 13 years before beginning her doctoral work. Through her research, she is exploring anti-racist education and working to incorporate trauma-informed practices into the music classroom.