College access
Colleges
High-energy campus programming that builds asense of belonging, leadership, and engagement and gives students a memorable student-life event, from the SEL books and a interactive keynote to a recording workshop.
We support student engagement, persistence, retention, campus life, leadership, and student success with the SEL books, keynotes, and the STEAM recording program. Our Music toolds for Stress Management have been a hit with college campuses nationwide.
FAQs
Programming students attend voluntarily. Ways to increase student engagement on a campus generally split between what is required and what is chosen, and only the second moves belonging.
The Psychological Effects of Music interactive Speaker Event and recording Activities both draw students who do not attend conventional programming. For student motivation and engagement strategies, the mechanism is participation rather than attendance-taking.
Belonging is the retention factor most responsive to programming, and it is also what drives class attendance. How to improve student attendance in college is largely a question of whether a student feels connected to the institution. We support creating connection.
Effective student engagement strategies at the postsecondary level work on connection. That is one input among many — aid, coursework, and work hours matter as much or more, and we will not claim otherwise.
Retention in colleges turns on belonging and non-cognitive factors more than on academic preparation, which is where most institutions have the least leverage.
Staff asking how to improve retention in students or how to increase retention rate in college generally have advising and tutoring built out and belonging left to chance. Voluntary programming students attend is one of the few levers on it.
This is one input. Aid, coursework, and work hours matter as much or more, and we will not claim a book moves your retention rate.
Yes. The Psychological Effects of Music interactive Speaker Event works for orientation, retention programming, heritage month events, and student leadership gatherings. Black history month event ideas for college students are a frequent ask. Send the audience, date, and format.
Keynote sessions, workshops, and recording or video production activations. Staff asking how to increase student engagement on campus or how to increase student engagement in higher education are usually looking for programming students attend voluntarily. Student engagement activities for college students that produce something — a recording, a video — tend to draw better than passive events. For student engagement activities online, the workshops and recording sessions both run virtually.
Yes. Music education faculty use the material both as course content — SEL in music education as a subject — and as something pre-service teachers take into student teaching.
For departments connected to music education organizations and professional associations, we can present on the research foundation rather than the product.
Retention turns heavily on belonging and non-cognitive factors rather than academic preparation alone. Institutions building student retention programs or university retention programs generally cover advising and tutoring well and leave the belonging piece to chance. Group programming that students choose to attend is one of the few levers on that. Whether it moves your retention rate depends on far more than programming, and we will not claim otherwise — but it is a defensible component of a student retention plan.
Retention turns heavily on belonging and non-cognitive factors rather than academic preparation alone. Institutions building student retention programs or university retention programs generally cover advising and tutoring well and leave the belonging piece to chance. Music is something college students are already tuned into. We help bridge the gap between their emotional state and decisions while enrolled.
Group programming that students choose to attend is one of the few levers on that. Whether it moves your retention rate depends on far more than programming, and we will not claim otherwise — but it is a defensible component of a student retention plan.
The material draws on the psychological effects of music — the body of work on music and learning research covering attention, memory, emotional regulation, and group synchrony. Faculty evaluating it for coursework should ask us for the reference list rather than relying on marketing copy.
We deliver programming rather than operate a program. For college enrichment programs and college access programming, we work as the provider inside your existing structure — a TRIO summer component, a bridge program, a first-year seminar, or a retention initiative. Extracurricular activities examples on the arts side generally means the recording programming, which works as a club or a series.
Yes. The teen and advanced editions work in ensemble contexts. There is little published specifically on SEL for band students at any level, and directors working with first-year students often want structure for the non-musical side of ensemble participation — managing critique, collective responsibility, performance anxiety.
Yes. Keynote and workshop sessions on learning with music and the social benefits of music education are available for faculty, student staff, or student audiences.
Yes. Music recording and video production programming works as a workshop, a residency, or a component inside a course. At the college level it functions as a career pathway conversation as much as an enrichment activity — audio engineering, live sound, and media production are real occupations students reach through music. It also works as team building for student staff, ensembles, and cohort programs.
Yes. If you are assembling 10 fun events for college students or a semester calendar, a recording activation works as a standalone event, and keynote sessions work for orientation, retention programming, or heritage month events. Black history month event ideas for college students are a common ask — tell us the audience and date and we will scope it.
No. We send our own staff to run the programming. We do not train your staff to run it. Recording and production is a skill set, not a procedure. Trying to hand it off in a few hours would be like teaching a doctor to perform surgery in an afternoon — you would get a session that technically happened and a result nobody wants to hear. Music and audio faculty are the one audience where this comes up legitimately — if you have credentialed audio staff already, tell us and we will scope around them rather than duplicate them.
No. We are supplemental. We do not replace your SEL curriculum, your trauma-informed practice, or any program you already have in place. If you run a core SEL program, keep it — ours adds a music-based component alongside it. If you have trauma-informed protocols, training, and referral pathways, those stay in force exactly as they are. Nothing in our material substitutes for them, and our facilitators are not a substitute for your clinical, counseling, or behavioral staff. Your counseling center, advising structure, and student conduct processes are unaffected. This is programming, not a support-services change.
45 minutes to 2 hours. Most schools book a class period or 90 minutes. The 90-minute format is the one we recommend when you have the room. 45 minutes works for a single class period or a tight bell schedule, and 2 hours suits a half-day event, a grade-level rally, or a Black History Month or Red Ribbon Week program. Tell us your bell schedule and we will fit the session to it rather than asking you to build around us.
Yes. The Psychological Effects of Music interactive Speaker Event works for faculty development, staff convocations, and departmental events, alongside the student-facing formats. For a faculty audience the research foundation carries the session — attention, memory, emotional regulation, and group synchrony. We provide the reference list on request.
Quote, W-9, and invoice on request. We accept purchase orders and institutional card payment, and we are registered in SAM.gov for federally funded programs.
Straight answers.
How this program runs
Same SIWM work. Built for Colleges.
Start with the social emotional learning books. Add a keynote. Bring a recording program when you want participants writing and performing — we produce the song and video.
CASEL/SEL & student-development competencies; National Core Arts (Music/Media Arts); leadership & public-speaking skills.
Send a request and tell us this is a Colleges site.
The Psychological Effects of Music
SEL books & curriculum
SEL books by Ava Johnson plus keynotes for the same rooms.
Ava the Aviator
Keynotes & assemblies
Interactive talks on the science of sound and the psychology of music.
The studio
Recording & music video program
Participants write and perform. We record, produce, and film.