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“Meeting our social emotional needs is more important now than ever,” Edgar said. 

The podcasts have developed a wide audience base, including K-12 teachers, students, college professors, and music education students.

Music for All (MFA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to creating, providing, and expanding positively life-changing experiences through music for school-age children. MFA recently named Edgar a social emotional learning (SEL) educational consultant on its educational team.

Edgar interviews seminal leaders in the SEL field for the team's video podcast series.

Screenshot of Edgar's podcast with jazz composer Omar Thomas.

“Social Emotional Learning has become the educational buzzword and primary initiative amidst the intense challenges we are all facing,’ Edgar said. “It is my goal to connect the dots between SEL and music. Our music and music education students experience this integration throughout all our interactions. This podcast is bringing an international audience to these connections.”

Edgar also created a Facebook page highlighting the intersection between music education and social emotional learning. The page has almost 3,000 followers.

Edgar is the author of Music Education and Social Emotional Learning: The Heart of Teaching Music, published in 2017 by GIA Publications, Inc. This pioneering book addresses how music educators can utilize SEL to maximize learning in the choral, instrumental, and general music classroom at all levels, and at the same time support a student’s social and emotional growth. 

Edgar's third book, The ABCs of My Feelings and Music, is one of the first resources to connect SEL and music to elementary students. Edgar co-wrote the book with Stephanie Edgar, his wife and Coordinator of the Center for Academic Success at the College. Nancy Sosna Bohm, retired Lake Forest College reference and web services librarian, is the book's illustrator.