After serving in the Russian Imperial Army, Teraŭski worked in Russia for a number of years and pursued his love for music.

[2] After the defeat of the Belarusian national movement, Teraŭski was arrested by the Cheka and sentenced to death.

[1][2] After his release, he worked as a choirmaster in Soviet Belarus and wrote music for a number of plays (the best known of which was "On Kupala Night" (На Купалле) by Michaś Čarot) and set to music poems by Janka Kupala, Jakub Kolas, Zmitrok Biadula, Michaś Čarot and others.

[1][2] Teraŭski was arrested again in August 1938 and in November sentenced to death by an NKVD troika as a "Polish intelligence agent".

The NKVD operatives ransacked his personal archive, which contained a large collection of Belarusian songs.