TAN, Julie

 
BACKGROUND
Nationality            Singapore
President of The Singapore Music Teachers’ Association
Lecturer of Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music

Notable Singaporean piano pedagogue and music educator, Julie Tan, enjoys a multi-faceted music ‘passion-cum-profession’ spanning over three decades. Besides nurturing a select pool of private students affording her never-ending inspiration to innovate pedagogical ideas, Julie has had the unique opportunity of lecturing in all three of the Republic’s higher tertiary music institutions⎯Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music, National University of Singapore where she currently lectures piano pedagogy, Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts and LASALLE College of the Arts.
 
Her symposium paper on her doctoral research titled, Piano Graded Examinations: Friend or Foe? An Investigation of their Relevance to Piano Teachers in 21st Century Singapore was selected for publication in the proceedings of the 3rd International Symposium on Assessment in Music Education. In the landmark Oxford Handbook of Assessment Policy and Practice in Music Education (2019), she was invited to contribute a chapter titled, Policy and Practice of Assessment in Music Education: Case of Singapore.
 
Julie’s national contribution to the music fraternity includes authorship of the Singapore primary school music textbooks⎯Tune In (9 reprints) and My Music Companion. Published by Pearson Education, these were the only textbooks that were approved by the Ministry of Education for use in all primary schools in 2001−2007.
 
Under her leadership as president of The Singapore Music TeachersAssociation (since 2000), a pro-bono position which she has been re-elected to consecutively, the association has helped raise the standards of teaching and learning in Singapore and the region through successful initiatives such as the Singapore Performers’ Festival & Chamber Music Competition, Le Petit Performers’ Fest and Singapore International Piano Pedagogy Symposium.
 
Also currently serving as National Arts Council Performing Arts external assessor, Julie has held advisory roles with the National Piano & Violin Competition, Singapore International Piano Competition, and UNESCO-NIE Centre for Arts Research Education, People's Association Talent Advisory Panel (Music) as well as vice-president of the Chopin Society, Singapore. In recognition for her efforts and the introduction and promotion of Dalcroze Eurhythmics in Singapore from 2001, Julie was appointed Singapore Dalcroze correspondent for Federation International of Eurhythmics Teachers and was also conferred Life Member by Dalcroze Australia for her work in overseeing the inception of Dalcroze eurhythmics examinations in Singapore.
 
What gives her the greatest joy and satisfaction is the opportunity to touch another life and light the way for others through her teaching.