Teaching as an Art (and the razzle dazzle of performance)
When I was growing up in the 80s and 90s, the term piano pedagogy was pretty much non-existent in the vernacular and just by virtue of being employed by Yamaha Music School, one was already seen as a legitimate music teacher. Today the term seems to be more foregrounded due to the efforts of one individual backed and endorsed by a prominent piano dealer, to circulate and champion the cause of piano pedagogy in Singapore, by encouraging Grade 8 teachers to “upgrade” themselves. In the Austrian university system, the school teaching, solo performance and instrumental pedagogy tracks are clearly differentiated with several music school systems across the provinces that insist on an applicant having a pedagogy degree as a license to teach. My Chinese friends however, report that the situation there is the reverse, where the performance graduates are perceived as the more desirable and sought-after teachers. My sense is that the perception in Singapore is quite the same as in C