Tapestry: Being a Musician-Teacher: A Life-Long Autoethnographic Exploration

Performer-teacher identity is a life unfolding, a continuous negotiation, reassessment, and repositioning as time, influences and opportunities fluctuate. Little is known about the totality of life spent as a performer-teacher, or how such a career pathway develops. Little is also known of the lives of international performer-teachers in international schools. I use autoethnography to unpack my life-long process of growth and change. I examine my life experience to highlight how changes of aging, work environments and personal circumstances guided my journey as a performer-teacher. I hope that this research may inform other musician-teachers, particularly those in international school education.