Teaching, Taiwanese Identity, and Trends

In the photos--one is a picture I took from the bus on the way to Chinese Culture University, one is of John teaching at NCCU, and the others are pictures of the Chinese Culture University campus.

I’m really enjoying the students at Chinese Culture University! So far I’ve been coaching/teaching chamber music groups that are preparing for a performance at graduation.

Whenever I’ve been a guest professor, I’m FILLED with apprehension before I actually begin teaching. When you give lessons (not classes) as a guest professor, there is ABSOLUTELY NO OPPORTUNITY for preparation. Most of the time I find out what I’m going to teach right before the lessons, and many times they’re working on repertoire I have not played. Bear in mind that the chamber music and piano repertoire is vast—there are literally hundreds of thousands of pieces, and therefore it’s impossible to know ALL OF THEM—I know other musicians who are reading this know exactly what I’m talking about! In addition to this, I feel this large amount of pressure to demonstrate tremendous knowledge since I am a guest professor, and students from other countries believe that professors from the U.S. must be knowledgeable. In other words, I’m completely afraid of making a fool out of myself! My hugest fear is to listen to a student and have absolutely NO suggestions! The pressure is even more intense in Asian countries because the students are of VERY high quality. If the students were terrible, I’d have PLENTY to say!! I’m completely afraid I will be stumped! But I REALLY do love the challenge of working with excellent students. You really have to be on your game and I probably learn more from teaching excellent students than they learn from me! On the plus side, the students are usually receptive, open, and very eager to please—especially in the Asian countries--which makes my job much easier. AND as a guest, there’s no accountability in that I’m going to responsible for these students for a long period of time. If they don’t graduate or can’t get into graduate school, it’s not my fault!

The chamber music groups I was assigned to coach/teach were playing repertoire I was COMPLETELY unfamiliar with! Also, a few of the chamber music groups were not in my area of expertise—one was a woodwind quintet w/o piano, the other was a group of 3 trumpets and piano, an unusual instrumental combination. Quite frankly, John is much more qualified to coach these types of groups, since he is a wind player. I feel MUCH more comfortable coaching piano solo, or any duos/trios/quartets/quintets containing piano PLUS strings or woodwinds. The woodwind quintet is playing a piece I had never heard of! AND they did not have any music to give me to refer to, which also put me at a disadvantage. However, I ended up having plenty of ideas to suggest, and I had plenty to say for the other groups as well! I’m really having a great time, and I think I’m developing a nice rapport with the students. The students are TOTALLY ADORABLE!!

Chinese Culture University is located on Yan Ming Mountain, a tourist attraction. It is a BEAUTIFUL university, and the bus ride up the mountain is stunning! I was also able to practice there, and they gave me this wonderful practice room that contained a gorgeous black, mirror-finished Steinway grand! I could definitely get used to this…..

Taiwanese professors are under IMMENSE pressure to publish. The motto is “Publish or Perish.” Achieving tenure and promotion is an extremely difficult and convoluted process. According to what I’ve heard, and I could be wrong--Taiwanese professors MUST publish in Social Science Citation Index (SSCI) journals. I’m not very well-versed in these journals, but as I understand it, SSCI journals are considered the most prestigious journals in the world. HOWEVER, I’m not sure how these journals are chosen to considered SCCI, and it’s very likely that many esteemed journals are not on this list. Supposedly Taiwanese professors are obsessed about publishing in these exclusive journals, and many Taiwanese professors have had heart attacks because they’ve been unable to publish in these journals. I asked Greg, the Ph.D student, if writing a book would suffice for tenure and promotion, and he told me that only publications in SSCI journals would guarantee tenure and promotion. Also, the schools do NOT grant tenure and promotion—they RECOMMEND someone for tenure and promotion. Tenure and promotion is ultimately decided by the Taiwan Ministry of Education, a government office in charge of education, so you can imagine the bureaucracy. Needless to say, the process is highly rigid, uniform, and check-box-oriented. At National Chengchi University (NCCU), professors are regularly in their offices until 2 or 3 am, working on articles to publish in SCCI journals.

Another matter I find intriguing is that Taiwan has one of the LOWEST birthrates in the world. Many elementary schools have closed due to lack of attendance. People do get married, but MANY couples choose to NOT have children. Women here are highly educated, very career-oriented, and believe that children will detract them from a successful career. Most women here work—the stay-at-home mom/wife is very rare. Also, there is NO home schooling—Taiwanese heavily believe in COMPETITION and do not favor one-on-one instruction. I found this VERY fascinating! Are they more realistic than women in the U.S. who strive to “have it all” (I include myself in this unrealistic category)? I’ve asked several people about this, but I’m not getting straight answers. However, it seems that modern couples are afraid of the costs associated with children, and they also feel they simply do not have time to raise a child.
Greg told us that young couples prefer to have pets, not children. Although this view is generally acceptable, there is concern that the population is aging too rapidly and Taiwanese government is putting into place financial incentives to motivate couples to have children.

Even though Taiwan is the Republic of China (R.O.C.), it is indeed a democracy with completely free press. This country is the size of Massachusetts + Rhode Island, yet it has FIVE 24-hour cable news channels. Like the U.S., it has conservative and liberal newspapers—even a “green” one! Also, many Taiwanese generally like to distance themselves from the Chinese. It’s OK to call the cuisine Chinese, but they themselves do NOT want to be called Chinese—they are absolutely Taiwanese, and very proud of their heritage. You CANNOT accidentally say that Taiwan is China—they get a little prickly with that! I’ve been trying to be very careful about this and I hope I don’t accidentally commit any faux pas’!

Next up….our maiden-voyage performance at NCCU, more teaching, outings, and a night out for John and me….