RESEARCH
Publications and Scholarly Work

Research focus: Aural fluency, ensemble pedagogy, musical judgement, and assessment in higher music education.

My research examines how musical understanding, coordination, and evaluative judgement emerge through listening, embodiment, and collective performance in higher music education. Working across aural fluency, ensemble pedagogy, curriculum design, and assessment, I develop practice-led frameworks for musical motion, judgement, and pedagogy in contemporary music education. This work contributes to the emerging logic of Structural Momentum Theory and bridges artistic research with curriculum, assessment, and higher-education pedagogy.

Selected Research and Assessment-Focused Work

From Notation to Motion — International Journal of Community Music
When Formal Criteria Fail — Journal of Arts and Humanities
Decolonising the Rhythm Curriculum — Music Education Research
The Intentional Pocket Project — Jazz Education in Research and Practice
Designing Genre-Inclusive Diploma Pathways — Asia-Pacific Journal for Arts Education

MONOGRAPHS

Decolonizing Aural Skills in Higher Music Education: Rhythm, Listening, and Practice-Led Curriculum Design
Monograph (Under Contract) · Forthcoming 2027 · IGI Global Scientific Publishing, Hershey, Pennsylvania

Develops a perceptual reframing of aural fluency pedagogy in higher music education, positioning rhythm as propulsion, melody as gravitation, and harmony as directional expectancy. The monograph proposes a practice-led framework for plural-modal listening, assessment design, and curriculum reform across intercultural musical systems.

PEER-REVIEWED JOURNAL ARTICLES

Decolonising Aural Skills Assessment in Higher Music Education: Epistemic Authority, Evidence, and Judgment
(Forthcoming 2026) · Action, Criticism, and Theory for Music Education

Critiques criteria-based aural assessment for misrecognising expert musical judgement in higher music education. The article reframes validity as an inferential problem and proposes an assessment approach grounded in disciplinary listening, aural fluency, epistemic authority, and context-sensitive evaluation.

Reflective Practitioner Framework for Contemporary Music Pedagogy: Ensemble, Improvisation, and Cross-Cultural Hearing in a Practice-Based DMus
(Forthcoming 2026) · TOPICS (Themes, Opinion, Practices, Innovation, Curriculum, and Strategies for Music Education Praxis)

Develops a reflective-practitioner framework for contemporary music pedagogy centred on ensemble work, improvisation, and cross-cultural listening. The article proposes structured reflective cycles that support responsive, plural, and critically aware pedagogy in higher music education.

From Notation to Motion: An Embodied Facilitation Framework for Community and Higher-Education Ensemble Contexts
(Forthcoming 2026) · International Journal of Community Music

Develops a practice-led framework for ensemble facilitation centred on temporal grounding, structural mapping, and expressive anticipation. The article reframes gesture, entrainment, and cueing as primary pedagogical sites for musical judgement, participation, and coordination across community and higher-education contexts.

More Than Just Piano: Patch Literacy as a Core Competency in Contemporary Ensemble Practice

(Forthcoming 2026) · College Music Symposium (College Music Society, USA)

Defines patch literacy as the ability to select, program, and perform with context-appropriate keyboard timbres in contemporary ensemble settings. The article proposes a role-based framework that integrates sound design, ensemble pedagogy, and curricular application in higher music education.

When Formal Criteria Fail: Judgment and Validity in Arts Assessment
April 2026 · Journal of Arts and Humanities, 15(3) · https://dx.doi.org/10.18533/journal.v15i3.2652

Argues that criteria-based assessment in the arts can misrecognise expert judgement as error, producing validity failures that cannot be resolved through greater specification. The article reframes validity as an inferential problem and introduces assessment formalism to explain persistent tensions between rubric-based evaluation and disciplinary expertise.

Designing Genre-Inclusive Diploma Pathways in Contemporary Theory: A Practice-Led Curriculum Framework for an Independent Awarding Body
April 2026 · Asia-Pacific Journal for Arts Education, 23(1) · The Education University of Hong Kong · ISSN 1683-6995

Develops a practice-led curriculum framework for genre-inclusive contemporary theory diploma pathways beyond conventional written-theory models. The article proposes a three-level qualification structure grounded in international benchmarking, assessment validity, and intercultural curricular responsiveness.

The Intentional Pocket Project: A Jazz-Informed Workshop Series for Emerging Ensemble Musicians
January 2026 · Jazz Education in Research and Practice, 7(1), 98–119 (Indiana University Press / Project MUSE) · https://doi.org/10.2979/jerp.00017
Articulates a structured workshop model for cultivating groove cohesion, role clarity, and ensemble fluency among emerging musicians. The article proposes a three-pillar framework of Specific Listening, Technical Awareness, and Macro-Sight, positioning the pocket as an intentionally teachable and transferable ensemble design pattern.

Creative Health Through Music Pedagogy: Case Studies in Identity, Listening, and Cultural Belonging in Higher Education
December 2025 · International Journal of Arts Education, 23(2), 95–112 (National Taiwan Arts Education Center, Ministry of Education, Taiwan) · ISSN 1728-175X · Official listing · Author-accepted manuscript · https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18243857 · Access publication
Examines how ensemble-focused pedagogy can foster wellbeing, inclusion, and identity formation in higher music education. The article advances a practice-led account of creative health through listening, collaborative musicianship, and culturally responsive design.

Decolonising the Rhythm Curriculum: Integrating Global Groove Practices in Undergraduate Aural Skills
September 2025 · Music Education Research, 27(5), 593 –603 (Taylor & Francis) · https://doi.org/10.1080/14613808.2025.2565148
Develops a decolonising model for rhythm pedagogy that integrates African, Indian, and global groove practices into undergraduate aural skills curricula. The article reframes rhythmic literacy as plural, embodied, and culturally situated within higher music education.

BOOK CHAPTERS

Ensemble Rhythm as Didactic Space: A Bildung-Oriented, Cross-Curricular Design
(Forthcoming 2027) · in Cultivating Didactic Spaces with Bildung Theories and Cross-Curricular Approaches in Educational Practice (Vernon Press, Wilmington, DE)
Develops rhythm-based ensemble pedagogy as a Bildung-oriented model for cross-curricular teaching. The chapter proposes frameworks that connect musical practice with mathematics, language, civics, and embodied learning.

Rhythm, Flow, and Belonging: Ensemble Pedagogy as Creative Health
(Invited chapter, under review) · in Music & Mind (Vernon Press, Wilmington, DE)
Develops rhythm-centred ensemble pedagogy as a creative health model grounded in entrainment, groove, flow, and synchrony. The chapter links ensemble practice to attention regulation, resilience, and belonging across educational and community contexts.

Rhythm as Decolonial Pedagogy: Ensemble Practice for South African Creative Arts Education
(Forthcoming 2026) · in Voices of Creative Education: Navigating Challenges and Opportunities in South African Arts Education (University of South Africa Press — UNISA)
Proposes rhythm-centred ensemble pedagogy as a pragmatic route for decolonial Creative Arts education in South Africa. The chapter shows how cyclic, participatory groove practices can strengthen collaboration, belonging, and culturally sustaining teaching.

The Intentional Pocket Project: Ensemble Groove Labs as Project-Based Learning in Higher Music Education
(Forthcoming 2026) · in Cases on Project-Based Learning in Music Education (IGI Global, Hershey, Pennsylvania)
Presents rhythm-based ensemble pedagogy as a project-based learning model in higher music education. The chapter shows how students can co-design ensemble artefacts, develop groove fluency, and reflect on collaborative musicianship through structured groove labs.

Music on Screen – Reflections on Livestreamed Concerts
March 2022 · in Things Will Never Be the Same – Or Will They? (UBSS CSR Learning Futures Vol. 2, Smart Questions) · ISBN 978-1-907453-34-2 · Access publication
Reflects on artistic adaptation during the COVID-19 period through the lens of livestreamed performance. The chapter considers how digital presentation reshaped audience engagement, performance design, and artistic responsiveness.

WORKING PAPERS & WHITE PAPERS

Working Papers

Assessing Aural Fluency in Contemporary Music Education
Develops a genre-inclusive framework for assessing aural fluency in contemporary music education. The paper aligns listening, pedagogy, benchmarking, and evidentiary design with contemporary ensemble practice.

Aural Fluency Across Systems: Cyclic Time, Modal Colour, and Micro-Intonation
Develops a plural-modal aural fluency curriculum linking cyclic time, modal pathways, and micro-intonation to contemporary ensemble practice. The paper proposes a unified listening framework that integrates entrainment, pitch organisation, intercultural fluency, and higher-education pedagogy.

Brush Technique as Cross-Genre Pedagogy for Contemporary Drum Set
Develops a cross-genre brush framework for contemporary drum set grounded in sound, motion, and groove function. The paper repositions brush technique as a transferable pedagogical system extending beyond jazz lineage alone.

Harmonic Flow as Directional Expectancy: Teaching Harmonic Motion in Contemporary Music
Reframes harmony as perceptual motion rather than static chordal succession in contemporary music pedagogy. The paper proposes harmonic topologies and momentum states as tools for teaching directional expectancy across genre-inclusive theory contexts.

White Papers

Aural Fluency Assessment in Contemporary Music Education: A practice-led framework for plural-modal, genre-inclusive assessment
2026 · White Paper (WP-01) · Zenodo · https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18115790

Proposes a standards-oriented framework for assessing aural fluency in contemporary music higher education. The white paper defines evidentiary modes, benchmarking strategies, and examiner calibration across diverse musical systems.

A Practice-Led Research Methodology for Contemporary Music Higher Education: A standards-oriented framework for supervising and assessing undergraduate practice-led research
2026 · White Paper (WP-02) · Zenodo · https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18123220

Proposes a standards-oriented framework for supervising and assessing undergraduate practice-led research in contemporary music higher education. The white paper clarifies practice as inquiry, evidentiary principles, and assessment alignment within quality-assurance contexts.

CONFERENCES & INVITED RESEARCH

Proceedings Papers

Talks/Webinars/Keynotes

Pocket as Authored Space: Distributed Authority in Embodied Ensemble Practice
July 2026 · ADPRex × APARN 2026: Who Speaks? Authorship, Authority, and Authenticity · Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, University of the Arts Singapore · Singapore

Peer-reviewed conference paper examining ensemble pocket as a distributed, embodied phenomenon. The paper reframes authorship in collaborative music-making as contingent and emergent, shifting authority from individual performers to shared processes of timing, gesture, density, and collective momentum.

Re-centering the Decolonising Ear: Aural Fluency and Plural-Modal Listening in East-Asian-Adjacent Pedagogy
July 2026 · 9th Symposium of the ICTMD Study Group on Musics of East Asia · Hosted by National Taiwan Normal University · Taipei, Taiwan
Peer-reviewed conference paper examining aural fluency and plural-modal listening in higher music education. The paper reframes listening beyond singular tonal-metric norms through intercultural approaches to rhythm, tuning, and ensemble texture.

When Techniques Travel: Translating Indian and Afro-Cuban Hand-Motion Logics into Contemporary Cajón Groove Fluency
June 2026 · Roots & Routes Intercultural Music Symposium (Poster Session) · Pasat Merdu · Singapore

Practice-led poster presentation examining how hand-motion logics from Indian and Afro-Cuban percussion can be translated into a contemporary cajón system for low-volume ensemble work. The poster proposes split-hand articulation and heel-toe bass motion as transferable engines for groove clarity, sound-function, and intercultural pedagogy in singer-songwriter, pop, and contemporary acoustic settings.

Identity-Aligned Repertoire Mapping for Engagement and Participation in Higher Music Education
June 2026 · Redesigning Pedagogy International Conference (RPIC) 2026 · National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University · Singapore

Peer-reviewed conference paper examining how identity-aligned repertoire selection can function as a pedagogical lever for engagement and participation in higher music education. The paper proposes a transferable framework for linking culturally legible repertoire to disciplinary concepts while maintaining rigour, coherence, and curricular intent.

Teaching Musical Judgement in the Age of AI
May 2026 · NTU Annual Learning and Teaching Conference: From Good to Great 2026 · Centre for Teaching, Learning and Pedagogy, Nanyang Technological University · Singapore

Peer-reviewed conference paper examining evaluative judgement, embodied listening, and musical responsiveness in AI-mediated higher music education. The paper argues that generative AI should function not as a substitute for musicianship, but as a prompt for comparison, critique, revision, and accountable artistic decision-making.

The Intentional Pocket Project: A Jazz-Informed Workshop Series for Emerging Ensemble Musicians
2026 · Jazz Education Network (JEN) Invited Research Webinar · Online

Invited research webinar based on the peer-reviewed article published in Jazz Education in Research and Practice. The presentation outlines a practice-based framework for rhythm-section pedagogy, groove fluency, and ensemble-directed listening in higher music education.

Rhythm as Decolonial Pedagogy: Cyclic Ensemble “Rhythm Labs” for Creative Arts Education
March 2026 · Music and Society – 6th International Music Conference · Faculty of Music, University of Debrecen · Debrecen, Hungary
Peer-reviewed conference paper proposing a rhythm-centred pedagogical model for Creative Arts and higher music education. The paper frames ensemble rhythm as a socially situated practice and outlines short cyclic rhythm labs that develop listening, embodied coordination, and formal awareness through low-resource classroom routines.

Pocket as Embodied Space: Reflections from the Bandstand
February 2026 · 5th International Network for Artistic Jazz Research (INARJ) Conference · JAM MUSIC LAB Private University (Vienna), hosted by Koninklijk Conservatorium Brussel & Erasmushogeschool Brussel · Brussels, Belgium

Peer-reviewed conference paper examining groove and ensemble interaction through embodied, practice-led inquiry. The paper positions pocket as an emergent, relational phenomenon shaped by microtiming, gesture, and collective listening in small-group performance contexts.

PRACTICE CONTEXT & PROFESSIONAL ENGAGEMENT

Selected Performances

A Night of Jazz with the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra (MPO)

October 2025 · Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra × Julian Chan Jazz Orchestra (Dewan Filharmonik PETRONAS, Kuala Lumpur)

Performed drum set in a large-ensemble collaboration with the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra. The performance situates rhythm-section practice within symphonic jazz and intercultural ensemble contexts.

Assessed Fellowship Portfolios

Assessed externally examined fellowship submissions across percussion, electric bass, composition, contemporary piano accompaniment, and related areas. These examining activities support ongoing engagement with standards, benchmarking, and advanced-level evaluative judgement. View here

Industry Engagements

The TENG Company
2018–present · Arranger, Percussionist, Bassist

Ongoing practitioner engagement with a leading intercultural ensemble specialising in Chinese percussion and contemporary hybrid performance. This work informs research into ensemble cognition, rhythmic organisation, and intercultural listening.

Singapore Armed Forces Band
2009–2013 · Principal Drummer, Percussionist, Pianist, Bassist; Combo Band 2IC

Served as a principal rhythm-section musician across ceremonial, orchestral, jazz, and popular repertoire within a national band context. The role developed ensemble leadership, multi-instrumental fluency, and rehearsal coordination across large and small ensembles.

Selected Performances at Major Arts Venues (Singapore & International)
Esplanade – Concert Hall & Outdoor Theatre; Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music; Singapore Conference Hall; Berklee Performance Center (Boston); Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center (New York)

Performed as drummer, percussionist, and bassist at major concert venues in Singapore and internationally. These appearances reflect sustained large-ensemble and rhythm-section practice across diverse professional contexts.

EARLIER ACADEMIC WORK

Integrating World Percussion into Graduate Jazz Training: A Practitioner Reflection
August 2025 · CUNY Academic Works (Queens College, City University of New York)
Reflects on the pedagogical and artistic implications of substituting jazz drum-set lessons with a semester of world percussion study in graduate training. The article considers how cross-cultural rhythmic study can reshape listening, technique, and ensemble understanding. Access publication

Doctor of Music in Contemporary Performance: Portfolio Submission
July 2025 · Zenodo (European-American University) · https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15833940
Portfolio-based doctorate comprising recordings, creative projects, pedagogical frameworks, and reflective commentary in contemporary performance. The submission documents work on rhythm-section fluency, cross-genre practice, and curriculum innovation. View portfolio

Teaching Aural Skills in Undergraduate Music Using World Music Concepts: A Narrative Inquiry

August 2024 · Doctoral Thesis, Liberty University School of Music · DME

Explores how rhythmic and modal concepts from African, Indian, Arabic, and Japanese traditions can inform Western aural skills pedagogy. The thesis proposes integrative frameworks for cross-cultural listening and undergraduate musicianship development. Download thesis

PROFESSIONAL ACADEMIC SERVICE & EXAMINING

LCME Examiner Seminar (Examiner Training)
February 2026 · London College of Music Examinations (University of West London), UK
Professional examiner training and calibration undertaken as part of ongoing accreditation and examining duties with London College of Music Examinations. The seminar supports consistency, standards alignment, and evaluative reliability in assessment practice.

SCSM Music Examiner Training
July 2025 · St Cecilia School of Music (SCSM), Singapore
Examiner training in graded and diploma-level contemporary music assessment. The training supports applied judgement, standards calibration, and assessment consistency in external examining work.

ESSAYS & PUBLIC COMMENTARY

Diplomas: pros and cons
November 2025 · Music Teacher (Mark Allen Group, UK)
Reflects on the role of performance diplomas in a musician’s professional development. The essay examines how formal recognition intersects with lived experience, discipline, and sustained artistic practice. Read article

Feeling First: A Practitioner’s Reflection on Decolonising Music Pedagogy
September 2025 · JHPCU Blog (Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi Christian University)
Explores how embodied experience, ensemble fluency, and world-percussion practice can reframe music education beyond notation-centred models. The essay positions feeling, groove, and student agency as central to decolonising pedagogy. Read article

From Berklee to Boutique: How I Built My Academic Pathway Through Performance, Professionalism, and Purpose
August 2025 · EAU News (European-American University)
Traces a practitioner-led academic journey across conservatory, performance, and portfolio-based higher education. The essay argues that academic credibility can be built through rigour, service, and educational purpose rather than through a single conventional route. Read article

Decolonising Music Education Across Diverse Institutions
July 2025 · Music In Africa
Reflects on decolonising music education across schools, universities, and community settings. The essay considers how culturally responsive frameworks can strengthen inclusion, musical belonging, and pedagogical relevance. Read article

Arts Are Essential: Reframing Music Education as Infrastructure for Human Resilience
June 2025 · RSA Circle (Royal Society of Arts)
Argues for the arts as a form of civic and educational infrastructure rather than a discretionary enrichment area. The essay links music education to wellbeing, resilience, and community renewal in post-crisis contexts. Read article

View publications, profiles, and selected research outputs via ResearchGate, Google Scholar, ORCID, ResearcherID, Zenodo, Academia, and LinkedIn.

RESEARCH Publications and Scholarly Work