Dr. Tzu-Ching Tai has established herself as a cellist, music educator, conductor, and researcher. She is a graduate of Hartt School of Music, where she earned a Master of Music degree in Cello Performance and Suzuki Pedagogy. She holds a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Curriculum and Instruction with a concentration in Music Education from the University of Maryland, College Park.

As a music educator and conductor, she has been involved in music teaching from elementary to collegiate levels. She is strings specialist/orchestra director at Fairfax County Public Schools. Previously, she was the orchestra director at Alexandria City Public Schools. During her time at Alexandria City High School, her orchestras received superior ratings consecutively for eight years at the State Assessment. Before ACHS, she was the cello instructor at Holton-Arms School and teaching assistant of the String Methods class at the University of Maryland.  Her teaching career has also appeared internationally. In 2020-2022, she was the orchestra director at Taipei American School in Taipei, Taiwan, where she conducted middle and high school orchestras and taught string classes in 3^rd to 5^th grades. Under her direction, the enrollment of the lower string ensemble doubled.  Dr. Tai is also dedicated to youth symphonies in the community. She was a conductor in the Washington All-County Honors Orchestra and Potomac Valley Youth Orchestras.  In addition, she was the ensemble director of the Music Buddies program in American Youth Philharmonic Orchestras.

As a cellist, Dr. Tai served as a principal cellist in the Taipei Civic Symphony Orchestra and was a member of the Prince George Philharmonic Orchestra.  As a music researcher, Dr. Tai’s research interests include music cognition, string pedagogy, and music teacher education. She has presented her research findings at conferences, including NAfMe Eastern Division Biennial In-Service Conference, the 11^th International Conference of Music Perception and Cognition, the 8^th Asia-Pacific Symposium on Music Education Research, the 30^th ISME World Conference in Music Education in Thessaloniki, Greece.  She enjoys reading research articles and understanding current trends in music education. Her professional affiliations include the American String Teacher Association, the Virginia Music Educator Association, and the College Music Society.