Luan Shaw’s association with Royal Birmingham Conservatoire (RBC), part of Birmingham City University, spans 30 years. Throughout this period, she has experienced learning and teaching in HE from almost every conceivable angle – as a student (1990–94), Head of Woodwind and Brass at RBC’s Junior Department (1993–2004), Consultant in Pedagogy (2010–11), Visiting Tutor in Pedagogy (2011–13), Head of Pedagogy (2013–18), Associate Professor; Director of Postgraduate Studies (2019–present), and Interim Vice Principal, Learning and Teaching (2020–22). She is an Advance HE Senior Fellow and was made an Honorary Member of RBC in 2001.
All aspects of Luan’s work at RBC are informed and enriched by her portfolio background as a professional performer and classical music practitioner, since the mid–1990s. Alongside performing, touring and recording with ensembles such as the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Manchester Camerata, Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, Orchestra of the Swan, and Longborough Festival Opera, Luan has delivered hundreds of interactive performances and workshops in special schools, hospitals, hospices, and care homes in association with Live Music Now, Music in Hospitals and Care, and the Lost Chord project for dementia sufferers.
Luan began teaching at the age of 16 and went on to accrue 30 years’ experience in various music services and independent schools, as an instrumental specialist and in the classroom. Luan has continued to support learning in music through her work as a diploma examiner for the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music (2008–2021) and an adjudicator member of the British and International Federation of Festivals (2001–present). Luan is passionate about helping music students to prepare for successful and fulfilling portfolio careers and, in particular, she aims to raise the profile of instrumental teaching as a highly regarded career pathway.
In her former role as RBC’s first Head of Pedagogy, Luan led a significant expansion of instrumental teacher education across the RBC curriculum. Her research focuses on facilitating the transition from music student to professional musician and engages employers, students and alumni as pedagogical consultants to help prepare undergraduates for the modern music education workforce.