Taichi Akutsu is a Japanese violinist-teacher-researcher and a Professor of early childhood music education at Okayama Prefectural University. He also teaches courses as a lecturer at Seisa University and Shujitsu University. His degrees include a BM, from Tokyo College of Music in violin performance; a MM, from Manhattan School of Music (2005) in orchestral performance; and a MA, from Lehman College, CUNY (2011) in music education and PhD in Education, from Tokyo Gakugei University. Akutsu studied the violin with Glenn Dicterow, former concertmaster of the New York Philharmonic. Akutsu was also a principal violinist of the New World Symphony under the direction of Michael Tilson Thomas (2006-2009). He gained teaching experiences in community music schools and public schools in NYC and Miami, Florida. While focusing on children’s musical engagement and human development, Akutsu recently presented research and practice in Helsinki, New Orleans, Seattle, Miami, New York, Seoul, Singapore, Malaysia and Tokyo. He has recently published his researches on International Journal of Music Education and Music Education research.