This study aimed to explore the occupational identities of early-career music teachers.Specifically, the project investigated how the occupational identities of two Chinese music teachers were influenced and shaped by pedagogical content knowledge and skills, professional knowledge and skills, self-knowledge, performer/teacher identities, and school context. Previous literature suggests that early-career teachers usually face inconsistencies between their expectations of what music teachers are and what they do, and the reality of how they are to survive and function in their workplaces (Ballantyne,