Announcing the Piano Inspires Music Center

HOPEWELL, N.J. — The Frances Clark Center is opening the Piano Inspires Music Center, a new center for music education in Hopewell, New Jersey, and an extension of The New School for Music Study (NSMS), a division of The Frances Clark Center.

For more than 65 years, The New School for Music Study (NSMS) has served the greater Princeton community and beyond through excellence and innovation in music teaching and learning. Today, NSMS serves more than 400 piano students, ages 4 to 88, in Kingston, NJ. We are internationally recognized as the flagship school of The Frances Clark Center for Keyboard Pedagogy.

Building on the legacy established at NSMS, the Piano Inspires Music Center extends our work into Hopewell, creating new opportunities for music study and engagement across the region. We are offering lessons in piano, woodwinds, music theory, and chamber music, beginning in September 2026.

NSMS and PIMC bring together passionate music educators and performers who hold a combined 64 post-secondary degrees and represent 10 countries, with educational backgrounds in performance and pedagogy from leading music schools and university programs. Students benefit from a wide range of educational and performance opportunities, including international assessments, artist residencies and masterclasses, national and international festivals and competitions, and performances at Carnegie Hall.

At NSMS, teacher education has been central since our founding. The Postgraduate Teacher Education Program has prepared generations of music educators, including graduates of The Juilliard School, Yale University, the University of Oklahoma, and more. Program alumni hold faculty and teaching positions at colleges, universities, music schools, and independent studios across the country, extending the School’s impact through generations of teachers and students. Through ongoing teacher education and professional development, NSMS and The Frances Clark Center serve thousands of educators each year. Our Postgraduate Teaching Fellows will work with both NSMS and the Piano Inspires Music Center.

The Piano Inspires Music Center reflects The Frances Clark Center’s commitment to making high-quality music education accessible across the lifespan and creating meaningful opportunities for people to learn, make, and experience the transformative power of music.

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