We believe in the transformative power of music-making.
NSMS is a community music school teaching piano with a unique combination of private and group lessons. We enroll over 400 piano students of all ages and levels. We are also a teacher-training facility for leading piano artist-educators.
We have been a national educational force serving the Princeton community for over 65 years. NSMS is internationally recognized as the flagship school of The Frances Clark Center for Keyboard Pedagogy.
"The instructors are top notch, highly accomplished, from the best schools, and bring with them a particular sensitivity to nurture and build curious minds. Not only do they demonstrate immense patience, they pay minute attention to the smallest and most subtle nuances of how the children articulate pieces of music. Their expert guidance has produced a cadre of young musicians that can raise eyebrows and drop a few jaws.
I highly recommend this 60+ year old, highly respected school whose music pedagogy has stood the test of time."
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-Vinny Nayak, parent of high school student
"My 7 year old is in entering her fourth year of lessons at the New School, and my 6 year old is entering into his third year. The value of the group lessons that the New School provides should not be underestimated. My children love to go to piano class to interact and learn with their classmates. They are having fun while learning. There is no struggle getting them to lessons -- they want to go. Getting young children engaged and invested in their piano studies can be difficult, but the New School knows how to do that successfully."
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-Jennifer DelMedico, parent of two elementary students
"My son can sing along all with all of the songs that he plays on the piano. I appreciate that the teachers are patient and encouraging, and incorporate fun and interactive learning activities. The quality of instruction is very high. I was only expecting my son to learn how to 'play piano,' but after learning with NSMS, he enjoys music in general, and would like to learn more about music. "
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-Chi-Wei Lu, parent of a beginning student
“After we moved to Princeton, we researched for several months to find a new teacher for our 13 year old daughter, and our research led us to NSMS. Our expectations were very high due to solid previous experience, and today we feel very happy that we made the right choice. In one year with NSMS, my daughter starting thinking of piano as something that makes her happy. We appreciate her teacher, not only for her technical skills, but other humanitarian and soft skills. She helped my daughter prepare for performance and theory exams, as well as participation in competitive music festivals. She instilled confidence in my daughter and helped her navigate through some challenging parts of the upper level pieces very efficiently.”
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-Lakshmi Kant Garg, parent of a high school student
"The school has a highly talented group of teachers. Their willingness to innovate and pace the curriculum according to every child’s abilities is notable. It has been a pleasure to see our children develop a remarkable sense of appreciation and talent in piano during the last nine years of their music career. Special thanks to our daughter's teacher for making this journey a nice combination of fun and rigor."
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-Kshitij and Anjali Nerurkar, parents
“The key differentiators in my experience at The New School are a friendly environment, unique techniques that I never learned before to fix micro-level mistakes, touching on every aspect of music, constant feedback.”
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-Darisi Garg, high school student
Why Choose NSMS?
We believe that "there is music in everyone."
This quote from our founder, Frances Clark, is a core tenet of our teaching philosophy. We believe that every person deserves the opportunity to discover self-expression, creativity, and joy through making music at the piano.
We maintain a standard of personal excellence within a nurturing, positive environment.
Our teachers challenge and motivate students through individualized instruction and interactive group classes. Recitals and assessments provide structure for student achievement. We are committed to a student-centered approach that is developmentally appropriate and that aims to effectively develop each student's potential.
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We teach comprehensive musicianship.
Our emphasis on comprehensive musicianship begins with the very first lesson. We believe in developing the various elements of music study holistically. These include music-reading, understanding of rhythm, theory knowledge, artistry and expression, and technique. This balanced approach results in students who play confidently and expressively, and who have the ability to learn independently.
We believe in the power of group teaching.
All students at NSMS are enrolled in an enriching group class, in addition to their weekly private lesson. Through these classes, students have the opportunity to gain confidence through performing regularly, reinforce important concepts through games and other group activities in an engaging environment, feel inspired and motivated by their peers, meet others with similar interests, and play ensembles together.
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