Samuel Pang En 彭恩

Singaporean Pianist, Music Educator-Piano Teacher, Researcher, & Trailblazer

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Samuel Pang En 彭恩

is the first Singaporean admitted to the renowned piano pedagogy program at the University of Oklahoma (OU) with dual teaching assistantships, where he earned a Master of Music in Piano Performance and Pedagogy with a perfect GPA. From Fall 2026, he will begin a Doctor of Philosophy in Music Education with an Emphasis in Piano Pedagogy, continuing piano studies with Jeongwon Ham and piano pedagogy with Sara M. Ernst. Recently, he was awarded the Genevieve Vliet Piano Scholarship (2026), the Marjorie Martin Caylor Memorial Scholarship (2025), the Music Activities Scholarship (2025/2026), and the Robberson Research Grant (2025).Before arriving in the States, Samuel earned a Bachelor of Education (Piano Pedagogy), 1st class honors from the Royal College of Music, London on the NAFA Scholarship and Shariff-Vaidhya Arts Scholarship at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, where he was subsequently conferred the Best Graduate Award (BEd) and was the first-ever recipient of The NAFA President Award (Degree) in 2024.He studied piano with Kim Bo Kyung, Rena Phua, and Nellie Seng; piano pedagogy with Julie Tan; and research with Rebecca Kan and Miranda Francis. He also received coaching in piano with Hwaen Ch'uqi (Eastman School of Music, NY), Penelope Roskell (Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, London), Richard Uttley (Royal College of Music, London), and Loo Bang Hean (UCSI University, Malaysia).

Samuel holds memberships in the National Association for Music Education (US), the Music Teachers National Association (US), the OU MTNA Collegiate Chapter (OU), and the Singapore Music Teachers' Association (SMTA). Previously, he served on the 2025-26 leadership committee of the MTNA Collegiate Chapter at the University of Oklahoma in the US.

Learn more about Samuel as a Pianist, Educator-Teacher, Researcher, and Clinician below.

Music Educator-
Piano Pedagogue

Whether pre-college, collegiate, or leisure students, Samuel advocates for the holistic development of the musician-instrumentalist. He empowers students to be self-sufficient learners, independent thinkers, and technically able musicians!

Collegiate Teaching

Pre-Collegiate Teaching

Samuel frequently curates music events for his students and community, celebrating artistry through music-making. Recent highlights are below.

Recent Research

^{Pang, S.E. (2026). A Glimpse Into Piano Education in Singapore: Perspectives of Piano Studio Teachers. Proceedings of The Piano Conference: NCKP 2025, edited by Sara M. Ernst, Piano Education Press, 456-457.}

^{This study aimed to clarify the current state of piano education in Singapore. Three piano teachers participated in the study, providing an hour-long individual interview held through Microsoft Teams. A post-interview review of the transcribed data was carried out on Delve (a qualitative data analysis software), where the collective views were subsequently analyzed thematically. Two themes emerged: 1) Pedagogical Responses for Better Teaching, and 2) Societal and Parental Attitudes as Major Influence. Several suggestions were recommended based on findings to improve piano education in Singapore.}

^{Pang, S.E. (2025). Intersections: Piano Variations and Practice Know-How as Teaching Strategies for Piano Technique Development. MTNA e-Journal, 16(4), 24-25. MTNA e-Journal.}

^{A piano teacher is able to strategically teach through piano variations by leveraging the intersections between technique, music and practice with the demands of intermediate-level studies. At the intermediate level, students transition from method books to standard repertoire, further developing their technique, artistry and interpretative skills. As an alternative, teachers may opt to teach through piano variations. In this novel approach, the piano teacher’s main goal is to shape students into independent, musically thinking and technically proficient pianists over the long term in preparation for advanced-level studies.}

^{Pang, S.E. and Kan, R.Y.P. (2024). Nuances of an In-between Space of Learning Through Auditory Approaches in Early Piano Instruction. Behavioral Sciences, 14(12), 1128 https://doi.org/10.3390/bs14121128.}

^{Musical experiences in early piano instruction tend to be led by visual-based methods, limiting opportunities to develop aural abilities for children to understand music. This study examines the exploratory behaviour of music listening through auditory approaches that support visual-based methods to foster musical comprehension. Drawing from case studies of young music learners between the ages of 7 and 8, qualitative data were collected through lesson observations, interviews, game-based assessments, and performance evaluations of a prepared piece. Positive instances of recall, calibration, association, and empowerment indicated how participants perceived and strengthened the association of heard sounds. The findings further highlight the demanding cognitive ability needed to process visual elements in method books and how auditory approaches can relieve the attention to visual score-reading that enables students to better tune in to the coordination of hands with music. This discussion therefore opens the possibility for exploring how we may uncover nuanced differences in learning when we design teaching methods that straddle both auditory and visual approaches.}

Conferences/Presentations

^{Pang, S.E. (2026). RACE(ing) towards Musicianship in the Piano Studio: Findings from Two Studies. Poster Presentation. 2026 Biennial NAfME Music Research and Teacher Education Conference, Long Beach, California. September.}

^{Pang, S.E. (2026). Leveraging the Intersections in Piano Variations: Teaching Kabalevsky's Op. 40 and 51 to Intermediate Students. Teachers’ Workshop Session. SIMPeF Pedagogy Conference 2026, Singapore, July.}

^{Pang, S.E. (2026). Aural Development in Your Piano Studio: Why it Matters, What to Teach, and How to Approach. Teachers’ Workshop Session. SIMPeF Pedagogy Conference 2026, Singapore, July.}

^{Pang. S.E. (2025). A Glimpse Into Piano Education in Singapore: Perspectives of Piano Studio Teachers. Poster Presentation: NCKP 2025: The Piano Conference. Virtual. June.}

^{Kalhammer, K., Hurst. L., and Pang, S.E. (2025). Designing Interactive Piano Events for the Community: Observations from Two Approaches. Presentation. Collegiate Connections. NCKP 2025: The Piano Conference. Virtual. June.}

^{Pang. S.E. (2025). Aural Abilities in Sight-reading: A Literature Review. Poster Presentation: 2025 Oklahoma Music Teachers Association State Conference, Stillwater, Oklahoma. May. ResearchGate.}

^{Pang. S.E. (2025). A Glimpse Into Piano Education in Singapore: Perspectives of Piano Studio Teachers. Poster Presentation: The 14th International Conference for Research in Music Education (RiME), Virtual, April.}

^{Pang. S.E. (2025). Intersections: Piano Variations and Practice Know-How as Teaching Strategies for Piano Technique Development. Poster Presentation: The 14th MTNA Collegiate Chapter Symposium, Norman, Oklahoma, January.}

^{Pang. S.E. (2023). Playing the Classical Period Repertoires: How Historical Context & Musical Contents informs the Applications of Technique & Touch. Lecture Recital: The 3rd UCSI Piano Pedagogy Conference, Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, November.}

Workshops and Lectures

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