Email: smernst@ou.edu
Office: Catlett Music Center 017
Website: saraernstpiano.com
Sara M. Ernst, PhD, NCTM, is an active piano pedagogue, researcher, and pianist, and serves as Associate Professor of Piano and Director of Piano Pedagogy at the University of Oklahoma. She is currently the Director of Teacher Engagement for the Frances Clark Center, where she has directed the program of The Piano Conference: NCKP since 2020 and contributed to its publications and initiatives. She received the Frances Clark Center’s Outstanding Service Recognition Award in 2021. Other leadership roles have included serving as South Carolina Music Teachers Association President and Vice President of Conferences and, currently, as the Collegiate Chapter Chair for the Oklahoma Music Teachers Association.
Dr. Ernst’s scholarship in piano pedagogy includes investigating teaching effectiveness, language use in instruction, and best practices in elementary piano instruction and curricula. In addition, she frequently researches pedagogical music of the 20th and 21st centuries and examines the pacing of instruction through the intermediate years. Her presentations and lecture recitals have been featured at the conferences of the International Society of Music Education, Australasian Piano Pedagogy Conference, Research in Music Education, Music Teachers National Association, GP3, NCKP, and College Music Society, and Ernst has been an invited pedagogy speaker at several state conferences and universities. Her articles have appeared in Piano Magazine, Clavier Companion, and American Music Teacher. She designed and contributed to the first two online courses for the Frances Clark Center, The Beginner Course and The Pianist's Guide to Teaching Online, and authored modules on teaching elementary students for the Royal Conservatory of Music's online teacher training courses. She is currently co-editor-in-chief of the magazine Piano Inspires Kids, senior editor of Piano Magazine, and recently edited the 2023 and 2025 volumes of the Proceedings of NCKP.
She is a frequent adjudicator for piano events and competitions and has served as an examiner for the Royal Conservatory of Music in the U.S. and Canada. Furthermore, she assisted in the music selection of multiple volumes of the Celebration Series (2015) and reviewed the RCM Piano Syllabus (2015). Her perspectives on piano music and educational materials have been solicited by the American Music Teacher and Clavier Companion as a reviewer and content contributor.
Prior to Oklahoma, Dr. Ernst worked at the University of South Carolina for ten years, serving as Associate Professor of Piano and Piano Pedagogy and Keyboard Area Chair. She founded the Center for Piano Studies, which grew into a vibrant community of piano students from the area. She also coordinated the Group Piano program, directing Graduate Assistants, revising curricula, and overseeing the renovation of the Group Piano Lab. Additional previous positions include those at the New School for Music Study in New Jersey as the Administrative Director and faculty member, Interlochen Arts Camp in Michigan, and the University of Missouri-Columbia.
Dr. Ernst earned a PhD in music education with an emphasis in piano pedagogy from the University of Oklahoma, completing her dissertation on the teaching philosophy of Mr. Marvin Blickenstaff, an internationally acclaimed piano teacher. Her other degrees are from the University of Missouri-Columbia and Luther College in Decorah, Iowa. Her former piano and piano pedagogy teachers include Jane Magrath, Barbara Fast, Karen Larvick, and John Strauss.
