2026 STATE CONFERENCE

“Beyond the Notes: Finding Meaning, Story, and Connection Through Music ”

I N T E R M E D I A T E M A S T E R C L A S S
with Chee-Hwa Tan

SAturday, November 14, 2026


CHAIR: Esma Pasic-Filipovic (esmapf@gmail.com)

LOCATION: Princeton Theological Seminary 

This event is not auditioned; student performers will be selected anonymously by the clinician, based only on repertoire and age. There is a required registration fee for each student. 

Submission Guidelines

  • Deadline: Wednesday, October 14, 2026.

  • Registration: Please register and submit applications through the NJMTA website.

  • Each teacher may submit up to two students.

  • Students who performed in the 2024 or 2025 master classes are not eligible.

  • Repertoire: Early–late intermediate works (e.g., Bach Inventions, Clementi sonatinas, Beethoven’s Op. 49 sonatas, Chopin waltzes, Kabalevsky’s Children’s Pieces, Mendelssohn’s Songs Without Words, Schumann’s Album for the Young, Tchaikovsky’s Album for the Young, etc.).

  • The chair reserves the right to determine whether a submitted piece falls within the intermediate rather than advanced level.

  • Students can choose Chee-Hwa Tan’s works here (elementary works are also eligible), as many of her pieces were composed with pedagogical intention.

  • Chee-Hwa encourages teachers to submit students of all levels, even at rudimentary levels, who are fairly prepared but might not usually get such a performance showcase opportunity. In this live coaching setting, Chee-Hwa will apply her creative principles, which she will explain further in her presentation.

  • Maximum performance length: 5 minutes.

  • For this year, pieces do not have to be memorized or fully prepared. However, the submitted piece has to be played in its entirety.

  • A $45 application fee is required at registration for all applicants and families attending the IMC at the conference. Non-selected applicants do not need to pay an additional fee to attend the IMC at the conference.

  • Chee-Hwa Tan will select 4–6 students. Selected names will be posted on the NJMTA website, and teachers will also be notified directly.

register for intermediate master class

Chee-Hwa Tan

Chee-Hwa Tan, composer and pianist-educator, is passionate about mentoring the next generation of musicians and supporters of the Arts. She has served as the Head of Piano Pedagogy at the University of Denver Lamont School of Music, and on the piano pedagogy faculties at the Oberlin Conservatory and Southern Methodist University. During her tenure at DU, she created the Lamont Piano Preparatory Program, a cutting-edge, 21st century teaching laboratory for the innovative teaching of group and private piano study for adults and children. As a composer, Chee-Hwa explores the tonal colors of the instrument while encouraging performers of all ages to connect at an emotional and intellectual level of understanding. Her landmark work, A Child’s Garden of Verses – a collection of tone-poem etudes for solo piano – has for decades empowered musicians young and old to discover their artistic voices through the synthesis of technique, literature, and sound.

Chee-Hwa’s solo piano music is published by Piano Safari; with selections included in the Repertoire and Study syllabi of the Royal Conservatory of Music, Canada, the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music, London, and the London College of Music. Her publishing company Dayung Sampan Music expands her philosophy of music making and artistry to other instrumental combinations at all levels. A native of Malaysia and a naturalized U.S. citizen, Chee-Hwa holds Masters’ degrees in Piano Performance and Piano Pedagogy from the Southern Methodist University and a B.A. in Piano Performance and English from Oral Roberts University. Her teachers and mentors include Alfred Mouledous, Joaquin Achucarro, Dr. E. Gregory Nagode, Dr. David Karp, and Joyce Bridgman.