Sara M. Ernst, PhD, NCTM, is an active piano pedagogue, teacher of all ages, and pianist, and serves as Assistant Professor of Piano and Piano Pedagogy at the University of South Carolina. Prior to her position at USC, she worked at the New School for Music Study in New Jersey as an instructor of piano lessons and group classes. Dr. Ernst has taught at the Interlochen Arts Camp in Michigan and piano and piano pedagogy at the University of Missouri-Columbia. Her teaching was honored with a campus-wide Graduate Teaching Award at the University of Oklahoma and with the Studio Fellowship Award from the Music Teachers National Association.