Samuel Y. Ng

Professor Samuel Ng is a music theorist specializing in tonal phrase rhythm, classical instrumental forms, metrical issues in Brahms’s music, Schenkerian studies, and the relationship between analysis and performance. At CCM, Dr. Ng regularly teaches courses on tonal theory,  rhythm and meter, form and analysis, and a seminar on analysis and performance. His research and reviews have appeared in Music Theory Spectrum, Indiana Theory Review, Theory and Practice, Music Theory Online, Intégral, Journal of Music Theory Pedagogy, and Nineteenth-Century Music Review. His book chapter titled "On the Oddness of Brahms's Five-Measure Phrases" is published in Brahms and the Shaping of Time by the University of Rochester Press. Ng has given papers at national and regional conferences, including Society for Christian Scholarship in Music, Society for Music Theory, Music Theory Society of New York State, Music Theory Southeast, the Society of Music Perception and Cognition. 

As a pianist, Ng has earned licentiates in piano performance from the Royal School of Music, London (LRSM), and from the Trinity College of Music, London (LTCL). He has previously taught music theory at the Eastman School of Music, Eastman Community Music School, Hochstein School of Music, and Louisiana State University.

Ng is the recipient of the Teacher Appreciation Award from Louisiana State University, the Patricia Carpenter Emerging Scholar Award from the Music Theory Society of New York State, Alfred Mann Dissertation Award and Raymond Ball Dissertation fellowship from the University of Rochester, and the Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award from the Eastman School of Music.

BM, MA and PhD: Eastman School of Music Rochester, NY,

(LRSM and LTCL in piano performance.)

Peer Reviewed Publications

(2012. ) Phrase Rhythm as Musical Form in Classical Instrumental Music .Music Theory Spectrum, , 34 (1 ) ,51-77

(2011. ) Rotational Form as Metaphor: Fanny Hensel’s Tonal and Formal Logic Reconsidered .Indiana Theory Review, , 29 (2 ) ,31-70

(2009. ) Reinterpreting Metrical Reinterpretation .Integral, , (23 ) ,121-161

(2006. ) The Hemiolic Cycle and Metric Dissonance in the First Movement of Brahms’s Cello Sonata in F major, Op. 99 .Theory and Practice, , (31 ) ,65-95

(2014. ) Recorded Performances as Text in the Music Theory Classroom .Journal of Music Theory Pedagogy, , 28 ,87-119

(2020. ) End-Accented Sentences: Towards a Theory of Phrase-Rhythmic Progressions .Music Theory Spectrum, ,

(2022. ) Musical Eschatology in Contemporary Christian Worship Songs .Music Theory Online, , 28 (4 ) ,

(2023. ) The Trimodular Block and L’art de bien chanter in Hélène de Montgeroult’s Piano Sonatas, Op. 5 .Intégral, , 36 ,221-234

Other Publications

Ryan McClelland (2011. ) Brahms and the Scherzo: Studies in Musical Narrative .

Program notes on Brahms’s Sonata for Cello and Piano in E minor, op. 38, and Zhan-bao Ho and Chen Kang’s “Butterfly Lovers” Violin Concerto. Compact disc featuring Yung-chiao Wei and Chao-I Chou (Centaur, CRC 2921, 2008) .

Peter Smith (2007. ) Expressive Forms in Brahms’s Instrumental Music: Structure and Meaning in His Werther Quartet .

Samuel Ng (2019. ) Johannes Brahms, The Piano Trios Christian Tetzlaff vln, Tanja Tetzlaff vc, Lars Vogt pf Ondine 1271-2D, 2015 .Nineteenth-Century Music Review, 128-132

Samuel Ng (2017. ) Johannes Brahms, The Piano Trios Christian Tetzlaff vln, Tanja Tetzlaff vc, Lars Vogt pf Ondine 1271-2D, 2015 ,

Book Chapter

(2018 ) On the Oddness of Brahms's Five-Measure Phrases Brahms and the Shaping of Time .(pp. 110-140).Rochester NY, University of Rochester Press

Invited Presentations

(2011. ) On the Oddness of Brahms's Five-Measure Phrases .Annual meeting of the Society for Music Theory, Minneapolis, MN.

(2010. ) Rotational Form as Metaphor: Fanny Hensel’s Tonal and Formal Logic Revisited .Joint meeting of the Society for Music Theory and the American Musicological Society, Indianapolis, IN.

(2009. ) Musical Meanings in Two Performances of Chopin’s Ballade in G minor, op. 23 .Annual meeting of the Society for Music Theory, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

(2008. ) Rehabilitating Rhythm and Meter in Sonata Form: Integrating Phrase-rhythm Analysis and Sonata Theory .Joint meeting of the Society for Music Theory and the American Musicological Society, Nashville; and at the annual meeting of the Music Theory Society of New York State, Ithaca NY,

(11-2006. ) Reinterpreting Metrical Reinterpretation .Joint meeting of the Society for Music Theory and the American Musicological Society, Los Angeles, CA.

(2006. ) Five-measure Phrases in Brahms’s Rhapsody in E-flat Major, op. 119, no. 4: Their Necessity, Effect, and Consequences .

(04-2005. ) The Hemiolic Cycle and Metric Dissonance in Brahms’s Cello Sonata in F Major, op. 99 .Annual meeting of the Music Theory Society of New York State, New York, NY.

(06-2003. ) Temporal Expectancy at the Level of Musical Phrases: A Study of Expectancy Strength in Four-measure and Non-four-measure Phrases .Biennial meeting of the Society of Music Perception and Cognition, Las Vegas, NV.

(11-2002. ) Guido’s Modi Vocum, Hermann’s Sedes Troporum, and the Early Notions of Affinities .Annual meeting of the Society for Music Theory, Columbus, OH.

(2019. ) Phrase Rhythm as Theological Meanings in Select Songs by Paul Baloche .University of Toronto, Toronto.

2007 Teacher Appreciation Award Louisiana State University School of Music Status:Recipient Level:University Type:Recognition

2006 University Summer Research Stipend Louisiana State University Status:Recipient Level:University Type:Monetary

2006 Alfred mann Dissertation Award University of Rochester Status:Recipient Level:University Type:Recognition

2005 The Patricia Carpenter Emerging Scholar Award Music Theory Society of New York State Status:Recipient Level:Professional Org. Type:Recognition

2003 -2004 Raymond N. Ball Dissertation Fellowship University of Rochester Status:Recipient Level:University Type:Fellowship

2003 Professional Development Committee Grant Eastman School of Music Status:Recipient Level:University Type:Grant

2002 George MacNabb Memorial Scholarship University of Rochester Status:Recipient Level:University Type:Monetary

Minority Travel Grant Awarded in November 2002 and 2005 Committee on Diversity, Society for Music Theory Status:Recipient Level:Professional Org. Type:Grant

2000 -2004 Sze Yi-Kwei Scholarship Eastman School of Music Status:Recipient Level:University Type:Monetary

2000 The Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award Eastman School of Music Status:Recipient Level:University Type:Recognition

1999 -2001 Li Po Chun Charitable Trust Fund Overseas Postgraduate Scholarship Hong Kong Government Status:Recipient Level:University Type:Monetary