N. Jane Tan was born and reared in the Philippines by Chinese parents. She received her Bachelor of Music degree from Santo Tomas Conservatory of Music where she studied with Manuela Monserrat. She came to the United States under a Fullbright-Hays scholarship and earned her Master's degree at the Peabody Institute with teacher Leon Fleisher. Her other teachers included Edward Mattos, Mieczyslaw Munz and Fernando Laires. A retired associate professor from Towson State University in Maryland, N. Jane Tan started a "mission project" which trains, retrains, and refreshes piano teachers. This project introduces teachers to a Five-Year Teaching Program which allows students to graduate from private piano lessons in five years graduating at age thirteen before entering high school. Her pedagogical series, The Well Prepared Pianist, is published by Willis Music Company while her five-pianos, ten-hands arrangements for PianoTeams® are published by Piano Ensemble International, Inc..
Acclaimed as one of the most important piano pedagogues in America, N. Jane Tan has conducted her innovative pedagogy workshops and seminars for teachers from coast to coast. She is a regular clinician at state and national MTA conventions. She has also shared her insights and talents at the National Piano Institute in Dallas, the National Conference on Piano Pedagogy, the Gina Bachauer International Piano Competitions and others.
As a staunch supporter of piano ensemble performances, N. Jane Tan created the concept and the music for PianoTeams® - a word which she coined for ensembles for five pianists playing repertoires which were specifically composed, transcribed, or arranged for five pianos. The ensemble scores were originally created for her students at Towson State University. In 1995, Ms. Tan and Dr. Paul Pollei (founder/director of Gina Bachauer International Competitions and Festivals) launched the International PianoTeams® project with the objective of socializing the study and performance of this beautiful but traditionally lonely instrument. They also believe that beyond the fun and challenges of team learning and team spirit, PianoTeams® rehearsals and performances hone techniques in listening, blending, leading and following - invaluable skills which are difficult to attain through private lessons alone. Tan and Pollei hope that eventually membership in PianoTeams® will become a norm for pianists of all ages.