The musical literature available to piano teachers and students is vast. However, over the past several decades, the body of repertoire taught and played has become significantly narrower. Certain composers and pieces monopolize the piano world. A survey of American classical piano music presents teachers and students with a new body of piano literature to explore universal concepts while learning fresh and exciting pieces. Concepts learned from these pieces can then be transferred to other well known works in the repertoire. Conceptual teaching is central to this study in that it allows students to move from dependence on a teacher to independent musicians.