The Taubman Approach - some insights perhaps?

[ajspiano]

Always plenty of debate on the topic, never a great deal of insight from anyone that has more knowledge than having seen the videos.

I found this today, have not read it yet, just a quick skim through - it may be 1 sided (?) as the author is obviously strongly for the approach.

Therese is the only Golandsky institute trained teacher based in Australia, and was a severely injured pianist reformed by the approach - this is her PhD thesis on learning and teaching the taubman technical system.

I feel its ok to post (no copyright concern), as it was freely available on edna golandsky's site and has a statement saying roughly "I give permission for photocopying"

[49410enrique]

it's legit. like i mentioned in the rehab post on the performance board, i wasn't in her studio but the professor two doors down from my professor in my previous music school used (and stil uses ) taubman to perform and teaches with incorporation of it. i still attend some of her student's recital's (both undergrad and grad) and they're consistently top notch and they make it look 'easy' i.e. very natural fluid movements, the music just seems to easily flow out from them.

i'm not sure how much would be learned from dvds or books and what not i think you'd really need to spend lots of one on one instructional time i.e. in a studio over some years to really get the most benefit but if even a basic incorporation prevented an inury or sped the recovery from one even a bit, i'd say it's totally worth it.

[johnmar78]

thanks for taht AJ, just had a quick scan,,,and it mentions that people ahve a small hands will prone more injuries as vs larger hands..aslo saying that male wins comp more than female despite the ration is 1:8 participation. And MAle wins piano comp in ratio of 10:1. Wooh, my God, costica would not like .... .

I like the setting positions and I agrred with her. I also agreed with her based that lower seating positions caused hand injuries-this explains why Glen Gould had his hand operated.-He was gfamous for his low seating position .......meanwhile back to piano Fortate.....slow...

[ted]

Thanks for posting this, which I am slowly working my way through. It all sounds rather like common sense to me, but pianists, being idealistic and romantic at all costs seem prone to a conspicuous lack of this quality. I recently recovered from an injury I gave myself four years ago so I am digesting the content of this thesis with intense interest.

From what I have read so far, the essential problem is that it is perfectly possible to produce really wonderful music through injurious means and unremarkable music through healthy means; a truth I had inadvertently found for myself. If only the quality of means and effect were directly correlated we wouldn't be tempted.

[ted]

I finished reading the thesis last night. I don't know much about classical music, but as far as the method concerns my own playing it seems a curious mixture of common sense and wind. The part about thinking in groups seems pretty helpful (good for improvisational rhythm cells, which I already found for myself) but other aspects I cannot understand at all. If I started thinking consciously about rotating my arm all the time for finger work I think I'd spoil what technique I already have. And what is difficult about a D major scale compared with other ones ? Or any key for that matter ? I don't understand that at all. Same with that business about consciously pushing your hands in and out. I think at my age and for my music I shall just let my hands make their own accommodating movements as required. And that bit about playing with the thumb bent towards the index finger would wreck me altogether. I've always found it much stronger slightly flexed the other way - in general.

Of course I am a very eccentric and untrained player who just enjoys creating his own spontaneous sounds. Nonetheless, my technique is serving me very well as it is and I think if I did some of those things I'd grind to a halt rather quickly.

Very interesting reading though; I had always wondered what this Taubman stuff was all about. Thanks again for posting it.

[ajspiano]

Ted, the reality for you is probably that if you "make your own accomadating movements" and your not currently injured or experiencing negative tension then you're probably already doing things like in and out motion - thinking about it and consciously applyin it would probably lead to over doing it and problems. No point fixing what isnt broken.

[pytheamateur]

Is the Taubman Aproach aimed mainly at those professionals who practise 8 hours a day and have to play fast and loud passages a lot of the time?

What if you are an amateur who doesn't play those difficult pieces and doesn't practice a lot?  My hands are still injury free, but prevention is better than cure I suppose.