Creating Piano Maestros With The Taubman Approach

By Charles Patterson


Achieving perfection on the keyboard is no longer about extensive practice. New information reveals that there is a formula that maestros use to hit their best potential. The Taubman Approach was developed after analyzing the techniques used by the best pianists over five decades. This eliminated the notion that these maestros used the trial and error method to reach their great achievements.

Studies by Brooklyn based Dorothy Taubman were aimed at finding a solution to prevailing technical glass ceilings facing experienced pianists. The conclusions were made after studying the skills of different pianists over 50 years. She sort to understand what made it easy for some to play difficult pieces with ease yet others could not. The conclusions made enabled previously amateur players to advance their skills.

According to the analysis by Dorothy, it was necessary for pianists to stop regarding themselves as plain instrumentalists. They were artists on the keys controlling and influencing crowds. The aim of this analysis was to enable ordinary pianists to understand their role and achieve full potential. It was impossible to realize this potential without recognizing your role in the ensemble.

Her assessment was motivated by the revelation that children intuitively play with ease yet the transition into adult consciousness reduced the skill of a player. The natural expectation would be that adults found it easier. Her hypothesis was that there must be simplicity in complexity. This is the point she discovered that existence of coordinated motion that allows each finger and body part to produce its best.

Several deductions can be made from her analysis. She concludes that to achieve maximum accuracy with minimum fatigue, coordinated movements allows involved joints to respond as close as possible to their mid-range of action. Kinesthetic judgment is enhanced in this case. In a situation of extreme motions, it is the increase in tension that enables these motions to happen.

Coordinated motions led to natural responses with fingers endeavoring to produce actions that delivered the best mechanical advantage. An example that was given was the compensation by the slow forearm which instead initiates motion to cover the speed of the larger upper arm. The quest for every pianist should be accuracy and speed. The underlying push is the desire to produce maximum results with least effort. When a player fails to follow these rules, his play becomes mundane and painful.

Among the major outcomes of this analysis was the revelation of musculoskeletal disorders that affected pianists at the time. These disorders were attributed to poor playing skills. It was also revealed that recovery or relief was realized when a pianist understood and followed the rules. In fact, following the coordinated motions rules enabled pianists who were previously injured to achieve more prowess and skill mastery than before they experienced the injury.

The revelation was that use of the right formula brought about relaxation compared to playing at the highest level using the wrong technique. Even in instances where a player takes a long break, resumption would be seamless if he has learnt the right method. When a player experiences technical block or ceiling, continuous playing will not solve the problem until the correct diagnosis has been made. Understanding the rules of play was revealed to produce better results than extending the hours of practice.




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