Piano Technique: The Taubman Approach |
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"Once I gave myself over the wisdom of the work, I made slow but sure improvement... [Taubman work] restored to me the joy of playing the piano. Today I don't even consider myself someone who has dystonia." — Dr. Mary Ellen Haupert, Assistant Professor of Music, Viterbo University See more statements from students of Teresa Dybvig (opens in a new window) When I first
began studying with Terry, I was severely injured as a result of problems in my
playing. Her expertise and knowledge of technical matters were invaluable as
she led me through an intense and rewarding transformation. My hands and
technique were improved so that I could return to playing unencumbered by pain
and with a level of control over sound that I had not previously experienced.
Thanks for a
welcome and evocative summary of Taubman essentials. You have wisely taken the
clannish mystique out of a thing that deserves to be told
openly. If it
weren't for you, I know that I wouldn't be playing the piano!
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Dorothy
Taubman's approach to piano technique is based on tenets as simple as the
essential perfection of the human body and the ergonomic beauty and superiority
of the piano, yet is so subtle and refined that one could explore it for a
lifetime. One exciting aspect of learning this method is that no matter how
easy it feels and how good it sounds today, there is nearly always more
freedom, greater variety of sound, greater speed, and greater expressive
potential available. To obtain a comprehensive understanding of the Taubman Approach, you need to take several lessons and watch The Taubman Techniques, ten lecture videos narrated mostly by Edna Golandsky, available from the Taubman Institute website. These are available in two sets of five, the first five of which are most critical. The short description I can give you is that Dorothy Taubman came to understand certain critical aspects of physically playing the piano so well that her technique seems comprehensive. She had the clarity, wisdom, and objectivity to avoid the assumption that whatever she did, or was taught, is correct -- fortunately, because it turns out that some commonly accepted concepts are truly not ideal for playing. This means that many of the foundations of the Taubman Approach are groundbreakingly different from other pedagogies. This can make it difficult to hear, but the logic of the technique has a way of winning people over. I'm sure it doesn't have all the answers, if only because that seems unlikely, but after searching for answers on many medical and body-work fronts, I can say that nothing else comes close. The Taubman Approach, applied well, contains more of the answers than any other. Below are some of the basic tenets of the Taubman Approach. I would like to say, "Please don't try this at home," but I know some will not be able to resist, and I don't blame you. So please, experiment, but only apply any of this if it makes your hands and arms feel better. If it doesn't, it's a sign that it's not quite right. If it's not quite right, it won't improve your playing anyway, so abandon it until you can work with an excellent teacher. Even experts in the Taubman Approach have trouble being objective about their own playing. Often when I play for a wonderful Taubman teacher, he or she points out that I'm not being completely honest with some element -- and coincidentally, it will be something I've talked about with five students that week! The best thing you can do for yourself if you want to understand the technique is to get some lessons with a good teacher. I find it helpful in practicing and teaching to divide Dorothy Taubman's discoveries into three arenas: balance, alignment, and movement. In order to attain their fullest potential, pianists need all three to be in good shape. BALANCE. Dorothy Taubman realized that pianists can balance into the piano as simply as one can stand on a floor. This balance is free from pushing or holding up. She invented a word, "contacting," to describe this simple balance. Contacting is when there is enough friction between the hand and the key that the fingers don't slide, the hand and arm don't need to hold up, and the hand and arm are not so heavy on the key that they go down. You can get this same balance at the bottom of any one key or chord. It is important both to be balancing forward into the piano (but not to the point of pushing) and balanced so that the heel of the hand is facing the floor and the fingers are resting on the middle of their pads. Since there is no tension from holding up or pushing down, the pianist can move in a flash to the next balanced place. The proper bench height is crucial to attaining this lovely and unremarkable balance. Taubman teachers call this feeling "resting down." This is meant as a neutral term, but the feeling people have when they get there can be anything but down. Their descriptions say a lot about where they came from: "down" (they used to hover), "there" (they used to fidget), un-there (they used to try too hard), and "floating" (they used to sink heavily). For people who tend to sink heavily, sometimes the term "alert resting" is more helpful than "resting down." ALIGNMENT. Balance is possible only with good alignment. Dorothy Taubman realized that our natural alignment is the best alignment for playing the piano. You can see this alignment easily by letting your hand fall naturally to the side (do not reach to the floor! do not spread your fingers out or change your alignment at the wrist to look!), and looking at the shape of your forearm from the elbow to the tips of the fingers. All you need in addition is the toned and lively feeling in the hand and forearm that makes movement possible. MOVEMENT. In short, Dorothy Taubman came to understand the movements that would help us move from one balanced place to the next while maintaining our alignment. These are the walking hand and arm, forearm rotation, forearm movements in and out of the black key area, and shaping. In all movements, all parts move in the same direction at the same time (though sometimes not the same amount -- when you lift the fingers, the arm also lifts, but not as much as the palm). She also understood two important ways the piano will help us play it, if we honor its engineering: 1. Since the hammer hits the string when we move through the aftertouch (the bump a little way between the top of the key and the keybed), we need to aim to the aftertouch and follow through to the bottom of the key -- not stopping at the aftertouch, and certainly not aiming to the bottom of the key. This will give us that piano's most beautiful sound, allow us to avoid any feeling of impact, and give us a stable place from which to move. We can also modify the timing of the touch and the amount of the forearm weight to change volume and sound quality. 2. The piano will create staccato for us if we touch it correctly -- an exquisite balance followed by a release from the key which allows the key to move the hand and arm back to the surface, feeling much like a trampoline. Mrs. Taubman understood many other aspects of movement too -- which hand should move first when both hands have jumps, and how to teach the hands to cue one another, for example. I feel I have not yet come across the pianistic challenge that her work does not address. By applying the precepts of Mrs. Taubman's work, pianists can avoid the pain and injury that affects a great number of pianists, while achieving their own maximum potential. Those who are injured from the way they play can retrain their techniques with this method. Retraining involves a detailed examination of the pianist's alignment and movement, with the aim of replacing injurious habits with good ones. Pianists who retrain their techniques build their consciousness while they rebuild their techniques, so they eventually know consciously how to play each finger in a beautiful toned balance, how to move from note to note, how to play chords -- how to handle every musical situation the repertoire provides. They usually regain full facility and comfort, and become more capable pianists than they imagined they could ever become. The length of the retraining process varies greatly from person to person. It depends upon the student's ability to learn to consciously direct the hand and arm to do new and different movements with ease. Sometimes this skill comes quite readily, and sometimes it has to be learned gradually. A break from performance obligations is usually helpful. A note to people in retraining: when faced with injury, the pursuit of change can seem teeth-grittingly serious. However, as in all other aspects of learning, it goes better if it is approached as a joyful journey of exploration and discovery. This is possible! It's very interesting to get to know yourself, your body, and how you can change its habits. Retraining the technique from the simplest elements up is not the only way to integrate healthy habits into playing. Retraining can remove good habits from people's playing, as well as bad, and temporarily severs the link between the music and the body. In my opinion, one should retrain only if he or she is injured and cannot make positive changes in a more integrated manner. Many people make positive changes right in the repertoire. To do this, they become familiar with a new alignment, balance, or movement at a lesson, and begin to apply it to the music right there. I've even had injured students who were able to successfully change their technique while playing repertoire. When retraining is necessary, do it with a whole heart. When it's not, please do not feel like you're cheating by making changes from a different angle. Students of the Taubman approach find that many aspects of their lives become easier. Since it is based on human physiology and laws of movement, one can use it to solve problems in Chopin, play the violin, or to drive an automobile. People learn about their inner selves too, on the way to becoming their own best pianist. One of my students said to me once, "Before I encountered the Taubman approach, everything was about pushing and 'efforting.' Now it's about letting things flow and getting out of my own way. I've learned that I don't need to create an artifice of myself, that my self will do just fine." The premise of the Taubman approach is that all technical problems at the piano can be solved. Intelligent, informed practice is the solution rather than repetitious grinding. The skills acquired through the Taubman approach are real and enduring, and once achieved they open new and greater interpretive horizons. Copyright © 2004-2005 Teresa Dybvig |
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