A group chat with three people from around Australia and USA, this podcast delves into people’spersonal experience with piano technique and in particular, how the Taubman approach can be so important in developing an effortless, comfortable approach to piano technique.
My guests today are:
- Annie Buettner-Moore – Piano/Sax performer and teacher from Perth, WA
- Leo McFadden – Guitar performer/teacher and piano student in QLD
- John Bloomfield – Golandsky Institute NYC
The discussion today centres around what piano technique means in a personal context with both Annie and Leo having very different stories about how they came to study with Taubman teachers: Annie due to pain when playing and Leo from a recommendation to start with the Taubman approach from scratch.
As we discuss their stories, I refer to John regarding his thoughts on healthy technique and how teachers can approach teaching technique in their lessons.
[Note: You can also watch the video below, however we lost visuals very soon after the beginning, so you’ll be stuck with whatever faces we were pulling at the time! Apologies to those of you who prefer watching the videos.]
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- How important technique is in piano teaching, especially when students begin college-level instruction.
- Two people’s journey through the world of piano technique and how it has affected their own approach to teaching.
- How the Taubman approach works and how it can be incorporated into lessons.
- That you don’t have to start retraining yourself or your students from scratch if they are having technical issues.
- Where to go online for more help, private instruction and video training about piano technique.
- John’s 5 Top Technique Tips for Teachers (below) that teachers can incorporate into their lessons tomorrow.
John’s Top 5 Tips for Teaching Technique:
- Get the seat height right
- Ensure there is an unbroken connection between the arm and the hand (ie. wrist neutral)
- Avoid stretching the fingers out
- Avoid over-curling the fingers
- Avoid lateral twisting of the wrists while playing (ie. keep the forearm and wrist in alignment)
Items mentioned in this podcast:
- Previous Post: Dorothy Taubman, Thomas Mark and Practising without injury
- List of Taumban-certified teachers
- The Amazing Fingersize Cup, a DIY tool for fixing your students’ collapsing finger joints (Teach Piano Today)
- Golandsky Institute USA
- Golandsky YouTube Channel
- Edna Golandsky’s website
- Edna’s YouTube Channel (lots of teaching videos)
- Therese Milanovic’s website/blog (Australia)
What are your thoughts?
What questions do you have for members of our panel today? What would you like to learn more about? Leave your thoughts in the comments section below.
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4 Comments
Hi Tim, I’m new to your blog and videos (where have I been? lol)… Thanks for arranging this panel discussion! Really enjoyed listening to the whole episode and getting some good insights into injury prevention for pianists. It really got me interested in exploring Taubman and other approaches to healthy piano playing.
– Ed
Nice to meet you, Ed. Glad you found me! The Taubman approach is fantastic so do look into it. Heaps more podcast episodes to explore too!
I didn’t know this was going to be a relentless plug for the Tubman technique. I am not putting the technique down. I just wish more acknowledgement was given to the originators of many of these ideas. I listened to half of the podcast and had to turn it off. All adulation and no substance.
Hi Ellen. Sorry you didn’t enjoy the episode. It was actually a follow-on from a previous interview with John re Taubman stuff, so it was always going to have a focus on that approach, especially given the guests’ experiences. I’ve got future episodes planned to discuss alternate approaches such as Alexander Tech so stay tuned 🙂