| Like so many pianists, I began my love affair with music at
an early age, learning quickly and negotiating my way around the
keyboard with a rather natural technique. And also like so many
pianists, I began to experience difficulties when I moved into
the advanced repertoire. The holding/stretching/finger independence
exercises required by my college training proved disastrous to
my hands, exacerbating the compensatory movements I acquired to
handle the advanced literature, resulting in extreme tension and
fatigue in my forearms, plus tendonitis in my right thumb and
wrist. The symptoms were so extreme that I felt pain even listening
to someone else play the pieces that hurt my hands and arms.
The end of my college training seemed to be the end of my
career as a pianist, so I went to plan B and studied theory
in graduate school. Theory was fun, but it was a severe disappointment
to give up playing difficult solo and chamber pieces. I also
hated the very idea of teaching piano (I now know that it was
because I had no idea how), so I worked toward a teaching career
in theory and humanities.
Fast forward several years to my discovery of the Taubman
Approach: an intriguing pedagogy of coordinate movement that
provided some hope for my pained hands and aching heart. The
door to this fascinating world was opened for me by Joseph Gurt
at Eastern Michigan University, and as it turned out, my hope
grew as my technique improved. Several years later I began working
with Edna Golandsky in New York. My course of improvement was
slowed somewhat by the distance between Livonia, Michigan and
New York City, but I would not have had it any other way. Without
a doubt, I am playing again because of Edna’s insights
and talents as a Taubman teacher. But I am not just playing
again - I am performing much more difficult music than I had
imagined was possible for me.
Edna has taught me to play without fatigue, pain, and tension,
but . . . with an ease and proficiency that is a delight to
my hands and heart. I have also discovered my tone growing in
strength and color. I now see that the Taubman approach is not
just a technique for healing the body - it is a proven pedagogical
method that has something for every pianist: increased facility,
ease at the keyboard, an infinite variety of tone, and more.
I am impressed by the constantly evolving methodology of this
technique - somewhat of a rarity among piano pedagogies. The
principles have remained the same but the pedagogy has changed
with time - and that is a hallmark of knowledge and wisdom.
My journey began in 1976, and I am still committed to this approach
to piano technique. I discovered a love for teaching along the
way, too, so I share this with my students who now benefit from
the Taubman approach.
I will always be deeply grateful to Dorothy Taubman and Edna
Golandsky for their gifts of perseverance, intelligence, and
passion for music. It is not an empty superlative to say that
they changed my life - they truly have provided a path to joy.
Linette A. Popoff-Parks
Professor and Chair, Music Department
Madonna University
Livonia, Michigan 48150
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