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SUMMER
PREVIEW: IN CONCERT - Playing Vigorously
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| By: Susan Van
Dongen , TimeOFF |
05/26/2004 |
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The Golandsky Summer Symposium
and Piano Festival in Princeton leads the way toward pain-free
performances.
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Festival
leader, pianist and taubman approach teacher edna golandsky.
| Perhaps it wasn't
manic depression that drove Romantic composer Robert Schumann
to despair — maybe he was just
hurting.
Apparently he was one of the unlucky
ones — pianists whose careers were overshadowed by pain.
Chopin, Scriabin, Rachmaninoff and Schumann's wife, composer
Clara Schumann, were all said to have suffered various
injuries.
It may be the last thing the
concertgoer thinks of — is the musician plagued with serious
physical problems? Unfortunately, the fact is that some
breathtaking techniques may come at a high cost. Research
shows that a majority of professional musicians live with some
kind of playing-related fatigue. Some have even had to curtail
or end their careers because of tendonitis, carpal tunnel
syndrome or focal dystonia, a condition characterized by a
loss in motor control of one or more
fingers.
"This focal dystonia has been in
the news lately," says Susan Nowicki, Philadelphia-based
pianist, teacher and supporter of the Taubman Approach, a
revolutionary method of tuning into the body's natural sense
of alignment so that musicians can play with more power and,
most importantly, pain-free.
"The principal oboist of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra had to
step down because of focal dystonia. His hands just couldn't
play anymore, not even basic scales. Doctors have been
learning more about the condition, which is a neurological
disorder. The brain doesn't get the messages to the nerves.
That was Leon Fleischer's problem apparently, his hands just
curled up.
"Doctors say there's no cure,
but I've worked with two people with focal dystonia and I've
been able to get them back on track," she continues. "It's a
long, slow progress because you basically have to re-wire the
brain — but we've had success with getting people to play
again."
Ms. Nowicki is a true believer in
the Taubman Approach. In addition to helping her students, it
gave her the added strength required to play vigorous
contemporary music. As a pianist who often accompanies brass
musicians, Ms. Nowicki needed her hands to be strong as well
as nimble. The Taubman Approach, invented by piano
pedagogue Dorothy Taubman, was the key to her
success.
Edna Golandsky,
co-founder and former senior faculty member of the Taubman
Institute — and leading advocate of the Taubman Approach — has
taken the methodology even further, establishing the Golandsky
Institute in 2003.
Ms. Golandsky
is presenting the Golandsky
Institute 2004 Summer Symposium
at Princeton
University July 17 through 24. It promises to be a week of
intensive immersion and advanced study in the Taubman Approach
to playing the piano and
other instruments. Participants will attend daily lectures on
fundamentals of the Taubman Approach, technique classes,
pedagogy clinics, teaching sessions and master classes with
Ms. Golandsky
and some dozen faculty members, focusing on the integration of
technique and musical expression.
In
addition, the symposium
will feature a variety of evening concerts — classical,
contemporary and jazz — by national and international
performers coming to Princeton
from France, Russia and Cuba. Ms. Nowicki, a faculty member at
the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia, will perform as
well.
Trained at Juilliard, Ms. Golandsky
is not only a world-renowned pianist and teacher, she has an
intuitive knowledge of the body, at least as far as making the
most of the forearms, wrists and fingers, getting them to move
as best they can around the keyboard, organically and pain-free.
"It
goes beyond physiology and medicine," Ms. Golandsky
says, speaking from her studio in Manhattan. "You need to know
a certain amount of this, but it's more about understanding
coordination. I first discovered the method when I was
studying at Juilliard. The other students were starting with
Dorothy Taubman and I began to take lessons from her too. The
first time we met, I had gone with one of my friends who was
taking lessons. I was amazed that someone could ask questions
and actually get answers that worked.
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Russian Ilya Itin will
perform in the piano
festival
july 18.
| "Dorothy
understood the invisible aspect (of playing the piano) —
the fact that there is a whole world of motion that you cannot
see," Ms. Golandsky
continues. "There really is no machinery for this but Dorothy
Taubman figured it out. She understood the limitations, the
difficulties, the pain and
tension that pianists and other instrumentalists were
experiencing and found a way around
it. We had always heard, 'Pain is
normal, it's just something you have to overcome, go home and
practice more.' But Dorothy knew this was not
normal."
In her student years, Ms.
Nowicki remembers being faulted for various difficulties,
being told that the only way to
conquer the stress of playing was to try this or that
technique, but especially to practice
more.
"There are as many techniques as
there are pianists, but that's really false," she says. "We're
musicians, but we're a lot like athletes. Athletes have
figured out that you have to work within the law of physics
and you have to have a certain form to perform efficiently and
healthily. Musicians are just starting to learn
this."
In other words — to paraphrase a
saying from the business world — the Taubman Approach is about
playing smarter, not harder.
"It's
counter-intuitive in a lot of ways," Ms. Nowicki says. "It's
contrary to what is taught in piano
playing as well as to singers and instrumentalists. These are
simple principles, but they're very profound. (The Taubman
Approach) relies on the alignment of the body, especially in
the forearms, hands and fingers. Everything plays and moves
together. You don't have a finger stretching out trying to
reach something without the rest of the arm coming along with
it. You can take advantage of gravity to bring the arm down
instead of forcing things down. But that's just the tip of the
iceberg. There are all sorts of coordinate
movements."
Ms. Nowicky describes how the
Taubman Approach encourages a musician to look at a piece of
music like dance choreography. Going to the black keys
requires a certain "step" or arm movement, then another "step"
in a different direction when you return to the white keys.
Most important is for the musician to be in a position of
strength.
"You don't play until you're
over the keys and then you can go straight down," she
says.
"For me, it opened a whole new
world and I became addicted," Ms. Golandsky
says. "It's very mysterious in the field of playing and some
people are reluctant (to embrace it). It really required a
genius like Dorothy Taubman to figure it out. The Taubman
Approach is not what you expect, it's very natural. In the
process it explains the movement underneath the virtuoso
techniques, but it also explains what's wrong and how to
correct problems. You have a huge number of instrumentalists
every year who are, at worst, injured and, at best, limited.
The Taubman Approach can help people break through these
limitations and overcome their
injuries."
"But at the Golandsky
Institute we want to help people before injuries happen," Ms.
Nowicki says. "We try to emphasize wellness. That's a big
buzzword in the musical community these days. Even doctors are
coming around. Injuries used to be treated with pills,
cortisone shots and surgery, but now doctors are beginning to
realize that re-training is really the way to
go."
The Golandsky
Institute 2004 Summer Symposium
will take place at the Woolworth Music Building, Princeton
University, Princeton,
July 17-24. Concert piano
performances include: Ilya Itin, July 18, 8 p.m.; Micha Dacic,
July 19, 8 p.m.; Eric Ferrand-N'Kaqua, July 20, 8 p.m.; Audrey
Schneider with clarinetist Peter Weinberg, July 21, 7 p.m.;
Susan Nowicki, July 21, 8:30 p.m.; Father Sean Brett Duggan,
July 22, 8 p.m.; Nina Tichman, July 23, 8 p.m.; Bill Charlap,
July 24, 8 p.m. Lectures include: Patricia Rooney, "The
Intersection of Music and Law — A Life Long Journey," July 19,
7 p.m.; Jan Krzywicki, "Breaking Bach's Code," July 20, 7
p.m.; Matthew Gurewitsch, "Music and Language in Thomas Mann's
'Dr. Faustus,'" July 22, 7 p.m. All concerts and lectures are
open to the public and cost $10; $5 seniors and students. Symposium
fees: $1,375 per resident participant, $875 per commuting
participant. $75 late fee after June 1. For information, call
(877) 343-3434 or (212) 875-0034. The Golandsky
Institute on the Web: www.golandskyinstitute.org
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The Auréole Trio, from
left, Stacey Shames, Laura Gilbert and Mary Hammann,
will perform works by Sir Arnold Bax, Bach, Ravel and
Debussy at the Princeton
University Chapel June 10.
| SUMMER
PREVIEW: IN CONCERT
Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts
260 S.
Broad St.
Philadelphia
(215) 893-1999
www.kimmelcenter.org
www.philorch.org
Verizon Hall:
Philadelphia Orchestra — "Absolutely Mozart" Festival,
June 17-20, 22.
Lawrenceville School
Route 206
Lawrence
(609) 620-6655
www.musicaviva.info
Musica
Viva Festival
2004: An Evening of Gershwin and Ravel, June 17 (Clark
Music Center); An Evening of Chamber Music, June 18
(Kirby Arts Center); Afternoon Programs (CMC) and Evening
Orchestra Concert (KAC), June 19.
Mann Music
Center
52nd Street and Parkside Avenue
Fairmount
Park
Philadelphia
(215) 893-1999
www.manncenter.org
www.philorch.org
The
Philadelphia Orchestra, June 24-July 29; The Irish
Tenors, July 9; The Boston Pops, Aug. 10.
New Jersey Performing Arts Center
1 Center
St.
Newark
(888) 466-5722
www.njpac.org
Portugal
Carnation Festival
Orchestra, May 28; New York Philharmonic, June
4; New Jersey Youth Symphony, June 6.
Princeton
University Chapel
Princeton
(609) 631-7884
pusummerconcerts@aol.com
Princeton
University Summer
Concert: Aurčole Trio, June 10; Leipzig String Quartet,
June 24; Imani Winds, June 29; Manhattan Brass
Quintet, July 7.
Westminster Choir College
101 Walnut Lane
Princeton
(609) 921-2663, ext. 308
westminster.rider.edu
Concerts
take place in Bristol Chapel unless noted
Westminster
Community Orchestra, June 5 (Richardson Auditorium, Princeton
University); Westminster Conservatory Chamber Choir, June
6; Songfest VII, June 25-27; Summer
Hymn Sings, Mondays June 28, July 5, 19, 26, Aug. 2; Summer
Recitals, Wednesdays-Saturdays June 28-Aug. 6; Summer
Sing-Ins, Tuesdays June 29, July 6, 20, 27, Aug. 3;
Bach Festival,
July 3 (Miller Chapel, Princeton
Theological Seminary); Westminster Choral Festival,
July 10 (Princeton
University Chapel); German Lieder: Fin De Siecle, July
12-16.
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| ©PACKETONLINE News Classifieds Entertainment
Business - Princeton
and Central New Jersey 2004
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