2020 Golandsky Institute Online Workshop II

With a huge global response by pianists from dozens of countries across five continents to our last presentation, we present a second online workshop to continue addressing the ongoing crisis of musicians’ injuries with answers that are rational, logical, and long-lasting.

Edna Golandsky

  • An answer to the common question: when is it a twist and when is it not?
  • Chopin Waltz Op. 18, mm. 5-8. 1. Fingering? 2. How to decide what
    combination of rotation, in and out, and/or lateral angling are best?
  • Chopin Op. 10 No. 4, m. 3, 2nd beat, left hand. Would you recommend the
    fingering 5 2 1 in order to avoid stretching?
  • Chopin Etude Op 25 No. 6. Do you have any suggestions about finding and
    sticking to the right fingering? Stretching before playing? Avoiding the right
    side hand/wrist pain on the pinky side.
  • Along technical approaches, how do you recommend addressing
    psychological and emotional sources of playing related tension which may
    be hindering our recovery process (like ingrained association of the
    instrument and playing with pain, ambition, impatience, perfectionism,
    etc.?)

Mary Moran

  • How do I start using the Taubman Approach with beginning students- what
    should I cover first and then what’s next? Is there a method to using this?
  • How do you begin children, ages 4-6, so they, with their bendy fingers, start
    to develop coordinated technique. Fingers or arms. How much stress is
    there on how the fingers look and move?
  • The process of ensuring a young child does not develop a collapsed thumb
    joint (CMC hint) when starting to open the hand to wider intervals?
  • How do you begin to introduce artistry or expression to a young student?
    It’s a very mature thing to understand, but I’ve seen it happen.

Robert Durso

  • How to properly learn and minimize rotation: I don’t understand the double
    rotation movement. I just can’t speed it up. How can I get this right?
  • Overview of Shaping Concepts: I’d love to have a more concrete analytical
    process to identify shapes and the length of shapes.

John Bloomfield

  • When playing scales that are awkward, would you suggest changing the
    traditional fingering? Like G major in the right hand, for example.
  • How do you play the left hand in Chopin Nocturne Op. 27, No. 1?
  • Please demonstrate some strategies for practicing long trills, especially in
    the left hand. I am struggling with the trills in Bach’s Invention No.12 (e.g.,
    m 3). It seems to jam when I minimize the rotation and try to pick up the
    tempo.

August 6, 2020 at 7:00 PM ET (GMT -4)