Bill Charlap

This is a method of tuning into the body’s natural sense of alignment, a technique that helps musicians add strength as well as agility to their playing…More importantly, it allows pianists to play pain-free…It’s a way of using the entire mechanism of the piano, not just isolation of the fingers. That opens the door for technical freedom, and that leads to musical freedom – you can’t have one without the other. The even tone that results when the forearm, hand and fingers are connected allows for accents and idiomatic jazz articulations but frees me from ‘strong finger’ versus ‘weak finger’ problems. The physical freedom offered by the Taubman Approach is the perfect companion to the creative freedom pursued by improvising jazz pianists.

The Golandsky Institute is an important pedagogical institution not just for the thoroughness with which it deals with technical concerns at the piano but also for the emphasis it places on the music first.

Bill Charlap