I’ve always been eager to know more about playing the piano and classical music. When I was 17, I decided to move to the birthplace of classical music: Europe. Fortunately, I was accepted as the youngest applicant to the Hanns Eisler School of Music Berlin. However, in the very last semester of my bachelor’s program, my hands got seriously injured. At that time, I thought it was normal since I practiced almost 9 hours a day in order to prepare for my bachelor concert. My teacher even suggested me to take a break for a couple of weeks but the pain was persistently there. Consequently, I had to take a semester off, went back to Korea, and took all kinds of possible medical treatments such as acupuncture, physiotherapy, and other conventional therapies. The break led to improvements and relief, but as soon as I started with intensive practice, the pain came unfortunately again and the condition of my hand got even worse. In retrospect, this has been the toughest time of my life. I was afraid that was the end of my future as a musician. On top of that, I even considered changing my profession.

However, every cloud has a silver lining, and as the most turning points in life come out of the blue, I came across Taubman’s approach on the internet. Coincidentally, I was told that Mrs. Golandsky was coming to Turkey for a workshop in the next few months. I was desperate for a solution and flew to Istanbul without any further consideration. Just after the first lesson with Mrs. Golandsky, I was very sure that I found the solution for my pain and desperation. After my graduation in Berlin, I moved to NYC to study with her and my pain surprisingly disappeared within a few months and never came back again.

Mrs. Golandsky is a world-renown expert on the Taubman approach. Her experience, insights, and professional guidance helped me to understand how to apply this approach in order to play without any pain and how to prevent it from recurring. Moreover, through intensive lessons with her, I could not only cure my hands but also open the door for endless possibilities of growth in my technique. That growth includes the ability to produce any sound I want, to shape phrases, to express rhythmic pulsation and more. In other words, I’m learning how to use the technique to express music in a way that I’ve never been able to do before and I enjoy practicing and playing the piano with great ease and security. Mrs. Golandsky has substantially changed my life as a musician and my relationship with the piano. Furthermore, as I continue my work with her, I have been certified by the Golandsky Institute and find myself helping many students and pianists who are experiencing serious limitations as well as fatigue, tension, and pain. This makes me feel immensely grateful! I’m sincerely thankful for Mrs. Golandsky’s endless support and teaching and hope that this incredible work can flourish even more in the future so that fewer people suffer while playing the piano.