SUMMER PREVIEW: IN CONCERT – Playing Vigorously

The Golandsky Summer Symposium and Piano Festival in Princeton leads the way toward pain-free performances.

By: Susan Van Dongen

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.

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

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
[email protected]


Princeton University Summer Concert: Aurèole 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.