Learning and Teaching Healthy Piano Technique: Training as an Instructor in the Taubman Approach

Abstract

This research examines what can be learned about healthy virtuosity through embodying the Taubman Approach, applying the principles to compelling music making, and teaching across a range of pedagogical settings. The indivisable relationship of technical principles to artistry is discusssed, through applying Taubman principles to particular interpretative and performance contexts. Additionally, various issues relating to teaching this technical approach are unpacked, including issues pertaining to retraining injured pianists, teaching children, and transferring Taubman principles to computer use and playing stringed instuments. Insights into training to become a Taubman teacher are uncovered through a reflective examination of the author's learning process, contexualised by the broader literature, and positioned by the ethnographic and autoethnographic approaches chosen. David Kolb's Experiential Learning Model forms the theoretical framework, underlined by James Zull's research into the biology of learning. The four learning stages of embodying, analysing, teaching, and reflecting inform the research at all levels.