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Dorothy Taubman, 95, Dies; Helped Pianists Avoid Injuries
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Matthew Kruk
Apr 16, 2013, 10:52:09 PM4/16/13
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http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/17/arts/music/dorothy-taubman-95-dies-helped-pianists-avoid-injuries.html?ref=obituaries
The New York Times
April 16, 2013
Dorothy Taubman, 95, Dies; Helped Pianists Avoid Injuries
By VIVIEN SCHWEITZER
Dorothy Taubman, who developed a method to help pianists strengthen their
techniques and avoid repetitive strain injuries, died on April 3 in Brooklyn.
She was 95.
The cause was pneumonia, her son, Mark, said.
Musicians, often called elite athletes of the small muscles, suffer repetitive
strain injuries from long hours of practice and hectic performing schedules.
Like athletes, they turn to physical therapy, ice packs, massage, acupuncture,
surgery and cortisone injections for relief. Ms. Taubman thought that such
problems could be avoided with a more ergonomic approach, and that such an
approach could lead not just to pain-free playing but also to greater artistic
results.
She began developing her methods, known as the Taubman Technique, in the early
1950s. She advocated forearm rotations to reduce the need to twist and stretch
in awkward positions, combined with coordinate movements and proper alignment of
fingers, forearm and hands. "The body is capable of fulfilling all pianistic
demands without a violation of its nature if the most efficient ways are used;
pain, insecurity, and lack of technical control are symptoms of incoordination
rather than a lack of practice, intelligence, or talent," Ms. Taubman once said.
She had "a scientist's brain," said Edna Golandsky, a former student who runs
the Golandsky Institute, which advocates Ms. Taubman's methods. Other prominent
disciples include Yoheved Kaplinsky, who also studied with Ms. Taubman and is
now chairman of the piano department at Juilliard.
Ms. Taubman worked with notable pianists who suffered injuries and whose careers
were severely curtailed, including the pianist Leon Fleisher, who lost the use
of his right hand in 1964 as a result of the neurological condition focal
dystonia. After decades performing and recording the left-hand repertory, Mr.
Fleisher began to regain use of his right hand in the late 1990s. Her ideas
about the physiology of playing an instrument can work in tandem with the
Alexander Technique and the Feldenkrais Method, two movement- and posture-based
approaches that teach performers how to play without the muscular tension that
can lead to discomfort and injury. But she had detractors, including piano
professors who resented the implication that their teaching methods might lead
to injury or inadequate technique.
There has long been a stigma attached to injury in the musical world, and
instrumentalists are often unwilling to admit problems. Some believed that
associating with Ms. Taubman might jeopardize their careers. Others found her
style, and especially her insistence on complete retraining, to be dogmatic. "In
the beginning, I was not a believer," the pianist Gabriela Montero has said. "I
frankly was not interested. I thought the Taubman Institute was some cult, like
a hippie club or something. In the end I was completely won over, not only by
the intelligence but by the results."
Ms. Taubman was born in the East New York section of Brooklyn on Aug. 16, 1917.
Her parents, Benjamin and Bertha, were Jewish immigrants from Russia; her
father, a businessman, committed suicide after the stock market crashed in 1929.
Ms. Taubman never graduated from college, but took courses at Juilliard and
Columbia and studied with the renowned pianist Rosalyn Tureck for a year. In her
20s, her son said, she decided her calling was to be a teacher, not a concert
pianist.
She directed the Dorothy Taubman School of Piano at Amherst College in
Massachusetts. She also taught at the Aaron Copland School of Music of Queens
College and at Temple University, where Maria del Pico Taylor and Sondra Tammam
run the annual Taubman Seminar, one of several institutes now dedicated to
preserving her legacy.
In 1938 she married Harry Taubman, a businessman in the men's clothing industry
and the younger brother of Howard Taubman, chief music and theater critic in the
1950s and 1960s for The New York Times. Politically liberal, Ms. Taubman was
active in the civil rights movement and offered free lessons to pupils who could
not pay.
In addition to her son, who is dean of the school of medicine and dentistry at
the University of Rochester, she is survived by a granddaughter.
The New York Times
April 16, 2013
Dorothy Taubman, 95, Dies; Helped Pianists Avoid Injuries
By VIVIEN SCHWEITZER
Dorothy Taubman, who developed a method to help pianists strengthen their
techniques and avoid repetitive strain injuries, died on April 3 in Brooklyn.
She was 95.
The cause was pneumonia, her son, Mark, said.
Musicians, often called elite athletes of the small muscles, suffer repetitive
strain injuries from long hours of practice and hectic performing schedules.
Like athletes, they turn to physical therapy, ice packs, massage, acupuncture,
surgery and cortisone injections for relief. Ms. Taubman thought that such
problems could be avoided with a more ergonomic approach, and that such an
approach could lead not just to pain-free playing but also to greater artistic
results.
She began developing her methods, known as the Taubman Technique, in the early
1950s. She advocated forearm rotations to reduce the need to twist and stretch
in awkward positions, combined with coordinate movements and proper alignment of
fingers, forearm and hands. "The body is capable of fulfilling all pianistic
demands without a violation of its nature if the most efficient ways are used;
pain, insecurity, and lack of technical control are symptoms of incoordination
rather than a lack of practice, intelligence, or talent," Ms. Taubman once said.
She had "a scientist's brain," said Edna Golandsky, a former student who runs
the Golandsky Institute, which advocates Ms. Taubman's methods. Other prominent
disciples include Yoheved Kaplinsky, who also studied with Ms. Taubman and is
now chairman of the piano department at Juilliard.
Ms. Taubman worked with notable pianists who suffered injuries and whose careers
were severely curtailed, including the pianist Leon Fleisher, who lost the use
of his right hand in 1964 as a result of the neurological condition focal
dystonia. After decades performing and recording the left-hand repertory, Mr.
Fleisher began to regain use of his right hand in the late 1990s. Her ideas
about the physiology of playing an instrument can work in tandem with the
Alexander Technique and the Feldenkrais Method, two movement- and posture-based
approaches that teach performers how to play without the muscular tension that
can lead to discomfort and injury. But she had detractors, including piano
professors who resented the implication that their teaching methods might lead
to injury or inadequate technique.
There has long been a stigma attached to injury in the musical world, and
instrumentalists are often unwilling to admit problems. Some believed that
associating with Ms. Taubman might jeopardize their careers. Others found her
style, and especially her insistence on complete retraining, to be dogmatic. "In
the beginning, I was not a believer," the pianist Gabriela Montero has said. "I
frankly was not interested. I thought the Taubman Institute was some cult, like
a hippie club or something. In the end I was completely won over, not only by
the intelligence but by the results."
Ms. Taubman was born in the East New York section of Brooklyn on Aug. 16, 1917.
Her parents, Benjamin and Bertha, were Jewish immigrants from Russia; her
father, a businessman, committed suicide after the stock market crashed in 1929.
Ms. Taubman never graduated from college, but took courses at Juilliard and
Columbia and studied with the renowned pianist Rosalyn Tureck for a year. In her
20s, her son said, she decided her calling was to be a teacher, not a concert
pianist.
She directed the Dorothy Taubman School of Piano at Amherst College in
Massachusetts. She also taught at the Aaron Copland School of Music of Queens
College and at Temple University, where Maria del Pico Taylor and Sondra Tammam
run the annual Taubman Seminar, one of several institutes now dedicated to
preserving her legacy.
In 1938 she married Harry Taubman, a businessman in the men's clothing industry
and the younger brother of Howard Taubman, chief music and theater critic in the
1950s and 1960s for The New York Times. Politically liberal, Ms. Taubman was
active in the civil rights movement and offered free lessons to pupils who could
not pay.
In addition to her son, who is dean of the school of medicine and dentistry at
the University of Rochester, she is survived by a granddaughter.
Diner
Apr 17, 2013, 11:28:41 AM4/17/13
to
On Tuesday, April 16, 2013 10:52:09 PM UTC-4, Matthew Kruk wrote:
> http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/17/arts/music/dorothy-taubman-95-dies-helped-pianists-avoid-injuries.html?ref=obituaries
> In 1938 she married Harry Taubman, a businessman in the men's clothing industry
and the younger brother of Howard Taubman, chief music and theater critic in the
1950s and 1960s for The New York Times.
Howard Taubman's widow, Lori March, died last month at age 90.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/27/arts/television/lori-march-secret-storm-actress-dies-at-90.html
-Tim
> http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/17/arts/music/dorothy-taubman-95-dies-helped-pianists-avoid-injuries.html?ref=obituaries
> In 1938 she married Harry Taubman, a businessman in the men's clothing industry
and the younger brother of Howard Taubman, chief music and theater critic in the
1950s and 1960s for The New York Times.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/27/arts/television/lori-march-secret-storm-actress-dies-at-90.html
-Tim
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