On my way home from the Bay area on Amtrak 712, I grabbed a few extra table napkins from the dining car, and let my imagination run wild as I scribbled some notes to myself. “Wild” should be emphasized since I had some pent up frustration related to the Taubman-Golandsky’s ban on the “wrist break.”
Dorothy Taubman was a Juilliard faculty piano teacher who embraced a certain approach to piano playing which has components of relaxation as well as forearm rotation. However, for some reason with all the nit picking that’s done about how this or that finger has to be aligned or rotated, the wrist is not supposed to move below the key surface or much above it. (That would be considered a “break.”) Correct me if I’m wrong.
An article excerpt by Renee Jackson about the Taubman and Alexander Technique is informative.
“Dorothy Taubman discovered other movements necessary to make playing easy and efficient when used in conjunction with forearm rotation. In and out motions (motion from the outside to the inside of the black keys and the fallboard) originate at the elbow and may be sensed from fingertip to shoulder. They make adjustments for the different finger lengths in human hands. These in and out adjustments prevent the hand from twisting away from its alignment with the arm. Slight lateral movements (known to students of the Taubman approach as walking arm and hand), and shaping (which is a function of the varying height of the forearm, and not just motion from the wrist) are also integral to the Taubman approach. Care must be taken that these movements do not replace the underlying forearm rotation. It should be pointed out that the wrist functions as a fulcrum, meaning that in order for these movements to arrive at the finger on the key, the wrist must be at a level which is sufficient to have the weight of the arm resting behind the finger, and not collapsed back towards the elbow or forearm.”
Now I don’t mind the meticulousness of the Taubman method that’s championed by Edna Golandsky, BUT, from all my ingestion of ABRIDGED Taubman tapes on You Tube since I have to pay to be sent the whole kit and kaboodle on DVD, I cannot agree with this slant (pun intended) concerning the wrist.
Now here’s a pic straight from Irina Gorin’s teaching materials, which shows her “broken” wrist in living color!
Irena Orlov, a Master piano instructor at the Levine School of Music in Washington DC demonstrates how elastic the wrist should be, dipping down below the key bed and rising all the way above it, with quite a latitude of motion. (film, Reaching Beyond)
Like many fine pianists including Irina Morozova and other Russian schooled pianists, their wrists make the “break” up and down, as they produce a gorgeous singing tone with immaculate phrasing. (No casts or splints please!)
Add:
Livia Rev
Czerny Studies–Note no. 2
Hi, Shirley,
Thank you for sharing.
I can see that you perceive the wrist movement as necessary for good playing, and how that perspective makes you assess all other, existing approaches through its eyes. However, the approaches exist which do not see it that way.
Taubman’s Approach absolutely needs the wrist to remain “unbroken” (calm/even/strainght) as a condition for its passing the pressure from the shoulder/upper arm to the fingers. In this arrangement, if the wrist ‘breaks’, the whole conveyer belt of pressure transmission collapses.
Irina Orlov does NOT represent the Taubman Approach.
By the way, as far as I know, this approach was actually created by Abby Whiteside, and its features have been cultivated today also by Seymour Fink and Alan Fraser.
Thanks for your comments. I did not in any way say or suggest that Irena Orlov represents the Taubman approach. Here is the quote from my blog that says the opposite:
“Irena Orlov, a Master piano instructor at the Levine School of Music in Washington DC demonstrates how elastic the wrist should be, dipping down below the key bed and rising all the way above it, with quite a latitude of motion. (film, Reaching Beyond)”
The film segment reveals Orlov exemplifying this motion, the antithesis of Taubman.
I certainly agree with Orlov, Gorin and others that the wrist should “break” and not be static. A gorgeous singing tone is aided by wrist flexibility.
I wrote to Edna Golandsky about this matter, and never received a reply. More discussion and open forums are needed. From my having watched reams of Taubman snippets over You Tube, I still cannot understand the rigid viewpoint about the wrist. I am sure there are well respected advocates of Taubman as well as those who disagree. So let the dialog begin!
Hi, Shirley, thank you for replying.
I am with you on the need – a must, actually – to let the wrist “break”, all the time. Ms. Golandsky produced a video (it’s there on YouTube) which suggests not letting the wrist bend in any way, even in everyday use.
(Evidently, the nature must have gotten that wrong. And, perhaps even more intriguingly, she found teachers who want to spread this idea to learning to play a violin…)
However, I strongly suspect that this idea started as a reaction to certain, already historic, inability to teach playing with flexible, yet soft, wrist. Decisive majority of piano hopefuls have learned to play with straightened- and stiffened-up wrist (definitely ‘calcified’ in the widespread idea of maintaining certain “hand posture”). Someone must have read that info as “it’s impossible to do otherwise”, and many others accepted that perspective: many piano teachers still react to the ‘soft wrist’ idea with “What? Having the wrist flap on every note? What sort of
control would doing that nonsense generate?” and that’s the only way they are able to see it, and they refuse to consider another possibility. And since that’s, basically, their only reaction, there’s no room for debate. That’s one of the reasons for why the interest in Abby Whiteside’s idea keeps growing. And, I’d add, many people got so used to the sound generated by maintaining the straightened- and stiffened-up wrist that they would see no reason to seek an alternative.
So, how does your belief in a dialog stand up now?
Thanks for your comments. I am frankly shocked at Golandsky’s admonitions about the wrist, and as myself, also a violinist, I cannot fathom what on earth is happening with a transfer of this so called gospel to a string instrument. Irina Gorin’s students in Carmel, Indiana are a testament to teaching the flexible wrist. Check out Irina Gorin’s teaching channel on You Tube to see extraordinary results. I can’t imagine phrasing beautifully without the supple wrist.. I can barely say more at this point without sounding distraught…
Now that my distress is diffused, I can’t imagine why it’s so difficult to teach piano students how to phrase with a supple wrist. I am teaching a 4-year old who already has a hand on it.. pun intended. My own students are slowly but surely learning what it’s about, and how much more fluidity they are capable of when they relax their wrist and let it have a full range of motion.
In my next blog I am going to spotlight a Hungarian pianist who has to be in her 80’s who shows a student how her wrist should move up and down. This a very old, sagacious pianist and teacher being so wise and practical. Need I say more?
Shirley,
I find your ideas on Taubman very interesting, so maybe it’s possible to use a bit of both Taubman and Russian principles. My main concern regarding a wrist break down below the level of the keyboard is it changes the form of it. The most relaxed position is at it’s balance point, when you rest the hand on a soft cushion or a sofa, that’s where I think it’s most relaxed point is. Going below that is a danger and leads to injury over a period of time.
Rachel S
Very old blog. I embrace flexibility and elasticity.. I sometimes come “under” notes to delay entry and to create nice tapered, melted cases. I am not a rigid teacher. Again this is an older blog from way back. If I wrote it today, I would emphasize flexibility of motion.. NO FIXED hand position or method.
Hi, Rachel,
You wrote “The most relaxed position is at it’s balance point, when you rest the hand on a soft cushion…” That made me think: When you ‘rest’ your hand the way you described, do you really keep your wrist even/straight/aligned – and, if you do, would you still call it ‘resting’?
Then, you said ” Going below that is a danger and leads to injury over a period of time.” It would be so only if the wrist were held in dorsiflection for prolonged time, but I believe that Shirley meant it to drop only intermittently in playing.
Cheers
Paola
I agree to an extent about moving slightly the wrist in certain cases but moving it down after the note is played is an absolute waste of energy. How can it possible help to produce a beautiful sound if the note is already played? It also put a strain on the wrist for nothing.
I believe the Taubman approach is about playing with easiness and most of the movements are invisible when assimilated. See Matthay, who had a very similar approach.
I think Livia Rev and Irina Orlov play beautifully ‘despite’ bending the wrist…
Thanks for sharing. In the present, I believe in the supple wrist, with relaxed arms and weight transfer.
Hello, John,
You wrote: “…moving it [the wrist] down after the note is played is an absolute waste of energy.”
Well, one of the most-often heard teachers’ instructions has been “Keep the wrist up!” which tells me that “letting the wrist fall” temporarily is a totally natural thing.
And, do you believe that maintaining the wrist in even/level/straight/aligned shape does not need any energy/muscular tensing?
Cheers
Paola