Testimonials

Ilya Itin

Ilya Itin

Pianist

"Edna Golandsky is a consummate expert of piano technique and musical artistry. The depth of her analytical ability surpasses anything I have encountered. Her work frees performers, enabling them to realize their full potential."

Josu De Solaun

Josu De Solaun

Enescu Competition gold medalist, concert pianist, and recording artist

"I studied intensively the Taubman Approach with Edna Golandsky for three years, from 2009 to 2012, almost every week. The knowledge I gained, not only about what I was doing right at the piano, but about the many areas of improvement in my craft at the instrument, will serve me the rest of my life. She opened up large vistas and horizons as to the possibilities of both the piano and of my own abilities using it to make music.

Edna is a vast repository of the most sophisticated bio-mechanical knowledge about how to play the instrument beautifully. Nothing I could say could do justice to the scope and subtlety of her deep understanding of this our beloved our instrument, of our bodies, and of the intricate relationships between them."

Madrid, April 30, 2021.

Thomas Bagwell

Thomas Bagwell

Pianist

"Before I studied with Edna Golandsky I had tremendous shoulder pain and my sound was weak. I felt that my technique had gone as far as it could go and that there was no hope for improvement. As a result of working with Edna, my pain is gone. In addition, my tone and my ability to express music are far better than I ever thought they could be. I was able to make these changes in spite of the fact that I had to continue playing all the while to earn a living.

Edna’s brilliant teaching is so understandable that when you come in with a problem you’re always going to leave with a solution other than “just practice it more.” She pushes you to go further with your talent and inspires you to be a complete musician. In short, Edna’s teaching has opened more doors in my playing than I knew were there."

Danilo Pérez

Danilo Pérez

Jazz Pianist

"Before I met Edna I always had to warm up. Now I can sit at the piano and just go. I never get uncomfortable or tired. Even when I am away from the piano, when I come back I can play right away. I understand how to get every color be it singing, percussive or anything in between.

This education should be taught worldwide. It should be a part of every educational system from early on so pianists can develop to their utmost potential.

It makes playing the piano so easy.

It has also made me a much better listener to the degree that I can help the tuner do a better job with the different pianos that I perform on. I am so aware now of the evenness of the keys and of the sound.

Edna Golandsky’s work with the Taubman method allowed me to reflect and learn as a musician – she woke up my awareness of the subtleties and beauties of tone-production."

Lisa Yui

Lisa Yui

Pianist and Lecturer

"Working with Edna Golandsky has been one of the most transformative events of my musical life. I was introduced to Edna following years of hand injuries that reached a point of cancelling concerts. At our first lesson, she said two things that blew my mind: 'You should be able to practice for as long as you like without pain,' and, 'If you fail more than twice to play a passage the way you want, you’re doing something wrong.'

These statements went against what I had been taught until then — that piano technique was related to strength and stamina, and that success could not be achieved without repetition and at times, pain. I worked with Edna many times since that first meeting, often on passages where I couldn’t achieve the desired effect, or simply seemed impossible to play.

It would be no exaggeration to say that she always, always, found a solution, at times so elegantly simple that I would wonder how the passage ever troubled me to begin with. What Edna taught me was that pain is never good, and that there is a solution to every technical challenge. This should give hope to every pianist."

Yegor Shevtsov

Yegor Shevtsov

Pianist

"I am a working pianist, and I owe that honor in no small measure to Edna’s precise, encouraging and constructive teaching. Both she and her wonderful colleagues at the Institute are an incredible resource to pianists of all levels, from beginner students to those wishing to recover from injury to those who simply look to be better pianists, better musicians.

I came to Edna to get help with very practical and concrete problems: I needed to perform some pieces that I could not play well. Over the years, I have brought to her Chopin and Scriabin Etudes for gigs, Beethoven and Brahms Sonatas for competitions, Strauss and Stravinsky orchestral excerpts for auditions. From fingerings to articulation, from sound quality to rhythmic vitality – Edna leaves no stone unturned.

What separates her from other teachers is of course the fact that she enables you to explore all those categories as rooted in the anatomical evidence of playing the instrument. Through studying with her, I have become not just a better performer, but a better musician and a better teacher myself. Edna is an embodiment of a Master Teacher. Thank you, Master."

Gabriela Montero

Gabriela Montero

Concert pianist and recording artist

"In 1995, I was invited to perform at the original Taubman Institute at Amherst College, and became familiar with Edna Golandsky’s work. I consider Edna to be a brilliant mind, with the intuition and knowledge to very quickly analyze how she can help a performer. The Approach is for anybody who wants to find and understand a healthy and organic way of playing the piano."

Yaniv Dinur

Yaniv Dinur

Pianist and Conductor

"Prior to my lessons with Edna, playing the piano felt like combat. When I first came to her, I pointed to a passage that I’d been struggling with for years. Edna showed me a few things and I tried the passage again. She then asked her famous question, “How’s that?”

I paused for a second and said: “So easy!”

She said: “Imagine, with this technique, anything can feel like that.”

Since then, every lesson with Edna has been a revelation. She shares her broad knowledge with love and generosity, combined with a laid back approach and a sense of humor. Thanks to her, I have managed to play pieces that I never dreamed I would be able to. She changed my life."

Father Seán Duggan

Father Seán Duggan

Pianist

"Edna Golandsky is the most wonderful piano teacher I have ever worked with. Her patience and persistence clearly communicate to the student through words and demonstrations what the student most needs to hear and understand.

Her amazing insight and her master classes go directly to the musical and, if necessary, technical issues at hand and enable the student to play a piece better than he/she ever thought possible. She is particularly brilliant at dealing with sound production, rhythm and musical structure."

Sylvie Courvoisier

Sylvie Courvoisier

Pianist

"I first met Edna Golandsky in 2003 at the Taubman Symposium in Amherst, Massachusetts. I was looking for solutions to technical problems I had at the time, so that I could translate my musical ideas to the instrument without barriers.

I was really impressed by the masterclasses that Edna gave, the clarity of her approach to solving problems on the piano, her musical concepts, her tone, and how she explained the value of natural alignment in the body to achieve a full sound without having to strain in ways that would develop body pain and/or fatigue.

When I returned from the symposium, I decided to take private lessons with Edna, and over time worked on the entire Taubman technique with her. Edna is fantastic; in addition to resolving the problems I had at that time, she also gave me the tools to solve any pianistic issues I might encounter. I have enthusiastically recommended Edna to many colleagues. She is the best teacher I have ever had.

I continue to see Edna from time to time to realign and refine my technique. Thanks to her, I can now play repertoire I never thought I could approach. In addition, I can now play my own music with a sound that previously existed only in my imagination."

Ryan Bridge

Ryan Bridge

Pianist

"In a sense, I was very lucky, in that I never had an injury serious enough to cause me to stop playing piano. But I did have occasional pain, and could not play a recital program without experiencing serious fatigue.

After over a year of weekly lessons with Edna Golandsky, playing no longer feels like a physically arduous task, and playing concerts feels much more secure – I rarely worry that my technique will ‘fail me’ unexpectedly. When I encounter technical problems in music, I am able to solve them with a logical, analytical approach, rather than trying to overcome them through brute force, and I assume that if a passage does not feel or sound as I would like, it is a problem of fingering, or physical movement, and not simply a question of not enough practice. But that mindset alone would only lead to frustration without the Taubman approach’s thorough and ordered set of tools.

What is most amazing about Ms. Golandsky’s expertise is the speed with which she can identify problems. I will always remember playing a piece in a masterclass for a teacher who wanted a certain octave passage to sound more legato, and after 20-30 minutes of work, the passage still did not sound consistently convincing. When I showed the passage to Ms. Golandsky, she was able to solve the problem in just a couple of minutes.

The Taubman approach is the only unified system of playing piano that I know of that is able to connect physical motion, rhythmic structure, sound production, and interpretation, in a way that shows that all of those elements are interrelated and able to be accomplished with a sense of physical ease. It has, without a doubt, made me a better performer, teacher, and all around musician."

Sophie Till

Sophie Till

Associate Professor of Violin and Director of the String Project at Marywood University, Pennsylvania

"Edna Golandsky has been the single most influential figure in my career as a violinist. Her willingness to work with me, a violinist, moving out of familiar territory with the body of knowledge of piano technique in which she is so well versed, is a testament to her agility and generosity. The instruction she has given me over the last twelve years has transformed my own playing, my teaching and as a result, the entire trajectory of my career.

Now, professional string players, students and children are now benefiting from her knowledge and instructional techniques. Under her tutelage and guidance, I have been able to put careers back together after injuries, and set young string players out on a new path. I feel privileged to be able to carry Edna’s work forward and to help to expand it beyond into other instruments."

Rafael Cortes

Rafael Cortes

BM, MM, Peabody Conservatory
Fulbright Scholar

"When you properly begin to understand how tone production works, how to time your movements so the result is a tone that will say what you want to say, you start listening to the music in a completely different way. Edna’s teaching has guided me down a path that has often been emotional as I have began to understand and unravel so much of what makes the body work in terms of coordinate movement. The moment when you experience a sense of fluidity and ease at the instrument as a result of her intelligent teaching can be so liberating as to overwhelm you at that instant. It is a wonderful experience that liberates more than your technique, it liberates your soul. I now look forward to learn and play pieces I never thought I would ever play.

I look forward almost in amazement as I see myself doing things at the instrument with an ease I never thought possible, unless you were born a prodigy. And a prodigy I was not. I had to work as hard as anyone else to achieve a level of playing that would allow me to stay in the business. I now realize you don’t need have been born a prodigy to experience truly virtuoso playing, you only need to be properly trained.

Edna is a wonderful, insightful teacher and a warm human being. I look forward to many more years of continued study with her, as there is still much more for me to discover at the piano."

Ruby Morgan

Ruby Morgan

Furman University
Greenville, South Carolina

"For those unfamiliar with this neuro-muscular problem, it is particularly frustrating in two ways. Firstly, the condition is not necessarily painful, so it can progress quietly to a debilitating level. Secondly, the problem is primarily involuntary, so it is the most difficult of all arts medicine injuries to overcome. In addition, dystonia is a physical puzzle that medical research has not yet solved.

I worked with Edna Golandsky to overcome my specific problem, the control of the right index finger. Because this particular pedagogy is both pioneering and scientific, the understanding gained from working with one person adds to the knowledge available to the next. Perhaps for that reason I had positive results in regaining the fluency in my right hand.

Fortunately, I began working with Edna Golandsky within eight months after I realized I had a problem. Beginning in the fall of 1992, I commuted for lessons twice a month for the first nine months. After that, because of my schedule and money, sessions were less frequent.

In spite of a frustrating setback – I broke my right wrist in the fall of 1996 – I made remarkable progress and feel fortunate to have found someone who both understands the injury and has the insight to correct it. While I still need to make progress in certain fast passages, I will perform with two hands again this year in a recital that includes a variety of pieces, ranging from Debussy Feux d’artifice, Chopin Barcarolle, Bartok Suite Op. 14, and a group of Brahms pieces from Op. 76 and 118.

I am indeed grateful to Edna Golandsky, Dorothy Taubman, and to all dystonia students who came before me."

Art Bailey

Art Bailey

Jazz Pianist, Musician & Composer

"Dear Edna,

I can’t thank you enough for your patience and guidance, and for this incredible work you’ve developed. Without any exaggeration, your work has saved my career.

There are few things in this world I love more than making music on the piano, and just before finding out about you, I had resigned myself to giving it up and finding something else to do with my life. It’s an invaluable gift to know that I can continue playing.

Thank you."

Renna Whittredge Pye M.D.

Renna Whittredge Pye M.D.

"I went to Edna in September of 2010 at the suggestion of an old friend who is a Juilliard faculty member. The previous summer I had attempted to prepare two movements of a Brahms trio to participate in Apple Hill summer chamber music workshop, and I had run into difficulty with forearm pain.

My friend insisted that if I wanted to progress to this level of playing and learn to play well without injuries, I really needed to go see Edna. She immediately put me at ease and gave me very specific guidance which transformed my playing over the course of the year.

I had approached her looking for technical adjustment; I wound up with a deeply transformed relation to my instrument and a revived delight in playing. What a pleasure and gift to have the benefit of Edna’s unerring analytical mind, great attention to detail, fine musical and technical instincts, and lovely sense of humor.

This summer, I performed a Mendelssohn piano quartet – fast movement and all – with flourish and enjoyment. I am now pain-free, and the skills I’ve acquired over the past two years with Edna have allowed me to progress to a new level."

Leo Gorelkin M.D.

Leo Gorelkin M.D.

Physician

"My wife Paula, a classically trained pianist, playing the piano for 53 years, had received cortisone shots about three years ago and eventually surgery on both hands for three fingers from very painful and incapacitating injuries (trigger fingers) which apparently resulted from her playing. After the surgery, yet another finger was threatening. At that time she met a teacher at the Golandsky Institute who suggested she be evaluated by Edna Golandsky herself, a major proponent and master teacher of the Taubman approach. She professed that Edna might be helpful with her problem. What to do? Stop playing the piano, expect more surgery or see Edna?

Luckily, Paula chose to give the Taubman technique and Edna Golandsky a try. A momentous choice indeed, as she, Paula, is now playing some of the more demanding and technically difficult pieces of the solo piano repertoire. During this time, that finger that had been threatening has long since been silent and she even tells me excitedly that she can master, even more quickly, very difficult piano passages. There is no longer any discomfort in either hand or fingers.

Now, I’m not a motion specialist, hand specialist or pianist, but I am a physician with a strong scientific background in research and it makes perfect sense to me that any repetitive and demanding motions which can be effected with putting the least if any stress into those motions and still get the job done with even greater efficiency, is something of great value and importance. This appears to exactly be the case using the Taubman approach to piano playing with a properly certified teacher at the helm.

In fact one cannot help but wonder what else could be enhanced by applying this approach to other disciplines, what injuries could be prevented? For example could not those who spend a lot of time using other or similar repetitive motions such as typing at a computer, known to cause carpel tunnel syndrome etc. be benefited? It would seem so, or at least worth the effort to investigate.

Impressive results with the Taubman approach in relieving and preventing injuries and also facilitating greater accomplishment at the piano appears to me to be a gross understatement."

Kat Sherrell

Kat Sherrell

Multidisciplinary musician and author

"I started studying with a student of Edna’s and then Edna soon after I first started playing rehearsals for a Broadway show, my first true professional-level gig. The score was notoriously challenging, and I was having trouble learning the music fast enough and playing consistently (sometimes I played brilliantly, sometimes not, and I never felt like I could predict or control what was going to come out under pressure). Also, I was suffering from nerves, and felt the kind of fatigue I was afraid would lead to injury, as well as some pain in my thumbs and fifth fingers.

Edna got down to the fundamental problems in my technique, problems other teachers had brushed off or been unable to explain when I asked questions. I very quickly noticed significant improvements in my playing, my ability to sight-read and learn music quickly, and the way my hands felt.

While Edna’s background is classical, her deep understanding of music has helped me in my playing of pop and Broadway repertoire as well as my ability to handle technically demanding scores.

Bottom line, I would probably not be playing today without the Taubman Approach and the work Edna has done to build on it. But with their help, over the past few years, I’ve been able to build my reputation as a pianist/keyboardist in the Broadway community, and I’m able to handle the workload and the pressure that comes along with great opportunities, because my skills are so much more solid.

I’m about to take on a new challenge as the Associate Music Supervisor for 5th Avenue Theatre in Seattle, where I’ll be playing and conducting shows full-time!"

Aaron Jacobs

Aaron Jacobs

Pianist

"Over time, Edna helped me to cultivate a growing awareness and sensitivity that allowed me to play in a more comfortable, and consequently, a more musical way.

She conveys the intricacies of the technique with an incredible attention to detail and a level of patience which I thoroughly admire, and which kept me engaged even as I was challenged by a level of sensation at the piano I was unaccustomed to."

Veronica Greenan

Veronica Greenan

Pianist & Harpist

"I went to the 2012 Symposium hoping and wishing it would be the answer to my pain. I had an injury in my left arm that caused tingling up to my elbow and fatigue in both hands and arms.

After having only one lesson with Edna Golandsky, my gut instinct was telling me that there was something here to explore with the Taubman Technique. I registered for the symposium and I can say one year later, that it probably was one of the greatest decisions I have ever made in my life, if not the greatest.

Everything about my playing has completely changed. I feel so blessed to be able to write that there is not only a solution for pain, but beyond that, there is a technique that makes me a better pianist each day."

Juan Lazaro

Juan Lazaro

BM - The Juilliard School
MM - Manhattehn School of Music
Lindemann Young Artist Program

"I have been studying with Edna privately for 6 years now and can say that I have a achieved a level of ease, musicality, and understanding that I would have never arrived at without her.

That knowledge was tested to very extreme limits when in March I had to perform a rigorous audition to enter the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann program a week before an extremely risky surgery to fix a poorly executed upper arm fracture surgery from a year before.

Technique and understanding alone allowed me to bypass the crippling condition of my left arm and give a musical and sophisticated display of my abilities in a 40 minute audition. I was the only one accepted for the season and I owe it to the technical and musical knowledge passed on to me by Edna Golandsky.

The moment the the doctor cleared me for movement, I began to play just as before, without any fear or limitation."

Yuri Aoki, Collaborative pianist and vocal coach

My experience with Ms. Golandsky took place when I was a member of the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program at the Metropolitan Opera, as a pianist in training who specializes mainly in opera and other vocal repertoire. Unlike piano literature purely written for the instrument and a pianist’s body, operas and their respective piano reductions are not written in a way that completely agrees with the functions of a human hand (one would often encounter a “killer” piano reduction, completely unplayable, written by someone who can not play the piano at all), and it could be physically quite demanding – plainly said, playing opera is playing a lot of octaves, big chords, repeated notes, tremolos, and passages written for a different instrument or a group of instruments in the orchestra.

I had been trained from an early age in Japan with a technique focused on finger isolation, and as I was deepening my studies for the opera repertoire, I had experienced several episodes of tendonitis, and had believed that my body was simply not cut out to play this music with ease, due to my petite build and the lack of “power”. I had been treated to several steroid injections in my wrist, only to be disappointed by the pain that would attack me again several years later. I had always lived with the fear of having to stop doing the work that I love with all my heart due to the imminent chronic injury.

Working with Ms. Golandsky was for me a transformative experience, both physically and mentally. Through her work and philosophy, not only my technique but also my mindset had been completely transformed. Aside from the obvious physical aspects, one of the greatest gifts from her was the experience of learning how to be non-judgmental – as she said to me in my first lesson, “nothing is wrong with you” – and that when encountering a problem, one should observe it with specificity and generosity, and proceed while accepting the state of the mind, the brain and the body, and guiding them gently to do their work in the most natural, efficient way. Before I worked with Ms. Golandsky, I had believed that learning and improving my performance should be a painful process – always a war with my misperceived physical incapability, and also inconfidence. And oftentimes, I would discover that a “bad habit” was a result of physical and/or mental trauma that I had imposed on myself in the history of my playing, and uncovering and learning from my own background through Ms. Golandsky’s guidance was a fascinating experience.

I had countless eye-opening moments in my work with her – but I will never forget that moment when I played an octave chord with both hands for the first time under her guidance. I felt like I had made absolutely no physical effort, the sound itself was so deep, beautiful and released, and I felt like I was being gently embraced by the piano and the beauty of its natural sonority. It was a sensation I had never experienced in all my 25 years of piano playing.

Without Ms. Golandsky’s work and dedication, I would not be where I am today – fearless, because I now know that there is always a way. Words fail to express my gratitude for her, and I sincerely encourage anyone to approach her technique, who believes that they deserve pain in order to do what they love.

Arthur Simoes, Pianist

My name is Arthur Simoes, I was born in Brazil and moved to Geneva, Switzerland, at age 10. I had an injury in both of my thumbs when I decided to attend the Golandsky Institute Summer Symposium at Princeton University for the first time in 2017. I had just graduated from the Haute Ecole de Musique in Geneva and my problems started while I was preparing for my Bachelor’s recital. During the weeks preceding the symposium I had watched the 10 DVDs and some videos from the Golandsky Streaming and I was absolutely fascinated with what I was learning. The private instruction that I had in Princeton further expanded my interest and my curiosity for the Taubman Approach.

At that time, despite my injury, I was preparing for the European Music Competition “Città di Moncalieri” in Italy. I decided to travel to New York for a week in October, one month before the competition, to have lessons with Edna Golandsky. I was amazed by the way she made passage after passage feel easy and secure in my hands. Fast-forward one month, I was very happy to win the first prize at the competition, but I was still injured despite having gone through doctors and physical therapy. At that point I knew that I wanted to retrain my technique.

I was finally able to move to New York in October 2018 to study with Edna and that has probably been the best decision I’ve made in my life. I stayed until June 2019. The pain started disappearing after about three months, but that was only the beginning. I slowly started learning more advanced repertoire again and I could play with a sense of ease, security and control that was completely new to me.

I am now back in Geneva, about to finish my Master’s degree in Dalcroze Pedagogy and about to start teaching piano, improvisation and Eurhythmics at the Jaques-Dalcroze Institute in September. I have also recently resumed performing and I continue to take lessons with Edna through Skype. My next goal is to start working towards Certification in order to be able to teach the Taubman Approach in Switzerland and to help people from all over Europe.

I am eternally grateful to Edna for showing me the path to a healthier way of playing the piano, and therefore a happier and more fulfilled musical career.

Arthur Simoes, July 2020

Therese Milanovic, Pianist & Pedagogue

My first introduction to the Taubman Approach was in 2003, followed by a four year gap before I was able to afford to return to the USA from my home town of Brisbane, Australia. Those first lessons with Edna Golandsky in 2007 were nothing short of revelatory. By that stage, I had managed to overcome my nearly decade-long injury, and was so thrilled to be playing at all that I had reconciled the many technical limitations in my playing as inevitable. Through those initial exhilarating lessons with Edna at the Golandsky Institute Summer Symposium, I quickly began to understand that there was a concrete, logical answer to every one of my unending list of questions.

After my experience of nearly a decade-long injury with seemingly little help available, it was also clear (and shocking to me) that overcoming injury was merely the first stage in the deep learning possible through the Taubman work. A seed of hope grew that through studying this knowledge, I might one day be able to reach a higher level of facility and artistry. Little did I know how much my playing and life path would be enriched by the learning ahead.

Since then, I have had the great fortune of several intensive study periods in New York City with Edna, travelled to NYC a dozen times, and bridged the thousands of miles between us with many wonderful online lessons since 2009, for which I am ever grateful. Through Edna’s masterful skills, I have been able to pursue a possibility of pursuing a pathway in music to the fullest, and now lead a rich and full life of teaching and disseminating the Taubman work, and performing at a high level with wonderful musicians that I adore.

As my playing has developed over the course of our careful, detailed work together, I have not only been able to perform increasingly difficult repertoire, but to be completely present to the music when performing. The performance anxiety that I previously struggled with has long dissolved. It is an incredible feeling to walk onto the stage, feeling secure that every obstacle has been thoroughly worked through, and that the performance can be just as secure as in the practice room, allowing my attention to be solely focused on responding to and shaping the music. As our work together has deepened, it has been a great joy to experience and understand the indivisible nature of technique and artistry, and that these elements that were previously somewhat mystical or unreliable for me are in fact learnable, and teachable.

I have also been extremely fortunate to observe many hours of Edna’s life-changing teaching, from putting severely injured students back together step by step with kindness and deep patience, to working with incredible artists at the highest level seeking to develop their capacity still further. I will also never forget the lessons I observed with Edna and Sophie Till, witnessing Edna’s brilliant, agile and flexible thinking in developing an equally profound and far-reaching pedagogical system of understanding for stringed instruments. Over the years, I have received invaluable feedback in presenting my own students, with many memorable moments of Edna skillfully navigating them through gnarly, complex situations through to transformational breakthroughs. I deeply value her ongoing mentoring, guidance, and friendship.

The most profound learning for me through my studies with Edna is that there is always hope, even when hope is lost, and there is always an answer, albeit some more layered than others. Her skill, intuition and insight based on experience combined with formidable musicianship has been an ongoing model to aspire to, and certainly the inspiration for me to work so hard to attain certification with the Golandsky Institute and bring this vital body of knowledge to my country. I look forward to many more years of our work together, and as always, am excited and curious as to what the next lesson might reveal. Even after all these years, the solutions can still be surprising, and I am thrilled to discover new learnings in each lesson. Thank you for everything dear Edna.

Jin Jeon, Pianist

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-renowned 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.

Dimitris Kostopoulos, Professional Concert Pianist

I first discovered Edna Golandsky, the Golandsky Institute and the Taubman approach back in 2010. I remember being very frustrated at the time. Despite several years of hard work and education, playing the piano still felt like a struggle. Even though I could play demanding repertoire, it didn’t feel like I could rely on it and I felt my technique was limited. This, together with many years of inner frustration, made me realize that something might be wrong, and that I had to do something about it if I wanted to continue my life as a performing pianist.

Luckily I stumbled across some of Edna’s videos on YouTube. It was mesmerizing to watch how she explained and demonstrated piano technique with a logic, precision and clarity beyond anything I had seen before. I ordered her ten DVDs on the Taubman techniques at once, and studied them thoroughly for years. These DVDs saved my pianistic life; I managed to acquire new knowledge and skills that made me feel a lot better about myself as a pianist, and learning repertoire and performing difficult passages became a lot easier.

I finally met Edna in person at a summer course she held in Madrid, Spain in 2019 and she gave me two lessons. Even though I had a pretty good understanding of this work due to all the years I had spent with the DVDs, a new world opened up to me in these lessons.

It’s hard to describe, but just two lessons were enough to produce an entirely new sensation in my hands that I didn’t even know could exist. The concrete guidance and insight of Edna during the lessons made such an impact that I decided I just had to find a way to go to New York for a longer period to study with her.

Fast forwarding to April 2020, I started taking lessons with Edna on Skype, since my planned four-month trip to New York became impossible due to Covid-19. My goal was total mastering of the Taubman Techniques, so we embarked on the journey of retraining from scratch. For that to work optimally, initially a period of time in which you don’t play any repertoire is required. I had six weeks available for that. During those weeks we managed to get through the basic work of retraining, after which I had developed a new way of playing. Six weeks is probably less than usual, but it shows that this can be done rather quickly sometimes.

This process is one of the most fascinating experiences I’ve had, and it is by far the best thing that has ever happened to my piano playing. By working on basic movements under Edna’s guidance, the way my fingers and arms played the piano changed. We started with big, exaggerated motions, and went into smaller and smaller motions, until they just became adjustments that, miraculously, provided me with a playing apparatus I never imagined existed within me. I could feel how my playing mechanism evolved from being stiff and tense to being free and fast. As I progressed, everything became more refined. In the beginning it was all basic movements: not stretching, not isolating, alignment and so on. But as the basic work shifted to advanced work, it became more about understanding the subtle relation between each technical component, such as how small I could feel the rotation, how to synchronize it completely with the smallest finger movements and how to bring my inner musical feelings out through my technique. At the same time an awareness of the forearm developed, and I started to feel how I could to use it correctly to both produce the sound I wanted, and cover distances.

Now, after almost a year with lessons, I can safely say that I am playing the piano at a level I personally didn’t even dare to hope for when I first started taking lessons.

I could never imagine what a truly well-functioning technique could feel like, and I believe the key to true understanding of the Taubman Techniques is this crucial process of basic work guided by a real expert teacher. The end result depends on how well the basics are taught and absorbed. Without this process, I believe it’s impossible to get from the point of having the right knowledge to having the right understanding and sensations.

Finally, I would like to mention that as I continue to take lessons, my technique keeps improving. I am now able to tackle pieces I didn’t think I could ever play before, and it’s a truly wonderful feeling.

I look forward to spending the rest of my pianistic life exploring and developing within the Taubman Approach, and I can’t stress enough how eternally grateful I am to Edna for what she has done for me. I have never seen a better piano pedagogue, and I am just so happy I met her and finally started taking lessons. For the first time in my entire life, I actually feel like I know what I am doing at the piano. She has given me back my dream of playing and teaching like a master. Thank you, Edna Golandsky, for being a wonderful human being and a true master!

Helena Buckmayer, Acclaimed Pianist

From an early age I was blessed with an abundance of innate ability which allowed me to play and learn the piano with few technical problems. However, over the years I realized that this instinctive playing which led to early competition successes and many performance opportunities was not always a blessing but a curse. I started to understand that I hadn’t been given enough tools to protect myself from injury.

The problems started to arise when confronting more complicated and demanding repertoire such as Prokofiev sonatas, Rachmaninoff and Brahms concerti. Suggestions such as demanding more isolated activity of the fingers to ‘loosen them up’ or to play pieces with many chords to ‘open up the hand more’ by a poorly equipped teacher gradually caused upper arm pain, unresolved tension in the whole apparatus and the inability to move the fingers at all.

I had already worked and taught the free arm fall, playing down into the piano, releasing tension etc. Regular lessons in Alexander technique, Feldenkrais and Yoga really helped enormously too. My pupils developed well and stayed free of injury because of my methods. But I was not able to completely help myself or eradicate the hidden fear of dystonia. At that point, my search brought me to some YouTube videos about Dorothy Taubman and Edna Golandsky, subsequently leading to working with Edna.

My lessons with Edna have been one of the most eye opening and profound moments in my professional understanding of how to gain a natural, effortless technique on the piano. Her insight into the finest, most sophisticated movements resulting in brilliant, effortless playing is simply impressive. Just changing or adjusting the tiniest movement can be the difference of feeling great or really bad.

I came to realize quickly that training in the Taubman Approach offers exactly what I was looking for: a huge toolbox of knowledge of solutions for every possible problem one can encounter. The method is very structured and requires patience on both sides but the benefit of studying it thoroughly enabled me to acquire a perfectly functioning hand again and tools which I can now teach and pass on to my own students so that they never have to experience what I went through. I am once again able to approach music which I had avoided for years, thinking that my hands were not made for playing this kind of repertoire.

Without a doubt my training in the Taubman approach and my studies with Edna have been one of the most valuable things in my professional life. I will continue having the occasional lesson with her, since every time I see her I learn something new. She is a truly inspiring force in the world of piano teaching and playing.

Deren Eryilmaz, Pianist & Taubman Teacher

Edna aka The Source.

The people we meet in life always affect us in one way or another. We would like to meet only the good ones and escape the rest. But if we are lucky enough, we might meet someone who changes our lives forever. For me, that person is Edna Golandsky. There are many amazing pianists and teachers out there but do you know someone who knows it all and can teach it to all? Not just to a few selected, extremely talented people but to all who wish to learn? Edna’s teaching is not just technical, physical, musical and rhythmical but also spiritual.

From the moment I met her, Edna became my mentor, my friend, and my family. She gave me the tools to enable me to do things I never thought possible and supported me in a way that opened up my wings. Thanks to her, the worst time of my life became the best and I was born again from my ashes. Now I can fly as high as I wish, while helping others to fulfill their dreams as well.

As many of us who have had the pleasure to work with her feel, my only regret is not to have met her earlier. I will be forever grateful.

I met Edna when I was a teacher at one of the best conservatories of my country, training very talented pupils to become professional pianists. I was also Erasmus program and performance organization coordinator of the faculty. Thirty years old, I was feeling at the peak of my career, that I reached my limit as a pianist, playing as a soloist with the orchestras and doing chamber music as much as my busy academic schedule permits me. I was never injured but felt limited. Lost the ease I had when I was a young prodigy but I was hoping to grow wiser as a teacher with the experience. I thought that is something that will happen in time. Didn’t know I could have 10 equally strong and able fingers, would guess that all the questions I had/have, have straight forward answers. And with the right teacher, in a few years, I could become one of the few who can cure and help her colleagues to overcome their limitations. The journey continues and everyday, every lesson is an other step to get closer to pure joy and ease.

Ron Stabinsky, Concert Pianist and Keyboardist for the Meat Puppets

In 2000, I was practicing many hours trying to learn quickly a piece of new music for solo piano with many large chords. As a result of contorting my hands to accommodate these chords, one of which I recall requiring the thumb and fifth finger to reach an 11th on black keys while the second finger played a white key while bent in half to avoid the fallboard, I was awakened from sleep a few nights before the scheduled performance by painful throbbing in my left hand. I ended up needing to cancel that performance. I tried using ibuprofen, getting massage therapy, and resting, but within a few weeks, it became a clear that I was going to need to cancel all rehearsals and concerts for the foreseeable future.

In the months that followed, I found that I could “survive” non-classical work where I could tailor the content of my playing to the limitations of what I could do with only (!) occasional discomfort if I exceeded my limits. I would play anything where I didn’t have to read a specific part, from big band jazz, to polkas and funk, until I felt I could add reading work again. Finally, nine months later after the initial pain, I thought perhaps I’d rested enough to accept an invitation to perform a new classical work. Within one week, I was fully back to the full pain levels.

In desperation, I started reading any online accounts I could find of injured pianists who found help, and stumbled upon one convincing testimonial by someone who overcame an extreme case of tendinitis through studies with Edna Golandsky. The things I read about Edna’s teaching really resonated with me. It sounded like a path to what I was looking for in my playing, even before the injury. For example, I had been struggling to get a bigger, clearer tone for about a year prior to the pain. And, I am now sure that the methods I was employing to try to get a fuller sound had primed me for the injury that I thought was merely attributable to the stretching for large chords in that one piece.

I called Edna Golandsky the next day and scheduled my first lesson. At that first lesson, although I was only learning to play a single note at a time, I was astonished by the tone that was possible without sensing I was doing any physical “work” at all. It was even more of a shock to me that this physical approach was actually decreasing the pain while I was playing. In the weeks that followed, it was amazing to me that anytime I got some pain doing a normal daily activity like reading a book, I could go to the piano and practice the pain away! After a series of additional weekly lessons, I reached a point that the pain simply never returned again.

As wonderful as it was to be able to play pain-free again, in time it became clear that overcoming injury was just a tiny part of the benefit of my studies with Edna. My tone continued to improve. My virtuosity increased to levels I could never have imagined before the injury. Previously, I remember thinking I just didn’t practice enough to get past the limitations I had in terms of what difficult passages I could negotiate. But, my studies with Edna have allowed me to be able to analyze virtually any passage causing difficulty and unlock the solution to executing it with ease and comfort. As an improviser, my creativity seemed to open up as my playing improved. And since the sense of ease allowed by this physical approach to technique is so universally applicable to all styles of music, I gained the confidence to move freely across genres to play with anyone whose music I loved as a listener. From becoming part of the avant-garde jazz, improvised and New Music performing communities in the northeastern US and Europe, to joining one of my all-time favorite bands from the US Southwestern desert with their unique blending of psychedelic/folk/country/rock styles, Edna’s teaching absolutely allowed me to make musical fantasies and dreams come true for me.

Maureen Volk, Professor, School of Music, Memorial University of Newfoundland

I’ve been on the piano faculty at Memorial University of Newfoundland since 1979. In 1990 I hurt my right hand, an injury that caused almost constant pain in my hand, arm, elbow, shoulders and back. The injury occurred away from the piano, but in retrospect I suspect that it was made possible by years of misuse at the piano. Most everyday activities became difficult and painful, including washing dishes, ironing, carrying and lifting, turning a key in a lock, etc. I was unable to play the piano at all for over a year. Even the oom-pah-pah teacher accompaniments in my son’s beginner piano book caused me pain. Because the pain was so widespread it was difficult to tell where it originated, and because the pain was so constant, it was hard to identify the movements and activities that aggravated it.

I went to several doctors, including a physical medicine specialist who suggested that I had just been playing the piano too long and needed to stop for awhile, even though the injury hadn’t occurred at the piano and staying away from the piano for several months hadn’t helped. He then offered me a choice of two or three treatments, despite the fact that he didn’t know what was wrong.

I tried one, but it didn’t make any difference. I finally got the diagnosis at a musicians’ clinic in Ontario—a torn opponens pollicis , the thumb muscle that brings the thumb under the hand. I was given some stretching exercises for the neck and shoulders and was shown how to apply pressure to trigger points. Knowing what the injury was made it a little easier to avoid things that aggravated it, but I was still experiencing quite a lot of pain.

I had heard about the Taubman work several years earlier and had seen the video Choreography of the Hands. It seemed to make sense to me, so I decided to attend the Taubman Institute at Amherst College in 1991. While there, I worked with Edna Golandsky for 10-15 minutes each day for two weeks. We started retraining from the beginning, dropping on one finger at a time, then learning the 5-finger pattern and finally starting the C major scale.

For the first time in over a year, I could play without pain. While at the Institute, I also heard some of the faculty perform and was impressed with the quality of sound they got at the piano. I decided that I wanted that sound, and that fall I started taking lessons with Edna, flying to New York about once a month. Two years later, in fall of 1993, I gave a solo recital that included the Liszt Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2.

I have continued to study with Edna ever since, flying to New York as often as I can. During the 1990’s I held an administrative position at the university, so I couldn’t always practice and take lessons as regularly as I should have. Nonetheless, I continued to make progress and perform regularly, both solo and chamber music. In the last three years, piano has again become my top priority, and I have been taking lessons more consistently, working to refine the technique and explore its full potential for musical expression. I now play repertoire that I had never considered doing before I worked with Edna. I love playing Mozart, Haydn and Schubert, which I avoided in the past — they’re no fun to play if scales don’t feel good. The Liszt Hungarian Rhapsody is another work that I never would have dared to play before I retrained.

Although I don’t consider myself a fully qualified “Taubman teacher”, the work has dramatically changed my teaching. I can now find solutions to students’ technical problems where before I would have had to throw up my hands. Lessons can be productive problem-solving sessions instead of exercises in bewilderment and frustration. I have always believed that there is no such thing as an unmusical student; what we call “unmusical” is actually a result of physical incoordination. Now I have tools to put that belief into practice, and it is really exciting to see the improvement in my students. That makes teaching a lot of fun.

Elizabeth Shahane, Student in Piano Performance, Hunter College, City University of New York

My mother keeps a picture of me reaching for the piano before I could even walk. Sound was a delight to me. Even when confined to my highchair I would shake crackers to see if they made noise. I remember crawling about the house opening drawers in order to hear the hollow closing. Nothing ever made the same sound twice. I was elated when my parents asked me if I wanted to take music lessons because an instrument meant instant sound—sound I could make myself, whenever I wanted.

I fell in love with the piano. I played everything I came across. At the age of six, I would wait for the commercial breaks in order to pick out jingles. In junior high my teacher placed me in guilds and small competitions, which I loved. During high school I worked in order to send myself to music festivals. I availed myself of every opportunity to hear performances. I spent time with other people who loved music as well, learning theory and music history together. This gave me a taste of what I thought would be conservatory life and I set my heart on it. I remember collecting conservatory catalogs and pouring over the glossy pages. That would be me there on the front cover— the hardest working, best pianist they had.

I was not quite seventeen when I began to experience pain in my left shoulder. I was practicing six to seven hours each day at that juncture and was busily preparing for auditions. I took a month off at the advice of my teacher. The pain only worsened, so I developed my own regimen. I bought a strap and two ice packs and tethered them to my shoulder. I practiced this way for two more months. In that time, I lost a great deal of speed and accuracy and in return, gained headaches, occasional nausea, and numb fingers.

The next year did not unfold at all as I had planned. Instead of visiting Eastman for auditions, I went for an MRI; instead of auditioning at Juilliard, I visited a neurologist. I did physical therapy and tried anti-inflammatory medications. Then I saw an osteopath and went to a chiropractor for adjustments. I flew to the Cleveland Clinic for Dancers and Musicians with the thought that perhaps a specialist might see something definitive. When he did not, I went for weekly cortisone shots. At least then I experienced some relief and could sleep at night. The last trip to my general practitioner resulted in a statement I will never forget: “Elizabeth…you’re simply not built for competitive music.”

What was wrong with me? I watched as my friends won scholarships and excitedly moved away to school. Meanwhile I shoved my glossy conservatory dreams far under my bed and packed my CD’s in a box. Reality was beginning to set in and my girlhood dreams needed to be put aside. One more month of rest wasn’t going to change a thing. This was my fault, as far as I was concerned. I hadn’t been able to figure out what my problem was and I couldn’t practice my way through it. I decided that if my arm was numb, I could make myself numb too.

After a year of calculus and chemistry I found myself in a studio with Edna Golandsky. (I am not sure which of these classes made me realize that my heart was still in music, but I am certain it was one of them.) I came with a head full of reservations. I had seen multiple physicians over the past two years. How was I to develop any sort of new technique with a numb hand and an aching shoulder? Despite my doubts and fears, I began studying with Edna two years ago. By incorporating the proper movements into playing, I experience therapy. I also learned that it is possible to undertake a specific, exact study of virtuoso playing. This technique has been and is more than simply my road to recovery. It is my vehicle for making music at the piano. Today we are busily picking out new repertoire and I am well on my way to becoming exactly what I wanted to be—someone who can produce music herself, just the way she wants it.

Linette A. Popoff-Parks, Professor and Chair, Music Department, Madonna University, Livonia, Michigan

Like so many pianists, I began my love affair with music at an early age, learning quickly and negotiating my way around the keyboard with a rather natural technique. And also like so many pianists, I began to experience difficulties when I moved into the advanced repertoire.

The holding/stretching/finger independence exercises required by my college training proved disastrous to my hands, exacerbating the compensatory movements I acquired to handle the advanced literature, resulting in extreme tension and fatigue in my forearms, plus tendonitis in my right thumb and wrist. The symptoms were so extreme that I felt pain even listening to someone else play the pieces that hurt my hands and arms.

The end of my college training seemed to be the end of my career as a pianist, so I went to plan B and studied theory in graduate school. Theory was fun, but it was a severe disappointment to give up playing difficult solo and chamber pieces. I also hated the very idea of teaching piano (I now know that it was because I had no idea how), so I worked toward a teaching career in theory and humanities.

Fast forward several years to my discovery of the Taubman Approach: an intriguing pedagogy of coordinate movement that provided some hope for my pained hands and aching heart. The door to this fascinating world was opened for me by Joseph Gurt at Eastern Michigan University, and as it turned out, my hope grew as my technique improved. Several years later I began working with Edna Golandsky in New York. My course of improvement was slowed somewhat by the distance between Livonia, Michigan and New York City, but I would not have had it any other way. Without a doubt, I am playing again because of Edna’s insights and talents as a Taubman teacher. But I am not just playing again – I am performing much more difficult music than I had imagined was possible for me.

Edna has taught me to play without fatigue, pain, and tension, but . . . with an ease and proficiency that is a delight to my hands and heart. I have also discovered my tone growing in strength and color. I now see that the Taubman approach is not just a technique for healing the body – it is a proven pedagogical method that has something for every pianist: increased facility, ease at the keyboard, an infinite variety of tone, and more.

I am impressed by the constantly evolving methodology of this technique – somewhat of a rarity among piano pedagogies. The principles have remained the same but the pedagogy has changed with time – and that is a hallmark of knowledge and wisdom. My journey began in 1976, and I am still committed to this approach to piano technique. I discovered a love for teaching along the way, too, so I share this with my students who now benefit from the Taubman approach.

I will always be deeply grateful to Dorothy Taubman and Edna Golandsky for their gifts of perseverance, intelligence, and passion for music. It is not an empty superlative to say that they changed my life – they truly have provided a path to joy.

Victor Dizon, Music Instructor

I was first introduced to Edna Golandsky and the Taubman work by a friend in the Philippines who had master classes with her. I was a year away from graduating with my Bachelor of Music degree and thus was preparing for my graduation recital. I was also in the process of applying for a Master’s program in the United States.

My friend told me that if I was interested in doing my graduate studies in the U.S., I should try to get in touch with Edna to see about possibly studying with her. He showed me the videos of his master classes and I was immediately taken by what I saw. I sent her tapes and videos of some of my performances with a letter stating my interest in studying with her. I explained that I wanted to improve my playing so that I could overcome the limitations and problems I was experiencing.

I was accepted by her, as well as the graduate program at the City College of New York. I came here thinking I would finish a Master’s degree in two years and then go home to share what I learned. I changed my plans after I found out that many of my problems were due to dystonia in the second finger of my right hand, a condition that can take some time to correct. After already having played big and difficult pieces, it was not easy to accept the fact that I had to go back to basics such as five- finger patterns and scale passages. But the fact that my left hand was not injured and thus picked up the technique quite easily made me realize what learning this work could do for me. So I stayed on, and every lesson became the highlight of my week — always learning new things and at the same time feeling better and better on the piano.

I have been with Edna for a few years now and there is no sign of dystonia. I’ve regained control of my right hand and am slowly building repertoire. These days, pieces which seemed difficult before are surprisingly attainable. Gone are the days of hour?long warm ups that leave me tired before I even start playing my pieces — I basically sit at the piano and start playing right away, fingers moving easily. If a problem arises, Edna has a solution. Finally, there is an answer to every technical problem that comes up.

Though my injury is gone, I am still refining my technique. At the same time, we are starting to work on the other aspect of performance — that of expressing the music. Here is where one discovers the true impact of the Taubman technique, as well as the vast knowledge that Edna can impart. With the coordinate movements of the technique as well as my teacher’s keen ear and knowledge of music, tone, phrasing, rhythm and so forth, I can finally realize and do what I want with the music.

Now I know that limitations in expressing the music are not a result of an under? Practiced OR over? Practiced hand, but rather of some missing elements in the playing. I still have a lot to learn, but I know I’m learning the right way with the right teacher. It feels good to play again.

Megan Coiley, Conductor, Pianist, and Mezzo-Soprano

So yesterday, I was in the middle of writing an essay when I stopped all of a sudden and ran to the piano, totally inspired, and began practicing these Scriabin preludes I’ve been learning. The end. …Big deal, right? Well, for me, it kind of is. Two years ago, that scenario would have been completely impossible. You see, two years ago, I had focal dystonia.

Dystonia is a condition in which the brain loses control over a specific part of the body. In pianists, this is usually caused by excessive curling, stretching, and isolating of the fingers while playing. This disorder is said by the medical profession to be incurable. By itself, dystonia is painless; however, I had already been injured for four years before developing it, having had run-ins with tendonitis, carpal tunnel, thoracic outlet syndrome, and “localized and radiating pain.” Therefore, all of the involuntary contracting of already inflamed muscles and tendons involved in this new injury definitely hurt.

When I began showing symptoms of dystonia, I was a senior at a performing arts high school preparing to give my senior recital. About two months before the recital, I noticed that my hands were more curled than usual, and they were beginning to spasm involuntarily – suddenly tightening into fists for a second or two. I didn’t really think much of it, and I kept practicing. They didn’t spasm when I was playing, so I didn’t mind. What did bother me was that the faster I tried to play, the slower my hands seemed to go. This frustrated me to no end. I felt like I was losing control over my playing, which is exactly what was happening. I also noticed that as I practiced to play a piece faster, my hands actually moved slower. I gave the recital and stopped playing completely, but my hands continued to get worse, gradually becoming more and more curled until one day, I woke up and couldn’t open them at all. I used a pair of wrist braces full-time to keep the bridges of my hands from collapsing, the last obstacle preventing my hands from becoming two useless balls of tangled fingers.

At this point, I was dropping most things I touched, had to wake up three hours before going anywhere, and was using voice-activation software to do my schoolwork. Any typing was done with pencils stuck in my fists – a VERY slow process (but still faster than knuckles). When I attended the Golandsky Institute’s summer symposium for the second time that summer, I became known as the “girl with no hands.”

I began studying with Edna Golandsky at the end of August 2008. It became immediately apparent that the movements I had used at the piano had translated into everything else I did in the course of my day. The culprits of my injury – curling, stretching, finger isolation, collapsed wrist, tension, relaxation, etc. – were not just present when I played the piano. I curled when I held a mug of coffee. I twisted when I opened a door. So…we began by working on turning a doorknob. Eventually, I graduated to holding water bottles. Finally, one day in September, I got to touch the piano. I learned how to drop on one note consistently without pain, and then how to move from note to note, then intervals. By November, I had no signs of dystonia, and all pain was gone.

It is currently November 2010, nearly three years since I first showed signs of dystonia, and as I mentioned, I am learning some Scriabin preludes. I am no longer injured – the only time I ever feel discomfort when playing is when I move in an unhealthy manner, in which case, I correct the movement and continue without problems. My life has essentially returned to normal. I typed this document without using pencils. I write papers, bake, and of course, play the piano, without any issues whatsoever. Most importantly, I do not have to wake up three hours before going anywhere…thank goodness. I am currently in the process of opening my own piano studio, hoping to earn my certification through the Golandsky Institute so that I can teach the Taubman Approach professionally. It is my belief that every pianist deserves the opportunity to learn this technique. I cannot imagine what could have happened had I not come across it. Certainly, I would not be leaping from my computer to sit at the piano and practice Scriabin for an hour.

Hugo Bermúdez, Pianist

My problems at the piano started when I was about 16 years old in 2012. I could play fairly well; my teachers said I was very musical and talented. However, I had one thing that really bothered me, and that was not being able to get a big sound, among other technical limitations that I had. I was told that one of the problems was that my arms and shoulders were not relaxed and that my finger knuckles were collapsed (I now know that there was much more to that).

The last statement was true, however, the approach that was suggested to me to “cure” this problem just made everything worse. I was told that my fingers were weak and in order to strengthen them I would need to do all kinds of exercises away from the piano, for example, I was told to do “finger pull ups” putting the nail joint of every finger on the edge of a table and letting all the weight of my arm and shoulders relax and then curl the nail joint to lift the weight. That, lots of stretching of the fingers, and exercises involving rubber bands were supposed to make me feel strong at the piano, but the opposite happened. I developed tendonitis.

I had pain in my fingers, which felt very rigid and slow, pain in the palm of my hand, pain that extended from the thumb to my biceps, from my fifth finger to the back of my arm and elbow, pain in the neck and in my shoulders, and it kept getting worse and worse. For a little more than a year, I struggled with this injury. I had to put ice on my forearms after practicing each time, had to use a tendonitis band, and tried acupuncture among other things. Nothing seemed to work; the injury kept coming back, and the doctors said I might need cortisone injections, which I fortunately didn’t get.

It was a very scary situation for me and full of anguish. I had just decided I wanted to play the piano professionally, hadn’t even started with my degree yet, and I was already beginning to believe my hands would never recover. I started to do lots of research and found the Taubman Approach. I saw the videos on YouTube where Ms. Golandsky shows the scale and talks about not twisting and not curling. Interested, I purchased the DVDs and studied them intensely.

I managed to get enough right (and of course got another big part of it wrong) that the pain in my fingers, hands, and forearms began to go away. I had stopped curling, twisting, dropping my wrist, and reduced the stretching. I spent some months like that: things were better, but not great. So, I decided to have some Skype lessons. I came across Dr. Therese’s Milanovic dissertation on her Taubman Approach learning process and immediately felt related to her situation. I had two sets of 6 lessons with her where we discussed the basics and some problems in my pieces. After those sessions I got a better picture of the correct way of doing the things I had tried to put into my technique by myself.

Even though the pain in my hands and fingers was all ready gone, my neck and shoulders were bothering me more and more each day, the more I tried to “relax” the worst it got. I tried yoga, meditation, Feldenkrais, massage, and other practices that didn’t do much for me in terms of curing the pain in my shoulders. It came to a point where this pain was interfering with my daily life. I had shoulder and neck pain the whole time, even at night when I was sleeping. I couldn’t practice as much as I wanted, and it was very tiring and debilitating. Once, I even had to go to the hospital because the pain was very bad. They took x-rays to make sure my spine was okay, and it was. All they asked was if I had been in a car crash recently. The contracture of the muscles around my neck and shoulders was so bad that the doctors actually thought it was due to a pretty bad car crash (it wasn’t). I had to take painkillers, apply heat on the area, and rest. It didn’t change anything; I was still having problems.

It also got a little better when I got to take in-person lessons with Dr. Therese Milanovic at Princeton last year (2015) and then continued via Skype for the following six months. Still, the pain was constant, so I decided to come to New York from Mexico and study with Ms. Golandsky in February 2016. The pain went away after the first month of lessons, and now, 5 months later, I get very good sleep, I can practice for long periods of time without pain, and I got back the happiness and enjoyment that practicing used to give me. Every day, I feel more secure and capable at the piano, and I’m beginning to tackle pieces that before would have been nearly impossible to play for me (especially without pain or fatigue), like Liszt’s first Mephisto Waltz as well as Rachmaninoff and Chopin études. They finally feel like they will actually be possible for me to play.

I will be eternally grateful for the existence of this work and for persons, like Therese Milanovic and Ms. Golandsky, who help people get back what injury has taken away from them, which goes way beyond their ability to play the piano.

Paula Gorelkin, Pianist

I was about 57 years old when I started to feel shooting pains in my fingers and hands. I had been a piano teacher for 30 years and had performed, primarily as a chamber music pianist, on a professional series in Atlanta of which I was artistic director. I was fortunate in being able to associate with first chair Atlanta Symphony players and their equivalent. I had come from the school of “play with your foot if you have to” as long as you create the sound you want, which I now know can cause all kinds of injuries. I saw my return to New York as an opportunity to begin tackling more of the solo repertoire which I hadn’t approached for many years except for a few pieces which I had continued to play. It was after learning Schumann’s Carnival that I began to experience shooting pains in my fingers and hands. One doctor even thought I might have rheumatoid arthritis. A couple of my fingers would curl and get stuck in a kind of spasm which could only be painfully undone with my other hand.

My internist sent me to a hand surgeon who prescribed a cortisone shot, saying that he would only allow one which might work. If it didn’t, I would need surgery to resolve the problem. He didn’t think that piano playing had anything to do with my problem. “People can be born with trigger fingers”, he said. He added that it could occur in all my fingers.

And, even after surgery, it could recur. To make a long story short, I underwent many cortisone shots and 2 surgeries on both hands involving 3 fingers. And another finger started to threaten. It was at this point that I happened to sit next to Audrey Schneider, a teacher at the Golandsky Institute at a concert. She sent me information to read about the Taubman approach (I had heard a little something about it years before but had ignored it) and encouraged me to at least be evaluated by Edna Golandsky, who she professed had the most experience with injuries and this work and could advise me about my problems. That was one of the best decisions I have made in my life.

That was almost a year and a half ago. With some time off for other health issues, I’ve been studying regularly with Edna. The pain went away reasonably quickly (certainly within the first couple of months or less). I would know when I inadvertently curled a finger because it didn’t feel good. And if I had some pain in my thumb, I knew that I had been playing in an isolated manner. Sometimes old habits die hard. I would return to the piano and play carefully to ensure that my arm, hand and fingers were moving all in one piece. And the pain would disappear.

Having to stop playing everything for a while except to follow through on the work done in the lessons was difficult but well worth it in the long run. In my case, because of my injuries, that was what was advised. I was frustrated from time to time when I couldn’t get the rotation just right. But my perseverance (along with Edna’s and John Bloomfield’s, during the summer) paid off and now I’m not only playing without any pain but I realize that there are answers to every technical problem within the Taubman approach, as well as musical answers. For example, I now understand how to play as soft as I’d like without hovering and just hoping that the tone I imagine will come out. There’s a way to do it.

Other concepts like triggering, interdependence, grouping and shaping vastly contribute to the musical conception of a piece as well as the technical (like playing leaps). And as for the in and out, it’s truly amazing in more ways than one. At my best moments, it does feel as if I’m hardly moving, with little effort. I certainly wouldn’t want to teach piano any other way nor would I approach a piece of music without the Taubman approach in mind. If I did, it would be a waste of time and injurious to my health.

I’m truly grateful to Dorothy Taubman and especially Edna Golandsky who is a master teacher who teaches in a respectful manner with incredible patience. So, in a way, my injuries turned out to be a good thing. Because many doors have been opened for me, and continue to open, in my journey deepening my experience as a pianist, allowing me to play more fluidly, more expressively and preventing future injury.

Janet Angier, Director, Music in Chappaqua

It was the end of August 1988, driving home from a summer of performing at the Aspen Festival, that I first noticed complete numbness in my right arm. I couldn’t hold the steering wheel or find any position where my arm felt comfort or relief. The thought of tendinitis had never even occurred to me. I thought the periodic shooting pains and heaviness in my arm that I had been feeling over the summer were a result of performing pressure and anxiety.

Not taking the situation very seriously, I began my senior year at the New England Conservatory with a double major in oboe and piano. Although I tried to ignore the pain, my condition worsened. I tried many types of treatment under the advice of doctors who specialized in sports injuries and the injuries of performing artists. I also underwent alternative therapies including acupuncture, acupressure, herbal remedies, vitamin therapies, meditation, yoga, massages and even hot baths, hoping something would help. Nothing did. I ended up taking the rest of the year off from school, performing, everything. I thought rest was the only answer. It wasn’t.

For fourteen years I lived life as a left-handed person. No longer could I hold anything, open a door, brush my teeth, brush my hair, cut my food, or even write. If by accident I lifted something without thinking I would get a lightning bolt of pain shooting up my arm. Unhappily I learned to cope with my limitations. My life as a performer faded away.

In 1993 I opened my own music school and decided to bring my love of music to others through teaching. It’s been a wonderful success and I’ve been privileged to hire many talented piano teachers. Ten of these have been trained in the Taubman technique, which in turn has opened my eyes to a world of new possibilities.

I have been studying the Taubman technique privately with Edna Golandsky over the past year. I can now sleep at night, I don’t wake up in pain, and I’m beginning to write, hold the steering wheel, and use my right hand in everyday activities. What’s more, I’ve been reintroduced into the world of piano playing and all the beauties therein. I’m beginning my first repertoire pieces and playing passages easily, effortlessly. Not only is piano playing now comfortable, it has ironically become my therapy.

Carla Levy, Faculty Member, La Guardia High School of the Performing Arts

Every day as I begin my early morning practice, I become aware of motion and sound. I take pleasure in knowing that coordination, fluidity and freedom have replaced tension, fatigue and discomfort.

I cannot remember a time when playing the piano was anything other than an intense struggle. By the time I was ten, I was already so injured that I felt I would never be able to play challenging repertoire. At seventeen I was accepted to the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, where, four years later, I limped through my senior recital playing music I loved with collapsed thumb joints, low wrists, high knuckles and forearms that were completely disconnected from my hands and body.

Graduate school at the University of Iowa was even more challenging as I struggled to meet performance requirements. I participated in meaningful discussions with peers and teachers about sound, rhythm and structure, knowing that I still could not bridge the gap between the musical and the physical.

When I began teaching in my early twenties, I painfully admitted to myself that some of my young students managed to negotiate passages that I could barely demonstrate. “I shouldn’t be teaching,” I would say to friends. Everyone dismissed me, telling me that of course I was exaggerating.

At the age of forty, when most people have achieved a certain professional maturity, I began to seriously consider other career choices. During this period a dear friend urged me to try the Taubman Approach.

I loved the Taubman work from the beginning. I love knowing that the physical and musical can unite into a meaningful whole that results in true musical expressivity. And I love knowing that I can now transmit this work to my students.

I have thoroughly reworked my technique and am now free of years of debilitating tension and pain. I am playing repertoire that without this work would not have been possible — Chopin’s Ballade in G Minor, Ravel’s Jeux d’Eau and Beethoven’s Sonata, Op. 26.

My studies with Edna Golandsky have shown me that there is a powerful lesson to be learned from this work. If I, as a middle-aged woman, could transform an injured body and mind into a coherent whole, does this not suggest that anything is possible?