Maintenance of Repertoire

Beatriz de Mello When I started studying Taubman, I had this problem as well. My teacher even addressed it in one of the early lessons. (She mentioned a story about one famous pianist who had walked away from lessons with Dorothy Taubman for this reason.)  I had to just take time away from any kind of performance to really get familiar with the new techniques. I often felt like I was relearning everything! I recognize that taking a break like this is not always possible. I don't have any good suggestions, but I did want to say that I hear this problem is common. 

Beatriz de Mello 

Hi Beatriz. When I started to study the Taubman approach, I was advised to stop playing pieces that I had been learning or playing just for enjoyment while I was 'retraining,' After a period of weeks, I missed this pleasure, but for me the investment was well worth it as my playing became easier. I asked myself why I would want to continue to do what had caused tension or other problems when I was trying to learn a new way of playing that was much more helpful. It seemed counterproductive to set a goal and then to work against it. I would on occasion play a piece for pleasure, but for the most part I stuck to the recommended Taubman approach---which turned out to be a godsend for me.  The shorter-term 'sacrifice' has been well worth it.

Just another perspective.

Beatriz de Mello Yes, I also went through something similar when I started studying Taubman about 2 1/2 years ago. There was definitely an expectation to not play old repertoire and to not play anything else we were not actively working on. In. fact, even 2 1/2 years in my teacher prefers to only to work on new repertoire pieces with me. Now that I am playing with better technique, I have a desire to return to a few pieces that I used to play (albeit it never to my satisfaction) but my teacher says Dorothy Taubman's expectation was that you wait at least 7 years before returning to play older repertoire. It's an unfortunate side to retraining but the results are there. Personally, I feel that with proper guidance from a Taubman professional, one could actually do it, but that's just my personal feeling. I guess I'll have the pleasure of circling back to some older pieces I worked on in about 5 more years. :) Good luck to you as you deal with your own personal situation. 

Jeff Woodruff Hi Jeff, I understand where you are coming from but I'll just add that the decisions about your work at the piano need not be so binary (even though many Taubman teachers present it that way). While you may not be able to work on music in the context of a lesson for 7 years as my Taubman teacher has advised based on something that either Dorothy and Edna determined, you should certainly feel free to play the music you love for pleasure in your own home. Personally, I work with singers and I can't tell a singer that I am not going to work with them on a piece I've already played because I'm retraining my piano technique. I still do work with them and I still do play pieces that I love for my own satisfaction. But, I do respect my Taubman teacher enough to agree to insist we study a piece I want to resurrect since I'm only 2 1/2 years into the retraining. What you do outside of the Taubman studio is your business is far as I'm concerned. That said, I've learned so much since studying Taubman so I do try to make most of my practice time meet the Taubman expectations. Just my perspective of course! 

Jacopo Castellano Thank you for your notes.  Very helpful. Much appreciated. 

Jacopo Castellano 

Very good summation of the session. Thank you for sharing it. 

Jacopo Castellano Excellent notes.  Thank you!

Jacopo Castellano Excellent summary, Jacopo. Thank you so much.

Jacopo Castellano Thank you so much for these notes, and to Dominic for very very helpful advice.