“ Can virtuosity feel comfortable and sound wonderful? How the Taubman Approach helps solve difficult passages in Chopin" With Robert Durso
Today, Robert Durso applies concepts from the Taubman Approach to passages of Chopin Berceuse op.57 and more. The goal is to achieve comfort AND virtuosity in your playing!
Follow this event link to tune in!
https://app.tonebase.co/piano/live/player/pno-taubman-approach-chopin
We are going to be using this thread to gather suggestions and questions!
- What questions do you have on this topic?
- Any particular area you would like me to focus on?
ANNOTATED SCORE FROM THE STREAM
(with Robert Durso's fingerings and Dominic's notes!)
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I've just begun learning Chopin's Scherzo op 54 No 4 and finding both passagework and arpeggiated passages challenging. I need help maintaining relaxation while trying to achieve speed.
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I’m unable to attend. Will there be a video available?
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Allan Freilich Yes, all livestreams are recorded and archived for later viewing.
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It's been 30 years since I first learned Chopin's 2nd Ballade Op. 38, and I haven't picked it up in a long time. However, I still painfully remember struggling forever with 1.) the two Presto passages, especially with a) the wide leaps and what feels like rapid changes of direction in the left hand, and b) the ascending 16th-note lines alternating between thumb and 2/5; and 2.) with the Coda, particularly a) the rapidly vibrating "double stops" in the right hand which caused my forearm to stiffen and "lock" after a couple of seconds, and b) the broken chords over two octaves in the right hand, 6-5 and 2-1 bars before the "Tempo 1" final section. Any insights into how these and other tricky passages in this piece can be made to feel comfortable in one's hands would be appreciated!
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Alexander Weymann You were a prodigy!
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Gail Starr
thank you, but that really couldn't be further from the truth. I'm always amazed at how little I have achieved given that I spent almost all of my free time in my later teenage years practicing the piano. The Chopin 2nd Ballade I learned when I was 23 - hardly a prodigy... 
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Alexander Weymann Well, you are amazing considering that you have a challenging profession in an entirely different domain! (Actually, you are amazing anyway.)
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Gail Starr thank you. You're too kind.
Sorry you can't be there tomorrow!
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Very timely livestream as I am working my way through the Berceuse right now. No questions yet, but I am really looking forward to hearing your advice on this piece.
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Alas, I can’t attend but I’ll watch the archived stream later this week.
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I've been working with a Taubman-trained teacher for the last year. Mr. Durso's response to the question at the end about exercises (in relation to a Chopin etude) really sums up what I've learned and why I'm sold on the method. All the various practice techniques I've learned up to now, such as playing passages in rhythms, or playing it in varying groups have "worked" up to a point, but they're really based in hope that variation and repetition will substitute for "choreography". That is, we can hope to find out how to play a passage in the traditional way, but taking an intentional approach that plans the movements to and from each note we want to play is the way to go.
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Excellent lesson! Thank you, Bob! I appreciate your knowledge, clarity and enthusiasm. The bike analogy was such a good one. Thank you, Dominic! Thank you to those who asked questions, too!
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Thank you for this great lesson. This is truly a gift. The Berceues is one of my favorite pieces and now with Roberts insights, advices and especially the detailed overall fingerings I'm really looking forward to study it.
