Dorothy Taubman (August 16, 1917 – April 3, 2013) was an American music teacher, lecturer, and founder of the Taubman Institute of Piano. She developed the "Taubman Approach" to piano playing, though her approach provoked controversy.

Life

Taubman was born in the East New York section of

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

on August 16, 1917. Her parents, Benjamin and Bertha, were immigrants from Russia; her father, a businessman, committed suicide after the stock market crashed in 1929. Taubman never graduated from college, but took courses at

Juilliard The Juilliard School ( ) is a private performing arts conservatory in New York City. Established in 1905, the school trains about 850 undergraduate and graduate students in dance, drama, and music. It is widely regarded as one of the most elit ...

and

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

and studied with the renowned pianist

Rosalyn Tureck Rosalyn Tureck (December 14, 1913 – July 17, 2003) was an American pianist and harpsichordist who was particularly associated with the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. However, she had a wide-ranging repertoire that included works by composers ...

for a year. In her 20s, her son said, she decided her calling was to be a teacher, not a concert pianist. Taubman directed the Dorothy Taubman Institute of Piano at

Amherst College Amherst College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts. Founded in 1821 as an attempt to relocate Williams College by its then-president Zephaniah Swift Moore, Amherst is the third oldest institution of higher educatio ...

in Massachusetts from 1976 to 2002. She was formerly a professor at

Temple University Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public state-related research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptist minister Russell Conwell and his congregation Grace Baptist Church of Philadelphia then called Ba ...

and at the

Aaron Copland School of Music The Aaron Copland School of Music is one of the oldest departments at Queens College, founded when the College opened in 1937. The department's curriculum was originally established by Edwin Stringham, and a later emphasis on the analytical sy ...

Queens College Queens College (QC) is a public college in the Queens borough of New York City. It is part of the City University of New York system. Its 80-acre campus is primarily located in Flushing, Queens. It has a student body representing more than 170 ...

, and was featured in numerous articles and interviewed in the ''

Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...

'', ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', and the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

''; and the ''Piano Quarterly'', ''Piano and Keyboard'', and ''Clavier'' magazines. Taubman was noted for her work with injured musicians. Her students include the American pianist

Leon Fleisher Leon Fleisher (July 23, 1928 – August 2, 2020) was an American classical pianist, conductor and pedagogue. He was one of the most renowned pianists and pedagogues in the world. Music correspondent Elijah Ho called him "one of the most re ...

Edna Golandsky Edna Golandsky is a classical music pianist, lecturer and pedagogue of renown. She is a graduate of the Juilliard School, where she studied under Rosina Lhévinne and Adele Marcus. She later studied privately during many years with noted pedagogue ...

, Frank Lévy, Natan Brand, and Yoheved Kaplinsky. Besides offering a diagnostic system aimed at solving the musical and physiological problems of piano interpretation, the techniques Taubman pioneered have been used therapeutically to treat

repetitive strain injuries A repetitive strain injury (RSI) is an injury to part of the musculoskeletal or nervous system caused by repetitive use, vibrations, compression or long periods in a fixed position. Other common names include repetitive stress disorders, cumula ...

related to piano playing, and generally to rehabilitate injured pianists. Her techniques have been adapted to

computer keyboard A computer keyboard is a peripheral input device modeled after the typewriter keyboard which uses an arrangement of buttons or keys to act as mechanical levers or electronic switches. Replacing early punched cards and paper tape technology ...

typing.Berkley Hudson, ''Los Angeles Times''
"Go With the Flow: The unnatural way you move your body may be causing you pain. Think of the hand, fingers and arm as one."
November 15, 1994. In 1938 she married Harry Taubman, a businessman in the men’s clothing industry and the younger brother of Howard Taubman, chief music and theater critic in the 1950s and 1960s for

. With Harry, she had one son, who is dean of the school of medicine and dentistry at the

University of Rochester The University of Rochester (U of R, UR, or U of Rochester) is a private research university in Rochester, New York. The university grants undergraduate and graduate degrees, including doctoral and professional degrees. The University of Roc ...

Death

Taubman died from pneumonia on April 3, 2013 in

, New York, at the age of 95.

References

External links

*
Taubman's New York Times ObituaryTaubman's Boston Globe Obituary
{{DEFAULTSORT:Taubman, Dorothy 1917 births 2013 deaths American music educators American women music educators Queens College, City University of New York faculty Temple University faculty Amherst College faculty Piano pedagogues American women academics 21st-century American women