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2023 Colorado Taubman Approach Workshop
* Concert attendance included for workshop participants.
Want to acquire fantastic new tools for playing, teaching, and overcoming challenges at the keyboard?
Come join us for our bigger and better Colorado Taubman Approach Workshop at the foothills of the Rockies! With two days of presentations, master classes, pedagogy classes, passage-solving clinics, artist concerts, public lessons, and optional private lessons, this workshop will be full of amazing insights and tools. Multiple tracks of presentations will cover Taubman experience levels from newcomer to advanced. This is an amazing value!
Pricing
- $225 IN-PERSON attendance, live questions and participation in group classes included (with access to recorded sessions after the workshop)
NiCHE Event Space, 4571 Broadway, Boulder, CO 80304 - $200 ONLINE attendance, pre-submitted questions only (livestream and access to recorded sessions after the workshop)
- Students 50% Discount
- Concert attendance is included for all workshop registrants
Information
WORKSHOP PRESENTERS, PERFORMERS, and DIRECTORS |
Presenter, EAM Founder and Executive Director
Golandsky Institute Associate Faculty
TOPICS AND SESSIONS |
|
Title / Description |
Presenter |
The Taubman Approach and ArpeggiosThe tools to play even, smooth arpeggios is a skill every pianist should have. Barbara Banacos will walk participants through key components needed for beautiful arpeggios. |
Barbara Banacos |
Pedagogy Clinic: How to incorporate elements of the Taubman Approach into your teachingWith so much to teach to students, it can be difficult to know how to incorporate elements of technique and what skills to prioritize. Barbara Banacos will share strategies on teaching the Taubman Approach with a focus on beginner and intermediate-level students. She will also work one-on-one with students of workshop attendees. |
Barbara Banacos |
Getting to Know the Taubman ApproachThe Taubman Approach has positively influenced countless pianists worldwide. Join Elizabeth Grace as she discusses the foundational elements of this amazing problem-solving approach to piano playing. Through musical examples, she will demonstrate accessible strategies to implement key principles and open the door to playing with freedom. |
Beth Grace |
Octaves without ObstaclesPlaying octaves with ease is an essential skill for every pianist, but unwanted and unnecessary obstacles can often arise. In this lecture, Elizabeth Grace will discuss practical guidelines to playing octaves with freedom. She will also address the vital stepping stones to teaching octaves to students of all ages and levels. Join us and say goodbye to awkward octaves! |
Beth Grace |
Optimizing Taubman Learning and Practice – Part 1
|
Brenna Berman |
Optimizing Taubman Learning and Practice – Part 2
|
Brenna Berman |
Advanced Choreography: PatternsWe all have a strong instinct to detect and recognize patterns. This can be beneficial in piano playing, as music is full of patterns and repetition, but often we have to use different techniques to play similar passages. Darren Wirth will show how the Taubman Approach can be used to analyze and solve these types of pattern passages and aid us in quicker learning and memorization. |
Darren Wirth |
Master Class |
Brenna Berman and Beth Grace |
Open Lessons and Free Participation |
Brenna Berman, Barbara Banacos, Beth Grace |
Taubman in the Jazz SettingRon will work with individuals in front of a class to solve pianistically jazz contexts using Taubman tools. |
Ron Stabinsky |
Support GroupThis group will connect participants going through similar experiences and is geared towards attendees who are new to the Taubman Approach, currently retraining their technique, or are recovering from an injury. The session offers a safe place to get questions answered about the retraining method, or simply express their feelings about the process in general. |
Michelle Mark |
HOTEL / TRAVEL INFORMATION |
To assist with your stay, we have reserved a block of rooms at the Holiday Inn Express Longmont. Since it is also Parent/Family weekend at CU Boulder, rooms are going quickly.
This is the closest best priced hotel. It is a 16-minute drive from the Niche Event Space. In order to secure the reservations we have paid in full to reserve any available rooms. If you would like to stay at the Holiday Inn Express Longmont, contact them by phone at 303-684-0404 or email them at lcohiexpress@yahoo.com and have them change the credit card they have on file to your own. It is reserved under Nancy Seller, confirmation 88229383. The cost for Friday and Saturday are $250. each night plus tax and Sunday night is $130. plus tax.
We also recommend securing your rental car if needed. Carpooling with other attendees may be possible.
Feel free to also look for other options on AirBnb, VRBO, etc. that are available. If you would like any help with finding accommodations or have any other questions please feel free to contact us.
CONCERT PROGRAM |
October 14, 2023 at 6:30 PM
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Sonata in F Major K. 332
Enrique Granados: Allegro de concierto, Op. 46
Darren Wirth, piano
Cordelia Zars/Alex Walker: “Going Down” from We’re Still Here
Cordelia Zars, piano
Free Improvisation
Ron Stabinsky, piano
Jazz Standards
The Atom Collective
Concert tickets: $15, included for workshop registrants
PURCHASE CONCERT TICKETS
Elizabeth Mueller Grace, NCTM, enjoys a multi-faceted career as performer, teacher, clinician and adjudicator. She is a member of the performing artist faculty at the University of Denver Lamont School of Music Summer Academy. Ms. Grace appears as a soloist, collaborative artist, and recitalist. An award-winning pianist, her performances have been praised for their “depth of sound, intelligent interpretation and fluid technique” (Omaha World Herald). As a prizewinner, Ms. Grace has performed with the Omaha (NE) Symphony, Lincoln (NE) Symphony and Sioux (IA) City Symphony, among others.
Elizabeth Mueller Grace, NCTM, enjoys a multi-faceted career as performer, teacher, clinician and adjudicator. An award-winning pianist, her performances have been praised for their “depth of sound, intelligent interpretation and fluid technique.” ~Omaha World Herald
Susan Hong is a pianist, artist, and educator teaching in San Antonio, Texas. She specializes in group teaching and is passionate about sharing the joy of music. When not teaching, Susan loves to garden and travel.
Barbara Banacos has studied with Robert Durso of the Golandsky Institute since 1997. She is certified at the Associate level, is adjunct faculty with the Golandsky Institute and has led their support groups for many years. She has presented lectures on piano technique at the Golandsky Institute Boston Workshops and was invited to teach at the Danilo Pérez Foundation in Panama, assisting Edna Golandsky.
Ron Stabinsky received his first musical lessons at the age of five from Michael Hoysock, his grandfather. Since 2000, Ron has been studying the Taubman Approach to piano playing with Edna Golandsky in New York City. He has also benefited greatly from additional study of classical repertoire with concert pianist Ilya Itin. His mentors in the art of free improvisation have included Bill Dixon and Joel Futterman. His study of jazz has been through the correspondence course work of Charlie Banacos. In January 2007, he began presenting a series of music performances in the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton area of Pennsylvania by local musicians and guest artists from around the world, primarily but not exclusively focused on improvisation. He received Pennsylvania Partners in the Arts Project Grants annually from 2007-2009 for this series. Ron was also the 2008 recipient of the F. Lammot Belin Arts Scholarship. Each July, Ron presents a series of workshops demonstrating to jazz pianists the practical application of the Taubman Approach to piano playing at the Golandsky Institute, an annual symposium held at Princeton University. In addition to continuing to pursue an ongoing interest in solo piano improvisation, he enjoys working on music in a stylistically diverse array of situations throughout the United States and Europe with many other musicians and ensembles, including freeimprovising saxophonist Jack Wright, bass trombone virtuoso Dave Taylor, Meat Puppets bassist Cris Kirkwood, and NEA Jazz Master David Liebman. Recent festival appearances include Newport Jazz Festival (USA), North Sea Jazz Festival (Netherlands), Moers Festival (Germany), and Jazz and More Festival Sibiu (Romania). He is currently a member of the band Mostly Other People Do the Killing, the new music ensemble Relâche, the Charles Evans Quartet, and the Peter Evans Quartet, Quintet, and Octet.
It is an honor to help EAM capture captivating images to help their programs and cause. Backed by over thirty years experience in both the non-profit and photographic industries, Kevin
Robert Durso attended the Peabody Conservatory of Music, obtained his bachelor of music degree from Indiana University, Bloomington, and received his master of music degree from Temple University. His principal teachers were Enrica Cavallo-Gulli, Harvey Wedeen, Edna Golandsky, Dorothy Taubman, and Rosalyn Tureck.
Darren Wirth was a semi-finalist in the International Piano Odyssiad Competition, a finalist in the Symphony in the Valley Concerto Competition, a winner in the International Duo Piano Competition, a Silver Medalist at the Seattle International Piano Competition Virtuoso Festival, and a winner of the Derek H. Jones, MD Piano Concerto Competition. His compositions have won awards and performances around the world, including in New York, Minnesota, Greece, Austria, the Netherlands, and Singapore. He has studied the Taubman Approach with Brenna Berman since 2015.
Nancy Seller is a dedicated professional performer and teacher with an unending lifetime obsession with the piano. She has long been on a quest for innovation, inspiration, and exhilaration. In this journey, she discovered The Taubman Approach. She further fueled her curiosity with Brenna Berman, an associate faculty member of the Golandsky Institute, and later expanded this exploration by sharing in a Taubman conference in London this past February.
Sonja Toutenhoofd has enthusiastically studied the Taubman Approach with Brenna Berman since 2010. After attending Interlochen Arts Academy for visual arts, she studied biology and physics while taking music lessons at Carnegie-Mellon. Sonja studied medicine and received a Ph.D. in neuroscience from the Mayo Clinic. During her research years, she also rediscovered piano. She currently teaches piano and mathematics and science at her private studio and online. Sonja is a founding member of Effortless Artistry Music.
Michelle has spent the last twenty years teaching youth of all ages in both private and public schools. She holds both a Master of Education (2009) from Pace University and a Master of Dispute Resolution from UMass Boston (2005). Michelle rekindled her love of playing classical music as an adult and realized that teaching piano was the perfect marriage between her two passions. Michelle is thrilled to be part of the teacher certification program and on the board as the vice president of EAM. Michelle currently lives in Lafayette, CO with her husband, two children Avery & Eben and their adorable dog, Charo.
Ms. Berman is a Certified Master Teacher of The Taubman Approach, Executive Director and founder of Effortless Artistry Music nonprofit, and holds an Associate Faculty position with The Golandsky Institute. She has studied with the most highly acclaimed experts in the field: Robert Durso, Edna Golandsky, John Bloomfield, and Dorothy Taubman. She holds Piano Performance degrees from Oberlin Conservatory and Hunter College.