Lectures, Recitals, Masterclasses, and Workshops

Amy McLelland regularly presents masterclasses and lectures on many subjects. She specializes in the Taubman Approach which instructs pianists in the art of coordinate movement, encouraging healthy motions that “maximize physiologically sound arm and hand position.” (Dr. Frank Bunn, Harvard Medical School).  The Taubman Approach is a groundbreaking analysis of the mostly invisible motions that function underneath a virtuoso technique and has helped pianists from all over the world overcome technical limitations, improve tone production and other components of expressive playing, as well as cure playing-related injuries. (Golandsky Institute)

​Lecture topics include:
  • Lost in Neverland (Why So Many Students Get Stuck at the Sonatina Level—and How to Guide Them Beyond It)
  • The Need for Speed: Identifying the Enemies of Speed (The Invisible Brakes – finger curling, isolation, twisting and misalignment)
  • Preventing Heller's Avalanche (Untangling the Passages in Intermediate Repertoire That Bury Most Students)
  • Astound With Sound (The Art of Tone, Voicing, and Color at the Piano)
  • If Hanon Worked, We'd All Be Virtuosos (Debunking the Myth of Finger Independence)
  • No Pain is Your Gain (Common Causes of Playing-Related Pain and Injury) 
  • Pianist in Motion (An Introduction to The Piano Method Series by Amy Aberg McLelland, NCTM)
  • Fat Cat, Scaredy Cat, and Balanced Cat (The Relaxation Myth)
(Alternate title):
  • The Goldilocks Principle of Piano Technique (Why Technique Is Neither Relaxation nor Tension)
  • Lessons from a Dog - Why Every Teacher Should Try Something New (Remembering what it feels like to be a beginner—and how learning new skills can transform the way we teach.)
  • The Art of Effortless Playing: Where Sound and Motion Become One (While piano technique involves the study of motion governed by the principles of physics, anatomy, and mechanical efficiency, it is not mechanical in spirit. The purpose of coordinated motion at the keyboard is not simply to produce notes, but to embody musical sound. In truly effortless playing, motion and sound are inseparable—each shaping and informing the other.)
  • Beyond Soft and Loud (How Coordinated Technique Unlocks Voicing, Tone Color, Phrase Shaping, and the Dimensions of Musical Sound)
  • ​Ten Racehorses Pulling a Freight Train? (Debunking the Finger-Independence Tradition)
  • Gravity - It's Not Just a Good Idea, It's the Law (The Universal Physical Laws That Govern Piano Technique - Whether we are from Egypt or China, male or female, beginner or virtuoso, all pianists must ultimately work within the same physical realities of gravity, anatomy, and motion.
  • Pop the Bubble. Drop the Ball (Rethinking Technique from the First Lesson)
  • You Don't Have to Go to New Orleans to Play the Blues (Teaching Blues Improvisation from the Very First Lesson)
  • Healthy Hands for the Digital Age - A practical session on typing, devices, and everyday hand use—laptops, phones, scissors, chopsticks… bring anything (except a bowling ball).
  • A Tube of Lipstick for Chopin - How an accidental discovery revealed one of the hidden motions of virtuoso piano technique. (One of the most important discoveries about piano technique did not happen in a practice room. It happened when Dorothy Taubman reached across the keyboard for a tube of lipstick and noticed a natural motion of the hand and arm that pianists had long overlooked. That motion--in and out—reveals one of the hidden keys to coordinated virtuosity at the keyboard. Had Chopin known this discovery, he might have loved C major just as much as B major.)
  • Introduction to The Taubman Approach (Principles, benefits, and ten practical take-home tips for teaching, playing, and everyday hand use.)
  • The Tip of the Iceberg (Discovering What Lies Beneath Legato Playing)
  • The Choreography of Specific (Lecture Recital) on such works as Chopin's Étude Op. 25, No. 6, in G-sharp minor; Debussy's Ce cu'a vu le vent d'oest (What the west wind saw); Haydn Sonatas; select Beethoven Sonatas; Confrey's Kitten on the Keys; and many more.
​Lectures range from 1-3 hours and include video clips, photographs, and live demonstrations, It is possible to incorporate the lecture with a masterclass/technic clinic, and/or recital lecture-demonstration to create an all-day or half-day event.