Twelve Metaphors to Help You Understand Taubman Technique on a Body Level
The arm is the car and the fingers are the passengers
As you sit in the passenger seat of a car, you don’t strain your body forward to get to your destination, do you? Of course not! You trust the car to get you where you need to go. However, passengers do use their bodies and hands for smaller things that have nothing to do with getting somewhere. So, maybe as you drive you notice the kids in the back seat gesturing, poking at each other, absorbed in their devices (oy!).
The message behind the metaphor: Your arm is very well outfitted to get you where you need to go at the piano. Let it do its job, encourage your fingers not to strain forward in ill-conceived attempts to get to their destination faster than the arm brings them. Rather, tune up your arm to get you where you need to go most efficiently. Then your fingers and hand will figure out what small, non-strenuous movements might help crisp things up in the music.