Piano Studio of Rachel Bussey
Offering piano lessons in Cary, NC, at my home studio!
B.M. in Piano Performance, Northwestern University
Graduate studies in Piano Performance, Indiana University
Certified Teacher of the Taubman Approach, Associate Level, the Golandsky Institute
Graduate studies in Piano Performance, Indiana University
Certified Teacher of the Taubman Approach, Associate Level, the Golandsky Institute
Welcome!
I teach in-person piano lessons in Cary, North Carolina at my home studio and offer online piano lessons to students across the US and internationally. My teaching philosophy centers on making piano study fun and engaging for each student, and ensuring students build a healthy technique that allows them to achieve their musical and artistic goals. I teach beginning, intermediate, and advanced piano students and professional pianists and teachers. I enjoy tailoring the repertoire and focus of my piano lessons to suit each student's interests and strive to give my students a lifelong technical foundation and love of music.
Piano Lessons and the Taubman Approach
In my piano lessons, I specialize in teaching the Taubman Approach. The Taubman Approach promotes a physical ease in playing, frees students from technical limitations, facilitates learning, and provides students with the tools they need for artistic expression. The Taubman work is also well-known for its remarkable ability to heal and prevent repetitive strain injuries at the piano, and has saved the careers of countless pianists and students from around the world, including mine.
"When musicians are injured, they are often offered strategies for recovery that include physical therapy, treatment of pain, and reduction in continuous time practicing. While these approaches can aid in recovery from injury, they do not address the root causes of musicians' injuries: deep-seated technical and postural habits that lead to maladaptive playing patterns that can cause muscular strain or neurological injury. The Taubman approach is a comprehensive method that precisely addresses these root causes of injury, leading not only to recovery, but to prevention of further injury. The student eliminates old 'bad habits' through a practical and detailed approach to solving technical and musical aspects of practice and performance, resulting in an ease and fluidity of playing. But the Taubman approach goes beyond mere injury recovery and prevention: it provides the framework for the development of musical virtuosity and provides a clear path for achieving it. When watching great musicians play, one often marvels at their technical and musical effortlessness. The Taubman approach provides the means for achieving that effortlessness with your own hands."
-Aaron Berkowitz, M.D., Ph.D
Department of Neurology
Brigham and Women's Hospital
Harvard Medical School
Department of Neurology
Brigham and Women's Hospital
Harvard Medical School
"As someone who was injured and thought they would have to give up their passion for playing piano forever, I’m very grateful I found Rachel and the Taubman Approach. Since I’ve started learning the Taubman Approach with Rachel, I have been able to play with ease and freedom while strengthening my technique at the same time. I’m also someone who has smaller hands than the average pianist, and Rachel has helped me learn through the Taubman Approach that it’s possible to navigate the piano without overstretching my hands. Like all things in life, learning the Taubman Approach is a process that takes time, but it’s one with the reward of an injury-free piano career." -Student Testimonial from Olivia C.
For students looking for instruction in the Taubman Approach to facilitate recovery from a piano injury, I offer both in-person piano lessons in Cary, NC at my studio and online lessons for students who are not local to the area. I am happy to offer more detailed information about the process of piano injury recovery through the Taubman Approach. Please click here for more information about the Taubman work, or contact me for a phone consultation.
For students looking for instruction in the Taubman Approach to facilitate recovery from a piano injury, I offer both in-person piano lessons in Cary, NC at my studio and online lessons for students who are not local to the area. I am happy to offer more detailed information about the process of piano injury recovery through the Taubman Approach. Please click here for more information about the Taubman work, or contact me for a phone consultation.
The Taubman Approach Benefits Students of All Ages and Abilities
Who benefits from studying the Taubman Approach?
Of course, the short answer is: everyone! The Taubman approach ensures students develop and maintain a healthy physical relationship to the piano, which has enormous benefits for students at every level. As a result, the Taubman work regularly attracts students of all ages and backgrounds, and I enjoy working with all of them! Below I will discuss the common outcomes I have seen when piano students are introduced to the Taubman work at various points in their piano journey.
How do beginning students benefit from the Taubman approach?
Beginning piano students fall into two categories: young beginners and adult beginners. In my studio, young beginners include children as young as 5 years old through adolescence, while adult beginners include young adults through retirees.
For beginning students of any age, their first impression of the piano will have a profound and lasting impact. In Taubman lessons, I provide beginning students the tools they need to move comfortably at the instrument from the first lesson. Beginners will develop a healthy technical foundation from the very beginning of their study, which allows them to learn faster, learn to practice efficiently, and overcome challenges in their repertoire as they progress.
I believe the Taubman Approach can only be taught in an atmosphere of nurturing, supportive collaboration between the student and the teacher. As both a Taubman teacher and a piano student myself, I know that students succeed when they feel able to ask questions, when they are free to try new things, and when they are having fun! I believe these elements of successful learning are crucial to the study of piano and piano technique, and also provide a model for successful learning and achievement in any area of study.
How do intermediate students benefit from the Taubman approach?
Many intermediate students who are new to my studio come to study the Taubman Approach as a result of issues at the piano they have been trying to solve for a while. Examples include problems with accuracy and speed, feeling certain fingers are “weak,” and frustrating practice where tricky spots aren’t getting fixed no matter how much practice has been put in. These challenges can be causing students frustration at best, and the beginnings of discomfort, pain, or injury at worst.
Students who do not have the information they need to solve such problems often feel they have hit a wall, and may even believe they are not “good enough” or “talented enough” to move past it. It is in these situations I find introducing a student to the Taubman Approach particularly rewarding. Through the Taubman Approach, I strive to give all students the technical tools they need to overcome their physical and musical limitations and discover their true pianistic potential.
How do advanced students and professional pianists benefit from the the Taubman approach?
I was an advanced student when I came to the Taubman work and I really enjoy working with other students who come at this stage. Such students are already aware of what they hope to gain from Taubman lessons. Many are searching for freedom from pain and injury, as I was. Others feel there are gaps in their musical abilities they have been practicing their whole lives to fill. Finding the Taubman Approach not only healed my injuries, but allowed me to reach a higher potential in my own playing and teaching than I had previously thought possible, and it has done the same for many other pianists around the world. I am so grateful to have the opportunity to work with other advanced and professional pianists and teachers as they begin on this joyful path.
Of course, the short answer is: everyone! The Taubman approach ensures students develop and maintain a healthy physical relationship to the piano, which has enormous benefits for students at every level. As a result, the Taubman work regularly attracts students of all ages and backgrounds, and I enjoy working with all of them! Below I will discuss the common outcomes I have seen when piano students are introduced to the Taubman work at various points in their piano journey.
How do beginning students benefit from the Taubman approach?
Beginning piano students fall into two categories: young beginners and adult beginners. In my studio, young beginners include children as young as 5 years old through adolescence, while adult beginners include young adults through retirees.
For beginning students of any age, their first impression of the piano will have a profound and lasting impact. In Taubman lessons, I provide beginning students the tools they need to move comfortably at the instrument from the first lesson. Beginners will develop a healthy technical foundation from the very beginning of their study, which allows them to learn faster, learn to practice efficiently, and overcome challenges in their repertoire as they progress.
I believe the Taubman Approach can only be taught in an atmosphere of nurturing, supportive collaboration between the student and the teacher. As both a Taubman teacher and a piano student myself, I know that students succeed when they feel able to ask questions, when they are free to try new things, and when they are having fun! I believe these elements of successful learning are crucial to the study of piano and piano technique, and also provide a model for successful learning and achievement in any area of study.
How do intermediate students benefit from the Taubman approach?
Many intermediate students who are new to my studio come to study the Taubman Approach as a result of issues at the piano they have been trying to solve for a while. Examples include problems with accuracy and speed, feeling certain fingers are “weak,” and frustrating practice where tricky spots aren’t getting fixed no matter how much practice has been put in. These challenges can be causing students frustration at best, and the beginnings of discomfort, pain, or injury at worst.
Students who do not have the information they need to solve such problems often feel they have hit a wall, and may even believe they are not “good enough” or “talented enough” to move past it. It is in these situations I find introducing a student to the Taubman Approach particularly rewarding. Through the Taubman Approach, I strive to give all students the technical tools they need to overcome their physical and musical limitations and discover their true pianistic potential.
How do advanced students and professional pianists benefit from the the Taubman approach?
I was an advanced student when I came to the Taubman work and I really enjoy working with other students who come at this stage. Such students are already aware of what they hope to gain from Taubman lessons. Many are searching for freedom from pain and injury, as I was. Others feel there are gaps in their musical abilities they have been practicing their whole lives to fill. Finding the Taubman Approach not only healed my injuries, but allowed me to reach a higher potential in my own playing and teaching than I had previously thought possible, and it has done the same for many other pianists around the world. I am so grateful to have the opportunity to work with other advanced and professional pianists and teachers as they begin on this joyful path.