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This research examines what can be learned about healthy virtuosity through embodying the Taubman Approach, applying the principles to compelling music making, and teaching across a range of pedagogical settings. The indivisable relationship of technical principles to artistry is discusssed, through applying Taubman principles to particular interpretative and performance contexts. Additionally, various issues relating to teaching this technical approach are unpacked, including issues pertaining to retraining injured pianists, teaching children, and transferring Taubman principles to computer use and playing stringed instuments. Insights into training to become a Taubman teacher are uncovered through a reflective examination of the author's learning process, contexualised by the broader literature, and positioned by the ethnographic and autoethnographic approaches chosen. David Kolb's Experiential Learning Model forms the theoretical framework, underlined by James Zull's research into the biology of learning. The four learning stages of embodying, analysing, teaching, and reflecting inform the research at all levels.

The problem was to investigate current thoughts concerning the beginning piano class at the college level, Data were collected from published and unpublished materials from 1964 to 1976. It was found that class piano instruction usually occurs in a three- to four-semester sequence, with classes meeting from two to five periods per week, containing from four to twenty-five students. Classification of students is by interview, placement test, and/or audition. Varying room arrangements are used with either conventional or electronic pianos, plus a variety of audio-visual equipment, Course content, with varying emphases, includes sight-reading, functional skills, technique, and repertoire. Teaching techniques used are numerous and varying. Recommendations were submitted for administrators, teachers, and researchers.

The purpose of this study was to ascertain what competencies professional accompanists and accompanying teachers deem sufficiently important to be included at some point in the development of a professional accompanist. Research problems were formulated to determine what differences exist between opinions of teachers and professionals regarding necessary skills in preparation of accompanists in (1) pianistic skills, (2) accompanying skills, (3) vocal skills, (4) linguistic skills, (5) knowledge of repertoire, (6) understandings in human relationships, and (7) other competencies. Data were collected by means of a validated questionnaire containing items grouped into the seven categories listed above. It was sent to twenty professional accompanists and thirty-one schools offering accompanying degrees. Seventy per cent of the professionals and 84 per cent of the schools responded. Each competency was rated first for its relative importance to a professional accompanist and then for its appropriate place in the sequence of an accompanist's preparation. A chi square comparison of responses of the two groups regarding the importance of each competency showed virtually no significant differences. Responses on appropriate stages of training were not treated statistically.