If you need a book suggestion that will warm your heart, help you love being a music teacher and inspire you to practice with new meaning, I have a book for you. The book is Play Life More Beautifully by Seymour Bernstein. I purchased multiple copies and gave them out as Christmas presents. The book is a printed interview with a dear friend of his. I was touched by Seymour’s grace and inspired by his love of music. His entire life has been lived through the lens music provided him. 

It is the story of his dance of life. He discovered how to interpret his life, through the process of interpreting music. He creates a relationship with what he feels in the music he has decided to play. He comes to understand with his mind what the composer has communicated through the score down to the smallest detail. His feelings and intellect merge into one working with the music. Then he moves to making a connection with the mechanics of his instrument and his hands so that his body learns to move as one with his emotions and brain. We would call that practice at an extraordinarily high level. Ultimately, he arrives at a “spiritual reservoir” that he uses to nurture his ability to integrate the spiritual, emotional and physical worlds. It’s present in the music, but his approach allows the musician to reproduce it on the instrument and ultimately in their life. If asked whether music teaches him how to live, or living teaches him how to play, he would respond, “Both.” 

”Teaching students to play an instrument is a precise way of truly communicating the essence of music.” The best teachers model how to learn, and he is legendary at it. I believe the love of learning and growing in your art and life is what makes us look forward to each new day, and lets us look back with an awe and appreciation for where we’ve been. 

Seymour’s friend and interviewer, Andrew Harvey, pointed out to Seymour, “You’re teaching how to come into a spontaneous disciplined abandon that enables you to respond subtly and immediately to whatever arises.” I read that comment over many times, letting the meaning sink in. No wonder we need music in our lives. No wonder we need to teach others. We are doing so much more than teaching someone to play their instrument. “They have to learn to be interpreters of life, not just interpreters of music.“ Learning how to play an instrument is learning how to play life with your full being.”

NWSMTA’s library has another book by Seymour Bernstein you might be interested in; With Your Own Two Hands – Self-Discovery through Music. I cannot wait to read it. 

Ethan Hawkes created a documentary of Seymour’s life. The documentary is called, Seymour: An Introduction. It would be lovely to enjoy watching this film with a few colleague friends. 

There are many YouTube videos of Seymour Bernstein teaching, speaking and playing online. It is amazing to see how well he does teaching virtually in his nineties. I am in awe and inspired. His melodies come from pure love. I was teaching my nine-year-old student, Anahita, this week and listening to her make the piano sing. I told her I had something very important to tell her. She waited to hear what I would say, as did her mother. I shared with her that she her soft passages have a multitude of colors in them, and I enjoyed every one of them. I asked her to remember to share them with others when she plays for them. I find myself spending time practicing or teaching with all of myself present. Every student deserves that and their chance to develop it for themselves.