Last week, the piano world lost the American pianist, composer, teacher, and author Seymour Bernstein at the age of 99.

In this special episode of The Piano Pedagogy Playlist, I reflect on Bernstein’s extraordinary life and legacy — not only as a concert artist, but as one of the great master teachers of American piano pedagogy.

Although Bernstein enjoyed a successful performing career, he made the remarkable decision at the age of fifty to step away from the concert stage permanently, devoting himself instead to teaching, composing, and writing. He never seemed to view teaching as something lesser than performing. In many ways, he appeared to see it as the deeper artistic calling.

I also share some thoughts on Ethan Hawke’s beautiful documentary Seymour: An Introduction, which offers a moving portrait of Bernstein’s artistic philosophy, humanity, and lifelong devotion to music.

The second half of the episode features a miniature recital of four pieces from Bernstein’s collection Birds:

• The Purple Finch
• The Hummingbird
• The Vulture
• The Nightingale

These impressionistic character pieces beautifully showcase Bernstein’s gift for writing imaginative, expressive, and pianistically satisfying music for students.

— Remembering a musician who devoted his life not only to piano playing, but to the people learning to play. —