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MENC: The National Association for Music Education

Leonard Bernstein's Educational LegacyAuthor(s): Brian D. RozenReviewed work(s):Source: Music Educators Journal, Vol. 78, No. 1, Special Focus: School Restructuring and MusicEducation (Sep., 1991), pp. 43-46

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eonard

; /

ernstein

s

s^^

W ^ b

ducaon

egac

by

Brian

D. Rozen

Althoughewas

best

known

as a conductor, eonard

Bernstein

asalso

a

gifted

music

eacher.

rian

.

Ro-

zen

paints

sensitive

ortrait

of

oneof

America's

ost

well

rounded

usicians.

T

he passing of Leonard Bern-

stein at the

age

of

72 on

October

14,

1990,

left a void

in the music

world

that

may

never

be

filled.

A

giant

among

artists,

Bernstein

distin-

guished

himself

as

a

conductor,

Brian D.

Rozen

is assistant

professor

of

music

and

chairman

of

the

wood-

wind

department

at

Duquesne

Univer-

sity

in

Pittsburgh,

Pennsylvania.

He is

currently

preparing

his doctoral

disser-

tation on "The Contributions

of

Leon-

ard Bernstein to Music Education."

Illustration

by

Thomas Trimborn.

composer, pianist, author, speak-

er,

and

educator.

Constantly

in the

public

eye

and admired

in

all

parts

of the United States and

the

world,

Leonard Bernstein

was a charis-

matic,

articulate

champion

of

all

the

arts,

music

in

particular.

Bernstein

was

praised

through-

out

his life as a

complete

musician.

Although

his critics

believed

that

he had

spread

himself too

thin

among

his

many

musical

activities,

he soon

became

respected

as

a

genius

who

excelled in

many

as-

pects

of his art.

Acknowledgment

MEJ/September

91 43

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of

his

myriad

musical

talents

was

expressed especially

during

his last

years.

Bernstein's love of

teaching

was

certainly

no secret.

The thousands

of

honors bestowed on

him

during

his life and the posthumous tributes

he

received are

filled

with refer-

ences

to Leonard

Bernstein

as

a

gifted

music educator.

The teacher as communicator

Leonard Bernstein

was

active

in

three

areas of

music education:

as a

teacher

of

conducting,

as

a

univer-

sity professor,

and as

a teacher

of

music

awareness,

appreciation,

and

listening.

Bernstein

taught

con-

ducting

at

Tanglewood

for almost

forty

years

and

gave

master

classes

throughout the world. A consum-

mate

communicator,

he influenced

and

guided many

conductors

who

enjoy

current

popularity:

Seiji

Ozawa,

Michael Tilson

Thomas,

and Carl

St.

Clair,

to

name

just

a

few.

Bernstein

taught

at

Brandeis

University

in

Waltham,

Massachu-

setts,

in

the 1950s

(he

even

headed

the

School of

the Creative

Arts

for

a

short

time)

and,

according

to

Joan

Peyser,

was

composer-in-resi-

dence at Indiana University during

part

of

1982.1

His

appearances

in

1973 as the

Charles Eliot Norton

Professor

of

Poetry

are

well-known

and

resulted in a

set of

long-playing

records,

a

film,

and a book on his

theory

of the

universality

of

music,

titled

The

Unanswered

Question.

A

multimedia educator

It

is

for his

teaching

activities

toward the uninitiated in music

that

Leonard Bernstein is

perhaps

best

known

as a

music teacher.

His

ear-

liest educational programs, part of

the

Omnibus

series,

perked

the

ears of

television

critics and the

public

as a

novel,

straightforward,

and

effective manner of

presenting

the

inner

workings

of

music-and

not

just

classical

music;

the seven

Omnibus

programs

that

Bernstein

hosted dealt with Beethoven's

Fifth

Symphony, jazz,

conducting,

LeonardBernstein

hosts

a

"YoungPeople's

Concert,

"

November

30,

1964.

Photograph

courtesy of

Amberson

Enterprises.

the

American musical

comedy,

modern

music,

J. S.

Bach,

and

opera.

For fourteen

years

(1958-

1972),

his

Young People's

Concerts

delighted

and educated

millions of

children

and

adults.2

Bernstein

wrote

books for

children

and

adults

on

the art

of music-The

Joy

of

Music is

perhaps

the best

known;

the 1961

Leonard

Bernstein's

Young

People's

Concerts

for

Read-

ing

and

Listening

is

a worthwhile

edition

for children.

He also

ap-

peared

in

various series

of educa-

tional

movies

highlighting

famous

composers

and

was

even

the fea-

tured

celebrity

in a series of

music

appreciation

records made

avail-

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44

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Bernstein receives a National

Music Award

from

Robert

Campbell,

director

of

the

American

Music

Conference.

The

composer

was

cited

for

his

extraordinary

ability

to communicate the richness

of

music to listeners

of

all

ages.

(File

photo.)

able

through

the Book-of-the-

Month Club.

The

lessons of love

What is it that music

educators

can learn

from

a musical

legend

like

Leonard

Bernstein?

The

Mae-

stro

was

a

lover of

people,

children

in

particular.

Is

this love

of our

teaching

and

of our students

pre-

sent

when

we teach?

Bernstein

was

a

music enthusiast. His love

of

music was never diluted or hidden.

Enthusiasm is

catching,

and excite-

ment

about the sounds

that

we

want

our students to create

can

only

fire their desire to continue

striving

toward

their own musical

erns t e in

w s

m a s t e r

communicator.

H e

u s e d

vocabu lary

t h t m d e

e s y

f o r

t h e

y o u n g

n d

unin i t iated

t

und e r s t a nd

t h e

e s s e n c e

o f

h i s

m e s s a g e .

growth and improvement. (Burn-

out

and

boredom,

unfortunately,

can also

infect a

classroom.)

Bernstein

was a

master

commu-

nicator.

He

used a

vocabulary

that

made it

easy

for

the

young

and the

uninitiated

to understand

the es-

sence

of his

message. Along

with

this

simple, straightforward

com-

munication

style,

he was still able

to offer

insight

to the

musically

sophisticated

and

to

the

profession-

al musician.

How

many

of

us ever

think

about the

use

and refinement

of our

communication skills in our

own

teaching?

Do our

elementary

students

really

understand

what

we

say?

Do we

simply

assume that

they

do? Do we believe

their nod-

ding

heads and lack of raised

hands

when

we ask them if

they

all under-

stand?

Spoken

directives,

explana-

tions

and

illustrations must

be

clear

and at

an

appropriate

level for the

students we

teach. Bernstein com-

manded a

lucid,

flexible vocabu-

lary

and

gave

presentations

pep-

pered with pertinent analogies and

examples.

The

importance

of

musicianship

Bernstein

was

in

touch

with

his

audience. Not

only

did he know

the

jargon

of

his

young

audiences,

he

knew

what

music

they

liked to lis-

ten

to.

He

presentations

were

well

organized,

and he

always gave

;r?\;?.~~:?

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R

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.

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b e

t h e

b e s t

t e a c h e r s

p o s s i b l e ,

w e n e e d t o

b e

t h e

b e s t

mus i c i a n s

w e c n

b e

n o t

t e a c h e r s

w h o

h a p p e n

t o

b e

t e a c h i n g

m u s i c

b u t mus i c i a n s

w h o

spec ia l i ze

in

t h e

r t

o f

t e a c h i n g .

large

numbersof

musical

examples

of the ideas he was

discussing.

He

used

humor

effectively,

both

to

capture the hearts of his listeners

and

to

convey

musical

knowledge.

Bernstein

knew

his

subject,

an

ob-

vious

requisite

of

any

effective

teacher.

True,

mastery

of

pedago-

gy,

methodology,

and

related skills

are

vital for

a

successful

music

teacher,

but

perhaps

Bernstein's

most

important

message

is that

a

music

educator

will

be

a

more

effective

conveyer

of

musical

skill,

knowledge,

and

aesthetic

power

if

he or she is a

stronger

musician.

To

be the best teachers possible, we

need

to be the best

musicians

we

can

be-not teachers

who

happen

to be

teaching

music,

but

musicians

who

specialize

in the

art of teach-

ing.

Finally,

Bernstein

was

a "com-

prehensive

musician."

Not

only

did

he

compose, perform,

and con-

duct

a

variety

of

musical

styles,

he

lectured

about

them

and

taught

them. The

all-encompassing

world

of

music was one

entity

to

him,

and

he

used all of it

throughout

his

musicalcareer.

A

legacy

of

joy

Through

his musical

interpreta-

tions

and his

musical

compositions,

Leonard

Bernstein's

musical

lega-

cy

will

continue. His

masterful

use

of

television,

recording,

and

film

will

allow

us to continue

to

experi-

ence

his

musical

power,

sensitiv-

ity,

and

creativity.

It

may

be

appro-

priate,

with the

closing

of

one

chapter,

to

begin

a new

one:

to

ask

musiceducatorsandthe musicpro-

fession

at

large

to

step

back

and

contemplate

Leonard

Bernstein's

skills as an

effective

music

educa-

tor. With

Lenny

in

our

classrooms

and our music studios, perhapswe

can

better

help

our

students

feel

more

intensely

the

infinite

variety

and

joy

of

music.

The1960s

yielded

number

f books

or

bothchildren

ndadults

on

the

life and

accomplishments

f

Leonard

ernstein.

Unfortunately,

ost

of these

are now

outofprint;hebiographiesreobvious-

ly

dated.

Bernstein

imself

wrote

five

books,

ome of

which

re

still

available.

The

following

re

some

suggestions

of

books

by

and about

Leonard

ernstein

thatwouldbe

of

value

o students

and

teachers nterested

n

Bernstein's

ife

and

accomplishments:

Bernstein,

eonard.

The

Joy

of

Music.

NewYork:

ignet

Books,

1967.

Paperback,

currently

n

print.

Bernstein,eonard.eonard

Bernstein's

oung

eople's

Concerts.

ev.

ed.

New

York:

i-

mon

&

Schuster,

970.

Orig-

inally

itledLeonard

ernstein's

Young eople's

oncerts

or

Reading

nd

Listening1961),

thismarvelous

ourney

nto

mu-

sic is

currently

ut

of

print.

Bernstein,

eonard.

he

nfinite

Variety

f

Music.

NewYork:

Plume

ooks,

970.

Paperback;

nowoutof

print.

Notes

1. Joan

Peyser,

Bernstein.

A

Biography

(New

York:

Beechtree

Books,

1987),

455.

2.

Bernstein's

irst

appearance

on

Omnibus

was in 1954.The Omnibus eriesairedon all

three

major

networks

during

ts

existence;

the

Young

People's

Concerts

were

broad-

cast on

CBS

Television.

Bernstein,

eonard.

heUnan-

sweredQuestion:

ix

Talks t

Harvard.

ambridge:

arvard

Universityress,1981.Paper-

back;

urrently

vailable.

Bernstein,

eonard.

indings.

New

York: imon

&

Schuster,

1982.

Autobiographical;

owout

of

print.

Gottlieb,

ack,

d.

Leonard

Bernstein:

Complete

atalog

of

HisWorks.

ew

York:

alni

Publications,

988.

(Distributed

by

Boosey

nd

Hawkes

s

book

no.

TXB0069

nd

available

or

$15.00 rommusicdealers.)

valuableook

isting

llof

Bern-

stein's

musical

nd

iterary

works,

s

well s

films,

books,

recordings,

ndother

nforma-

tion

by

and

about

Bernstein.

Gradenwitz,

eter.

Leonard

Bernstein,

Biography.

ew

York: t. Martin's

ress,

1984.

Excellent

hronologicaltudy;

currently

vailable.

46

MEJ/September

91

e r n s t e i n

Bookshelf