Seymour Bernstein: Chopin & Pedagogy (Interview)

Watch Seymour Bernstein teach the music of Beethoven, Schumann, and more - exclusively on tonebase!
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From his nest on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, legendary pedagogue Seymour Bernstein is joined by tonebase Head of Piano Ben Laude for an interview at his faithful Steinway.
Bernstein shares his thoughts on the role of teachers in a student’s personal journey with music and offers simple but powerful insights into natural, effortless use of the arm in piano playing.
In the closing minutes the interview transforms, and Seymour offers Ben a jewel-like lesson on Chopin’s intoxicating First Nocturne on how to unify musical and physical gesture into one.
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[@ReneClementCruz]

"Well, I was Chopin. There's no reason to get confused." Hahahahaha.

[@m.a.3322]

I love how Seymour is constantly trolling his pupils 😂

[@Cypsky]

But so gently! He really is adorable. You will try but you cannot!! I love what he said about those damaging teachers that actually harm their pupils.

[@TanomaruPianoAcademy]

I love that too! Trolling yet so kind!

[@santiagochris9022]

instablaster...

[@liedersanger1]

It’s not trolling, it’s teaching.

[@ThDjHe]

The best kinds of teachers do that !

[@felixporras1791]

This video is a real treasure! Seymour interviewed by Ben. An amazing duo. But it goes beyond the technique itself. It is about the philosophy of teaching. The encounter of two generations approaching the way Chopin used to play. Thank you so much guys for this wisdom transmitted to all.

[@catherinekyngdon327]

Love these master classes with Seymour Bernstein. He's brought back the magic of piano playing to those starved of experienced and knowledgeable teachers. So many pianists today sound like they are rote playing groups of notes and rushing to finish pieces, often insulting and assaulting the music in their impatience to leave the stage. What a delight to hear Mr Bernstein and listen to his soothing words and great advice.

[@organman52]

You're crazy.

[@catherinekyngdon327]

@@organman52 Perhaps you're a similar sort of pianist I have described?

[@mateuszkozieja7537]

@@organman52 why is that?

[@tomgutierrez7573]

Ben Laude is an exemplary interviewer - thank you Ben!

[@grayboywilliams]

“Were you anybody in between Chopin and Seymour” “No, it’s enough to be Chopin.” 😂

[@aramfingal]

I'm addicted to Seymour. He is a genius communicator. I feel like if he was teaching me piano when I was an adolescent I wouldn't have given up on it when I did.

[@organman52]

You need help.

[@GourSmith]

@@organman52 😂

[@waeruo]

I think the same!

[@MusicLover-oe3ig]

"You will try, but you cannot." I know I cannot, but I will try! Thank you both so much for this wonderful lesson!!!

[@Vigula]

The difference in the execution of the nocturne at 18:20 and then after the lesson on the dynamic is the difference between night and day - jaw dropping - brought a tear to my eye 🥲

[@mr.winter3174]

What nocturne is it exactly though? Trying to find the sheet...

[@SlayPlenty]

@@mr.winter3174 op9. no1 bflat major

[@fannileets1543]

​@@mr.winter3174op. 1 in Bb minor

[@DavesMusicTube]

​@@mr.winter3174opus 9 no. 1

[@dustinpowell6507]

@@mr.winter3174you will try but you cannot.

[@martinihenry9792]

Didn't expect him to be that funny at the beginning 😂

[@JaxonBurn]

This is just an absolute font of creative usefulness. I can’t believe how lucky we are to have access to something like this.

[@organman52]

Oh you poor soul.

[@JaxonBurn]

@@organman52Alright, I’ll bite. Why?

[@organman52]

@@JaxonBurn In a word - pretense.

[@JaxonBurn]

@@organman52 and your comments are- in a word- vapid. I should have trusted my initial instinct which was to ignore you. More fool me.

[@Blueyoutoo1245]

As a classical guitar student I take so much from this. The nuance of tension and letting your wrist and fingers loose, especially starting with the shoulders. Taking a moment to breathe deep before a piece gives so much more control and thus emotionally. Fantastic lesson. It takes such an awareness of your body to play well

[@dennisdeemii]

I am just like you. I am a singer and conductor but I learn equally from watching masterclasses like this. I play a little piano but i do not study enough to become a serious pianist.

[@excalibur05]

Same here, I’m learning a transcription of this nocturne on the guitar and a lot of the principles are universal

[@jameslippincott7440]

It’s amazing how powerful his playing is. It’s beauty is not dampened by age.

[@firebird2]

As so many have already said - What a gift to be part of these lessons! Art is not an "extra" subject it is the most important subject; an expression of all we learn and feel.

[@fisherbredrup]

I know the man personally and he is truly a good person with a brilliant imagination

[@Zhinarkos]

What they are discussing is, I think, really the base of all the troubles and/or ease when it comes to piano playing. How do you apply weight, which muscles do you activate more, which less, how much, when to release, where to be firmer, where to be looser - this is the thing that will cause you the most stress and unevenness while playing because without knowing all of this you lose consistency. You have no frame of reference what form and action will, for the most part, produce the best results. I always think there's a lot of great advice out there, *if* you have a problem or an extreme that fits them. It's not that conflicting advice about method is wrong, e. g. "play with your fingers" vs "play with your arm weight", it's advice that's designed to solve a problem when the conditions are so and so. It's not universal advice. Because the bottom line is that it's not *just* this or *just* that. It's both. It's a bit of everything. And the advice is trying to put into words something that needs to be felt, and moreover, something that's incredibly nuanced and flowing. I like Taubman approach for instance not because it's "about rotation" or "about playing with your arm weight" but because all of that advice, rotation, playing with your fingers hand and forearm as a unit, all of it is a tool. It's a set of specific movements that inhibits certain muscle activation and supports other activation. A more efficient way for you to discover "Oh, so that's how it feels. Oh wow, I didn't realize that you could play the piano without feeling this awful tension. And I can remain accurate despite increasing the tempo, hmm why didn't I know this before? This feels right". After that the tools, the rotations and big floppy movements get minimized and become less relevant because they are only means to an end. Most self-taught pianists probably at a certain skill threshold discover this through experimentation and through the need to minimize stress and straining. So for the most part it feels very arduous and gradual. You can literally spend decades playing inefficiently even if you actively decide to improve your method.

[@Clavichordist]

I studied with one of Mr. Bernstein's students. It's amazing hearing the same things. The thing is, as I've discovered over the years, that there isn't a single shoe that fits all here. There are times when we want a crisp, firm technique for scales, trills, and glistening passages, yet at the same time we need the opposite perhaps in another passage or set against the soft subsurface. Like a lot of things that require different methods and techniques, knowing when to use what comes with experience. At the same time, we also have what I've referred to as carryover techniques that are shared between different kinds of playing such as being relaxed. When I was at my peak, I was able to produce thunderous FFFs and contrast instantly with sudden a ppp, not that anything was written to do that. I did this all without stiffening my fingers and all the while being totally relaxed. The use of arm weight instead of fingers to produce the loudest sounds, produces the thunderous FF without that harsh brittle sound we hear so often when fingers are used alone.

[@andrewsmith4356]

Thank you for this, and thank you for playing at the end, so we could see a bit of the principles in action.

[@SENTIENT.7]

I loved every minute of this and I am a 52 year old who just started piano 3 months ago!

[@salirenses]

One of the issues addressed in this video is resolved, in my opinion, with a phrase that is used in Portugal, "iron hands in velvet gloves". I used to tell some riding students to go home and at night when they lay down and were almost falling asleep, imagine the movement they had difficulty with and visualize that movement applied correctly. Usually, the next day it was as if they had known this move for years.

[@michaelscott9040]

The humand mind is unbelievable, and seeing these masters at work is truly a blessing.

[@Dragunov1185]

Always in love with these talks. So valuable for an amateur like myself to learn from people just being people while playing piano.

[@jonathanyunger2073]

You are both remarable in what you do and Seymour is indeed a treasure. Thank you for this and all your videos. PS I'm not a pianist or a musician, but I love these videos.

[@Boldstrummer]

This is where the deep magic comes from. The control of nuance. A tremendous lesson. Now how to apply to the guitar . . .

[@DjangoThunders]

Let me know if you find that video! I have had so much trouble with the muscles around the scapula. I have been concentrating on classical guitar since Covid started, and that is when the tension started.

[@andy-simmons]

Wonderful discussion. Love this.

[@chenwu9867]

He’s the…only and safest one to watch on tonebase all the time

[@chrissinger24]

These cheeky lessons are ones that I miss from my late professor in his 90s. He was one of the first people to graduate with a master’s degree at Juilliard.

[@cliveparaschis]

The gentle ribbing is heart-warming

[@rosechen5978]

Amazing teaching just in that two measures!

[@yahyamhirsi]

Hey Rose! Nice to see you here haha

[@rosechen5978]

@@yahyamhirsi ha ha! Nice to see you here!

[@Aibhi_B]

I have returned to this video so many times just to hear the 15-30 seconds (if you jump around to the developments) of your take on the Op. 9 No. 1 opening. The intimacy, love, place, reminiscence... Sublime.

[@plenilunium]

18:25 I was just smoking in my garden whilst studying Chopin with my headphones on. When you started playing a wave of chills intertwined with goosebumps engulfed me. I feel alive, merci ♡

[@khole15]

I love this guy Seymore, and i am not even a piano student or teacher. Such charisma and humor

[@joakimsafstrom8405]

Fantastic lesions from Bernstein, hope there is a lot more beginner stage.

[@nonono275]

thank you for these absolute gems!!

[@robinkrop9404]

I don't think we usually do figure out technique ourselves. There are a lot of injured pianists, including famous ones. It wasn't until I studied ergonomic playing with a teacher that I could play more comfortably without hurting myself. The Balance Center in Palo Alto CA taught the alignment of the body for sitting, combined with the Taubman technique for the upper body. The goal is to have a very upright body to support the playing. We first stand upright with all bones aligned. Then we bend over the keyboard and sit down still leaning the upper body forward where the torso meets the body (keep a straight back and neck), then slide our feet forwards to be at 90 degrees to our upper legs, slide ourselves evenly forward on the bench, then come up to 90 degree sitting so as to be more present to the keyboard instead of having a C curve in our back which takes us away from the keyboard. Do a shoulder roll forward, up, back and down to bring each shoulder down. Drop the head down and bring it back up from the base so that the neck looks straight. When we look at a player sideways on the bench, they should look very upright. We then play the keyboard from our elbows, since we can use the weight of our arms that way to make more natural sound. We need to be sitting level to the keys. I use carpet pads to put people at their right level on the bench. Anything firm to raise people to their correct height on the bench will work. The goal is to have the elbows level to the keys so we can land our arm weight on the keys. We raise our lower arm and hand with no wrist break and land on the pad of a finger. The thumb lands on the side of the nail. Playing the forehand direction: we land on the little finger, swing the forearm and hand backward as one unit with no wrist break, then bring them forward and land on the side of the thumb by the nail. Then land the little finger and land on the pad of the 2nd finger, then to the 3rd finger, then to the 4th finger. Then land the 4th finger, and swing the forearm and hand backward, then swing towards the thumb, same to the 2nd and 3rd fingers. Etc with landing on the rest of the fingers and swinging them. Playing the backhand direction: we land on the thumb, swing the hand and forearm backwards, then swing back and land on the 5th finger. Repeat with landing on the rest of the fingers. Then land on the 2nd finger and repeat the backhand swing to each of the other fingers. Then do it with the 3rd and 4th fingers. This combo of landing from the elbow and swinging the hand from one note to the next makes for much more sound and much easier playing and takes the injury out of playing. My email is [e-mail] if anyone wants to discuss further.

[@Microplastics2]

While playing octaves do you tense up your hand and wrist?

[@JohannnesBrahms]

Forget your hands and arms and develop a relationship with the key. The key will tell you how it wants to be touched.

[@findelka1810]

it is entirely possible to figure it out by yourself. If you listen to your body, it tells you clearly when the movements are wrong: you’ll have pain. If you keep listening, you won’t force playing in a way that causes pain.If you listen to the best pianists, you will know what type of sound you want to produce. If you listen to the sound you produce, you can change it until you like it. It is very useful for pianists to try to sing or play on a string instrument, then try to reproduce the bel canto on the piano. If you follow that road, sooner or later you do succeed. Chopin was self-taught. Anyone can be self-taught right, even if not at the level of a genius or a concert pianist, but you can succeed producing the most beautiful sound without effort.

[@martinlawrence8427]

What a fabulous treat...Seymour has a tremendous sense of humour amongst the pearls of wisdom!

[@PeterGrey86]

a small detail: Rubinstein told Pollini that little "lesson" about the weight spontaneously, after the end of the Chopin competition that Pollini had just won, as Pollini himself said in multiple occasions.

[@gabelonguinhos]

:D

[@lawrencetaylor4101]

Interesting discussion, especially about the shoulder. I happen to have special knowledge, since I was a Chiropractor who had a shoulder injury, and then sufferred a medical error after the first of my operations. Now I live with a FURS syndrome. But I developed many techniques for the shoulder and arm, since to continue working treating patients, I had to adapt. I've tried to teach them here in Switzerland, but most people don't have the strength in their hands. I developed that strength with this technique. Which made my transition to playing the piano after my retirement a blessing since I had finger strength. But the coordination...Meine Mutter. I will have a video out soon for exercises and self-treatments a pianist can do. You'd be surprised at the connections of the shoulder to the body. Stay tuned. The video is out. Oh My Aching Bach

[@gajofre]

He Oozes wisdom, amazing.

[@corgisrule21]

I started playing and taking lessons when I was 4 and was about 5 years in when my teachers even mentioned the wrists…I never heard a word about shoulders, even as a performance major through college. I’m sure I learned many bad habits as my wrists hurt most of the time (and I don’t play at all compared to what I used to). I was always compliments for my hand position, but I was always so TENSE…it even went up to my jaw and it would be so painful after a big recital cause I would just clench the whole time (and sometimes not breathe much lol) and I even started doing it during practice, cause I’d be so stressed about the recital 😂 I want to start up again though, cause I’ve missed it for so long, so I’m glad I watched this and got some tips from Seymour as well as more motivation💖☺️ I love this channel so much!

[@remyvegamedia]

This is such an interesting channel to have run into. Found it this week. I'm a late starter on piano and started in the jazz tradition. I'm just now learning classical music and techniques. Seymour is such a captivating teacher and Ben is great. I was thinking, "oh, these ideas remind me of a book I read a couple years ago," and grabbed it from the shelf and had no idea it was Seymour's book the whole time haha. I'm well versed in rhythmic, harmonic, and melodic theory, but some of these details of these videos are so different from my background. Thank you for the wisdom!

[@emlynjessen2957]

Wonderful teaching!

[@mhs1305]

What I observed is that if your teacher is a musician, especially Chopin, their style and tone will transfer to their pupil's hands. Seymour is really nice. Constance, my teacher was brought with the Leopold Godowsky w&R technique. She was with the Los Angeles Master Choral and the Los Angeles Philharmonic also. God was good here! Thanks, Mr.Bernstein i enjoy

[@et1908]

I love it!

[@rolanda.2653]

I play no piano, but guitar, yet I an mesmerized by the approach to the instrument and technique. Invaluable, thank you!

[@donquixote8462]

I play both. It's a great way to come up with new ideas since the layout is so different

[@rolanda.2653]

@@donquixote8462 yeah, the layout is so plain compared to the guitar neck. Maybe I will pick it up

[@locojuanca]

Seymour is incredible.

[@djsaucylady]

These tips are actually going to change my piano playing forever 😮

[@DjangoThunders]

This is making me miss my mentors, so many of them are gone now. I am now the mentor to many.

[@manuelinopampa9646]

La armonía que existe entre ambos es arrolladora!!! gracias 🎉💐💐💐💐💐

[@logansisson5949]

Wish I'd learned piano when I was younger, both gentlemen are enlightening

[@rubinsteinway]

Great interview

[@susanchemm9391]

Thank you for wonderful videos and very important subject of playing piano!!!

[@yjesko1]

Love it! Thank you!

[@conniewhitlockmusic]

Love love love this

[@fg87fgd]

What a wonderful person.

[@xiesarah7038]

thanks for sharing ,that is so beautiful

[@gofriller1710]

I love how he approaches music and teaching, but I can not believe what he says about János Starker. Starker always had a solution for his students. If he said something discouraging he would always give you a solution for the problem. It is ok not to like another musician, but Starker was by all means a great teacher and artist and all of us who had the great luck to learn from him are accompanied by his teaching for the rest of our lives.

[@josephinebrown6631]

Thank you kindly.

[@benedictdsilva3954]

Thank you...So much to learn...

[@marirogers0153]

awesome. just fabulous…i didn t know this could be found here. you both have helped me so much.

[@jonathanwyman3869]

Wow. Thank you for this master class on the subtleties of music. This will be useful as a guitarist as much as pianist

[@mabdub]

This video was really great fun to watch and incredibly informative. Thank you both.

[@wuyipiano]

Amazing, thanks for sharing.

What a phantastic teacher!

[@johnschlesinger2009]

Magical!

[@jmisolis]

This man needs to be protected at all costs!

[@leereichel2785]

Thanks!

[@Deutre08]

There are videos of Jorge Bolet in a Masterclass, on Liszt Benediction de Dieu dans la solitude, whit similar estetic propositions such as: repeted notes in a melodic line, emphatize, how to think and build melodic lines (negative dinamic action as a resource to emphatize... love that!!). thanks for your videos!!

[@itsjudystube7439]

All this talk of technique is new to me apart from one teacher who encouraged me to curl my fingers over and play as if I was holding a walnut in the palm of my hand. That didn’t suit my hand and a later teacher altered it again.

[@axelsohn1454]

Beautiful video. Not only is the physical 'choreography' he discusses very applicable to string playing, but also it is Mr. Bernstein's nuanced phrasing bringing out the poetry of the music. As for his comment about Starker, the anecdote he cites may be correct, but the many videos on KZbin of his teaching and interviews with him show something very different. IMHO however, the videos of Harvey Shapiro and Paul Tortelier master class teaching are the very best re: music making on the cello.

[@karon8537]

That's some chopin wisdom 🎶✨

[@johnbanach3875]

How can you not love this man? (And I'm not even a pianist.)

[@hcb9450]

Because he isn't lovable. He is arrogant, smarmy, self aggrandizing, irritating and pompous.

[@magmasunburst9331]

Over 100,000 views in two years, that's a hopeful sign.

[@noeldacosta7621]

Masterful.

[@gabelonguinhos]

thank you so much for this

[@safarygirl]

Just Great!

[@zuzanaSimurdova]

Wonderful! I love this maestro*

[@irmelistehager5043]

love him

[@paolomasone3754]

this is great! is there a parallel video for classical guitarists?

[@angelikakutscher4223]

What beautiful instrument is this

[@Lou.B]

Great, great stuff.

[@brianbillion3825]

Great and informative interview Ben!!

[@angiola2409]

Wonderful.... very inspiring!

[@hsfpiano1989]

Wonderful and inspiring.

[@metteholm4833]

Love him! .... and, WOW, - Arcimedes was wise!

[@edwardtoal]

my piano teacher immediately addressed the mechanics of the shoulder, arms, elbows, wrists and hands before I learned a single note - the fingers were the least important in that sense. we did stretching and strengthening exercises as if we were in a gym and I wondered if she was crazy! I soon realised she knew exactly what she was doing and her powers of observation blew my mind. we never forget great teachers.

[@militaryandemergencyservic3286]

i am from the Lechitizky school!

[@luckyWaiting]

I would like Seymour to tell us about Alexander Brailowsky, a pianist unjustly forgotten by most.

[@josecubela9642]

Love, love these videos!! I am so glad that the Matthay principles were mentioned- something that is overlooked by many, or others have taken credit for.

[@JohannnesBrahms]

Matthay points very well to the solution but the task has to be learned on your own. Translating his concepts into practice leads you to the secret but does not reveal it to you.

[@pphedup]

He is TOO KOOL!

[@daniellu8282]

Firmness and looseness is time variant.

[@annachepikovaconcertpianis791]

Wonderful 👏🎹

[@flonzaley6092]

Great respect to the charisma and phenomenal ability to teach of Prof. Bernstein, but the claim he makes about the alleged smaller stretch of the Pleyel pianos is quite inaccurate, or at the best very much exaggerated.

[@nunyabusiness8538]

in what ways? if the keys are smaller then they’re smaller

[@flonzaley6092]

@@nunyabusiness8538 They are not smaller to the extent described by Professor Bernstein. Try playing on a Pleyel of that date and you'll see.

[@JohannnesBrahms]

@@flonzaley6092 "The pianos from this era are very different from the modern piano. The sound is not as loud, the action lighter, and the keys smaller. The octave span is narrower, and the key dip is eight millimetres, compared to ten millimetres on a modern piano." Marcel Lapointe 2012

[@DaGoatChannel01]

But like....I totally believe him when he says he was Chopin in a past life

[@JohnSmith-oe5kx]

Around 19:00, "too much on the same dynamic" is just a matter of taste. Ben's version had lots of "shape", it was just much more subtle than Seymour likes. And notice how Seymour's notes seem to get later and later (more and more rubato) correlative with their softness. Perhaps he does not play that way in performance, but that is what he is demonstrating, and he seems to like it when Ben recreates it. But I preferred the version Ben played originally...

[@wayfarer1101]

"What can you do with Chopin except be poetic?" 😅😂🤣😂🤣

[@NikolaosEnmetanoia]

Just amazing enlightening knowledge! God bless you both.

[@craigadam]

A beautiful man.

[@rogerg4916]

Chopin's keyboard was only 7/8 the size of the modern keyboard? I never knew that. So now students are expected to play his music on a keyboard for which it was never conceived. Could Chopin have played his own music on the modern keyboard? Assuming he could, by stretching and straining, would he have approved its adoption as the standard? I don't think so.

[@brianbuch1]

I'm grateful for the larger size keyboards. As it is, I have difficulty getting my fingers between the black keys, and thus tend to play at the very ends of the keys instead of in the middle. With age, my fingers are a bit slimmer, but it's still and issue.

[@gabelonguinhos]

I have to imagine the evolving of key size was acoustically motivated, and if Chopin could experience a big loud round precise clear even 21st century grand, he might be willing to concede that the extra sound could be worth the technical adaptations. but then again, maybe not

[@paulmetdebbie447]

People also grew larger since 200 years.

[@nandoflorestan]

Hand size doesn’t count. Just ask Alicia de Larrocha.

[@hellbooks3024]

@@nandoflorestan you’re right. Tiny.

[@dkinney1000]

piano technicians take note: voicing the piano is vital.

[@arlinpena4739]

Nooooo its finished??? Where is the rest????

[@PassionPno]

Subscribe to Tonebase than you can watch the full lesson.