Seymour: An Introduction

documentary   d/Ethan Hawke

This was an odd film: an outright deification of Seymour Bernstein, who worked as a concert pianist until age 50 then spent his tine and energy teaching young people. He came across as soft-spoken, filled with a sense of self-importance and somewhat dictatorial in his teaching methods. His interpretation of what was ambiguous on a score was the only correct one. Conform or else.

The chink in his godhood was when he stated all children should be forced to study and practice a musical instrument an hour a day whether or not they had any interest, talent or wanted to. Really? Who thinks like this? Like being force-fed religion as a child this notion would guarantee that some children would develop a life-long hatred of music and the music world.

And where is blues, reggae, gamelan, etc, etc... This only deals with old music - which undeniably has some lovely pieces but also a ton of bombastic meaningless rubbish which should be eased down the memory hole.

Be careful who or what you elevate to sainthood...especially if he's still around to contradict your essential premise.

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