Throughout his life Bernstein committed himself to communicating what he had learned through his own scholarship. Whether conducting an orchestra, leading a master class, or creating a lecture series, he was forever searching for new ways to guide his students.

While serving as conductor of the New York Philharmonic, he developed two immensely popular and critically acclaimed television series, Young People's Concerts and Omnibus, enabling a television audience not only to experience great music, but also to explore it along with him. His approach to teaching-inspired by his own artistic process-began with the posing of questions, followed by an invitation to explore how the questions might be answered. Bernstein frequently referred to other creative works in a process of inquiry and discovery, culminating with a final reflection upon the music.

Bernstein was nominated sixty-three times by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS), receiving sixteen GRAMMY Awards in addition to the Lifetime Achievement GRAMMY in 1985. The Recording Academy recognized Leonard Bernstein as; "A talent for all seasons...a conductor, composer, pianist, educator and great communicator, and a prolific recording artist with more than 300 albums to his name."

In Bernstein's belief system we should all be encouraged to examine the facets of human experience that excite us personally, and then to express the results of that inquiry with passion. Near the end of his life Bernstein decided to devote his time to education. He wrote, "My decision has been, without too much difficulty, to spend most of the remaining energy and time the Lord grants me with education, sharing as much as I can with young people."