Uploaded June 2022 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago

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Making music, or any kind of art, demands talent and soul — but often, as musicians, we get the balance wrong. In this video essay I look at a couple of quotes from Stephen Sondheim that explores what talent and soul actually are, the balance between the two, how one serves the other, and ultimately how soul (maybe) matters more.

Special thanks to Sarah Beecroft — instagram.com/sarah_a_bee_ — for playing Chopin with a one-eyed pug on her knee.

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Photo credits: Shutterstock (Anton Ivanov, EQRoy, catwalker); Pexels (Adam Fackelman, Michael Scott, Caleb Oequendo and others); Adobe Stock (olly); Wikimedia Commons

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