Talent? Work!
Chad Lefkowitz-Brown is an international award-winning saxophonist specialised in jazz and pop. He also works as an educator, both with institutions like the San Francisco Conservatory, and on spaces of his own creation, like the Global Jazz Workshop.
His teaching operates under the idea that what people would call talent, understood as the innate aptitude to do something, can actually be acquired through practise and work. He elaborates on this idea in the clip below, posted on his Instagram page:
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Although there are always nuances to be considered with a statement like this, looking at our learning process under this lens is undoubtedly uplifting. When we stop thinking about certain skills or levels of ability as something inaccessible, or something that you have to be born with (as Chad says, there's no such a thing!), we can work towards acquiring them or adapting them to our ways of express...
Hitting the high notes is amazing, and so are many other things!
The Harvard Opportunes is an all genders a-cappella group associated with the University of Harvard. During one of their performances, vocalist Devon Gates knocked it out of the park singing extremely high notes with fantastic accuracy for the song "Hard Place". You can watch the full performance on YouTube, but this Instagram video has a helpful guide of the specific notes she hits:
Watch on Instagram
When we encounter a moment that highlights so well the skill of one member of a group, we tend to focus only on what that person is doing and even feel a bit discouraged, thinking that if we aren't like that, we'll never get to where we want in music. However, there's no need to be an operatic soprano or Mariah Carey to be a great vocalist: everybody has their role. Just pay attention to the other voices of the Opportunes, and how they work together to carry the song and support Ms. Gates. ...