If you missed NPR's fantastic "What Makes It Great" discussion of Stephen Sondheim's "Send In The Clowns," I encourage you to listen to it immediately.

And then enjoy the above clip in which Sondheim teaches a singer to perform "Send In The Clowns." It's just wonderful; he's terribly generous and likable, and the things he tells her are entirely relatable even to a non-expert, despite the fact that it's information being passed from a legendary composer to a trained singer. This is the first of two parts; the second, involving a very different singer, is after the jump.

Hat-tip to the always surprising and impishly smart Metafilter, which offers even more like this in this post.