Of all the performance arts, the art of singing is the most complex. Its preparation and its practices are fraught with controversy. Tonal ideals vary. Techniques for producing those ideals abound. Establishing a proper technical approach to singing is by no means the only concern for the professional singer or for the singer's teacher. Musicianship, style and interpretation, career preparation and development, efficient vocal function, and the conservation of vocal health are all parts of vocal pedagogy.

The author's aim in this collection of mostly brief essays has been to make such information accessible to other performers and teachers, sometimes through analytical language, occasionally in exhortative mode, and at other times through anecdote and parable.

Chapters include: The Training of the Singing Voice, On Musical Style and Interpretation, etc.