Diction for Singers: A Concise Reference for English, Italian, Latin, German, French and Spanish Pronunciation

Diction for Singers guides singers to the pronunciation of English, Italian, Latin, German, French, and Spanish. The easy navigation leads the reader from the orthographic spelling to the sound, so she can see the general rules for spellings. Each language section includes quick reference tables showing all vowels and consonants with their common letter groups, and special pronunciations.

Joan Wall is a voice professor at Texas Woman's University, where she has taught diction courses for more than twenty years. She was a member of National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS), presenting seminars and workshops, and has had a celebrated international performing career, singing as a principal with the Metropolitan Opera, the Deutche Opera Berlin, and in concerts, operas, and recitals throughout the United States.

She has sung under the direction of such conductors as Erich Leinsdorf, Dimitri Mitropoulos, Boris Goldovsky, Alfred Wallenstein, Jean Morel, Fausto Cleva, Anshel Brusilow, and Paul Hindemith.

Wall is the author of International Phonetic Alphabet for Singers and coauthor of Diction for Singers, The Singer's Voice video series, Sing! Text and songs for voice class, and Excellence in Singing.

Robert Caldwell is president and CEO of Caldwell Publishing Company, which he founded in 1999. The company's mission is to make difficult ideas easier to teach and understand, particularly ideas in human anatomy and physiology.

Caldwell Publishing Company is now the parent company of PST...Inc., which he founded in 1987 to produce books for professional musicians.

He has authored and coauthored several best-selling books, including The Performer Prepares, Diction for Singers, the Singers' Edition Series, and his latest, the five-volume Excellence in Singing.

He has written, produced, directed, and animated several successful films, including the Human Voice series and Human Hearing series. These books and films are staples in colleges and universities throughout the United States and abroad, including the Juilliard School of Music, the Peabody Conservatory of Music, and Indiana University.

An accomplished pianist and singer, having earned his bachelor's and master's degrees in music, he also lectures and conducts master classes. A native of southern Louisiana, he now resides in Redmond, Washington with his daughter, Katelyn.