1. The Voice Today: An Evaluation / A History of the Voice / Vocal vs. Non-Vocal / The View Back / How We Got Here / 2. How the Voice Works: A Composer's Perspective / The Break / Vocal Categories / Legato and Leaps / Air and Breath / Dynamics / Practicing with the Voice / Flexibility and Stamina / Engagement and Disengagement / Composing between the Notes / 3. Different Voices / Bel Canto / The Lyrics Voice / The Belt Voice / The Rap Voice / The Dramatic Voice / The Virtuoso Voice / The Folk Voice / The Crooner / The Mediated Voice / The Live Voice / The Actor's Voices / Extended Vocal Techniques / The Choral Voice: Traditions and Developments / 4. Voice/Text/Music / Text and Music / Text and Voice / The Nature of Language / The Nature of the Singing Voice / Text Effect / Nudity and Performance / Singing and Speaking / Meaning in Music and Words / The Voice and the Body / Professional Hierarchies: Musical and Opera / Text Underlay in Scores / 5. The Singer and the Actor / Singing and Acting / Training / Coaching / Collaborating / 6. Considerations of Style / The Last Romantic Artist / A Shopping List / Some Composers' Solutions / 7.

Composers on Singing / Interviews with Composers / 8. Singers on Composers / Interviews with Singers / 9. More Thoughts on Voices / 10. The Synthetic Voice / 11. Educational Activities / Towards a Compositional Theory / Working with Voices / Street Songs / Songs without Words / Words without Songs / Identical Texts / Time Limits / One Breath / Writing a Song for Children to Hear / Improvisation / Further Projects.