No voice teacher can be all things to all people. You have to gain information from whatever sources you can. You have to listen.

If I have to hold a note for a long time, I imagine it as moving and spinning, for the note has to have life. In a way, a singer actually refreshes a note with every beat that it's held.

Certainly, jazz has become more of a niche, which is surprising, because it's our music. It's the national music of America.

Among the important realizations I had in my own days in the practice room was that if any one route to any one phrase didn't work after days of trying, then the exact opposite route should at least be explored, as well as every alternative in between, as counterintuitive as that often seemed.

I was constantly being pushed toward a European ideal of what it means to be a classical or opera singer, let's say in the Renata Tebaldi mode. I reject that.

It is our responsibility to learn how to speak to an audience that is less informed about music, to give it a reason to want to come and see us instead of going to the movies.

Everybody's a work in progress. I'm a work in progress. I mean, I've never arrived. I'm still learning all the time.