I couldn't agree more strongly with Don's last sentence (well, OK, the whole message really) and must also mention another opera singer who successfully manages to rein in the mega-watts and deliver a believable popular sound. It's... God - I can't remember whether it was Pavarotti or Domingo!!!!!!!! Anyway he not only succeeds in doing this, but in duet with a pop/folkie singing the other line! I refer of course to John Denver's "Perhaps Love". Think it was Lucy but whichever tenor it was truly put aside the plummy don't-listen-to-the-song-listen-to-me-sing manner that we too often hear, and turned out a beautifully blended performance with some meaning behind it. Denver and (?)Pavarotti, who'd a thunk it? But it works.

Whichever music one wants to do, I strongly believe in the development of vocal (and instrumental) technique as a solid foundation to performing material that's any sort of challenge, and am forever reminding my (harp) students not to confuse technique with style. I'll never forget one of my little girls coming into a lesson and telling me how much she'd worked that week. She stared in wide-eyed wonder and said, "I practiced, and guess what? It works!"