Meredith Kennedy

Are you a singer who travels with your pet? Or are you contemplating doing so? Veterinarian and singer Meredith Kennedy offers terrific tips for making your pet’s next trip a good one for you and your pet.

Singers are unique in the music world in that our own bodies are our instruments. Whatever affects our physical, mental, or emotional states can affect our instruments—and some of the most profound and insidious effects can take hold with the things we put into our bodies, especially alcohol, cigarette smoke, and recreational drugs. When does the use of these substances become abuse? How does substance abuse really affect our instruments, our bodies, and our lives? CS readers weigh in.

Do you have family members who don’t quite share your passion for opera? Kith and kin who attend your performances because they love you, but do so a bit begrudgingly? If you can relate, read this singer’s clever solution, which helped her father better appreciate opera when he traveled across the ocean to see her perform at a summer program. Fact or fiction? You decide.