Book excerpt: The Vocal Athlete, Second Edition and the companion book The Vocal Athlete: Application and Technique for the Hybrid Singer, Second Edition are written and designed to bridge the gap between the art of contemporary commercial music (CCM) singing and the science behind voice production in this ever-growing popular vocal style. This textbook is a “must have” for vocal pedagogy courses and speech-language pathologists, singing voice specialists, and voice teachers. Heavily referenced, this text is ripe with current research on singing science as it relates to the CCM voice. In addition to general singing science, The Vocal Athlete is the first book of its kind to address the unique vocal and physiologic demands of commercial singing from a sound scientific and pedagogical standpoint. Historical review of classical vocal pedagogy is interwoven and transitioned to current pedagogy of CCM. Anyone who trains singers will gain insight into the current research and trends regarding the commercial music artist. The text distinguishes itself from other pedagogy texts by incorporating current peer reviewed literature in the area of CCM and its studio application. Also unique to this text are chapters on body alignment, traditional and holistic medicine, the lifecycle of the voice, and the physiology of belting. New to the Second Edition *New medical chapter on Common Pathologies in Vocal Athletes *New comprehensive chapter on Perception, Aesthetics, and Registration in the Commercial Vocal Athlete *Extended sections in Motor Learning and Exercise Physiology chapters *Updated references throughout Disclaimer: Please note that ancillary content (such as documents, audio, and video, etc.) may not be included as published in the original print version of this book.