There are some many levels on which I love this artifact. I love it for the discussion it stimulates about Mid Atlantic versus General American versus Received Pronunciation phonologies. I love it because it over emphasizes the importance of IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet). There is an IPA obsession in singing contexts. People always think Diction is all about IPA, full stop. I am always defending myself with singing teachers and conductors because they imagine that I am probably one of those teachers responsible for this obsession. Don’t get me wrong, I think mastery of IPA is important. But I also think it is just a beginning. I think we should address it quickly and efficiently, and then we should move on. IPA should be accessibly in the tool chest. I will illustrate with an example of how useful IPA is. I am preparing a recital with a famous pianist. Repertoire includes a Bartok song cycle with poetry in Hungarian. The pianist and I got together to begin this project knowing that the first order of business was to understand Hungarian phonology. Because he and I are well versed in IPA (its limitations as well as its uses) we were able to accurately read the poetry by the end of a two hour session, approved by a Hungarian literary professor. The pianist and I have a common phonological language we can refer to. We know that IPA is a mnemonic system that steers us and focuses us in the proper phonological direction. And we are also well aware of IPA’s limitations. We don’t expect that knowing the IPA of various languages is the same as the ability to pronounce things idiomatically. So once again, I love this artifact for the conversation that it sparks in students. One thing is to IPA ‘wonder’ and ‘wander.’ It is an entirely different matter to display these distinctions in the context of singing a song. What is the difference between the physical sensation of the r-colored ending of ‘under’ in GA and the schwa feeling in MA? Beyond memorizing phonemic symbols, students must demonstrate they know phonology viscerally. IPA is just a start.