Last Sunday, k.d. lang was featured among the performers celebrating and being celebrated as Women in the Arts at the Kennedy Center's 2009 Spring Gala, along with Stockard Channing, Suzanne Farrell, Patti LaBelle, Annie Leibovitz, Chita Rivera, Lily Tomlin, Vera Wang, and many others.

This past Sunday, k.d. contributed an article to The Observer (UK) as part of The Guardian and Observer Guides to Performing and its singing section. "My voice and the styles and genres I sing all express my appreciation for what I hear," k.d. writes. "I've always been that way: I started singing when I was five."

She goes on to explain how her own approach to singing and technique has developed:

I couldn't be further from academic in the way I approach learning different styles. It's really just something that happened to me as I became an avid listener ... I've learned very slowly and very experientially. I find something and I just listen and experience it and eventually it starts coming out of me.

Her advice for others: "[S]pend time reflecting on your emotional and physical existence and how that applies to the voice. You have to apply that wisdom and experience when you sing—it's what comes through ... There needn't be a distinction between your life and your music."

There's much more advice from k.d. at guardian.co.uk.