Terry Gross

Donald Palumbo is the Metropolitan Opera's chorus master. He tells Fresh Air about "stagger breathing," the ways singers protect their voices and his own lack of formal training.

"It's not profound regret," Morrison tells Fresh Air. "It's just a wiping up of tiny little messes that you didn't recognize as mess when they were going on." Her latest book is God Help the Child.

The producer says there was a moment when his co-writers thought, "Maybe this song wasn't meant to be." He also describes working with Amy Winehouse and Bruno Mars.