Joan Melton initiated and developed the Voice/Movement program (1996 - 2006) for the Department of Theatre and Dance at California State University, Fullerton. She is now based in New York City and teaches internationally.

She trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama, London, holds a PhD from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and has Bachelors and Masters degrees in Music from the University of Mississippi.

She has taught at leading drama and music centers in the US, UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand, including the Manhattan School of Music, New York, the Central School of Speech and Drama, London, Lites2000 Drama School, Dublin, Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, and Toi Whakaari, the National Drama School of NZ.

She has been a performer, vocal coach and/or musical director on productions in virtually all media, from daytime television to musical theatre, from new music premiers to panoramic theatre in Central Park. She is a published author and composer, a specialist in 20th Century vocal music, and a Master Teacher of the Fitzmaurice approach to theatre voice training.

Joan is a former Secretary of the Voice and Speech Trainers Association (VASTA), a frequent presenter at international conferences, and a regular contributor to professional journals in theatre voice and singing.

Her new book, Singing in Musical Theatre: The Training of Singers and Actors (Allworth 2007), includes personal interviews with major teachers of singing for musical theatre in the US, UK, and Australia.