This study explored the decision making process of novice musical theater voice teachers. Musical theater voice teachers often begin teaching with diverse backgrounds in terms of teacher preparation. Currently, there is no standardized trajectory for someone who is interested in pursuing voice teaching. Further, there is no well-defined body of research literature that identifies what domain-specific knowledge is necessary for voice teachers to assimilate. As a result, those learning the craft of voice teaching in musical theater voice teaching are dependent upon past and present educative experiences to inform their teaching decisions. The purpose of this study was to examine the decision making process of novice musical theater voice teachers. Additionally, this study sought to identify what educative experiences teachers cite as most impactful on their ability to make decisions. By focusing on the decision making process, this study examines the way that novice teachers organize and apply their current knowledge in highly individualized teaching scenarios. Each case was a novice teacher within their first three years of full or part time teaching. There were three participants in the study. Each participant was selected to represent a different teaching background; one had a background as a professional performer with no pedagogy training, one had a graduate degree in vocal pedagogy with no background as a professional performer, and one had a graduate degree in vocal pedagogy and a professional performance career. An emphasis was placed on selecting participants with diverse backgrounds to illuminate differences and similarities between experiences that impact teaching decisions. Data were gathered with three journals, three individual interviews and an average of eight to ten hours of observed teaching per participant. Data collection and analysis were designed to gather rich data about each individual case and to offer comparison across cases. Data were analyzed and presented by first detailing the factors that influence the decision making process for each individual case, and second through cross-case analysis. This study did not discuss efficacy of chosen teaching strategies, rather it focused on the broader understanding of how teachers draw upon domain specific knowledge to make teaching decisions. Findings from this study identified that the decision making process of novice musical theater voice teachers is multi-layered, interconnected and continuous in nature. Past and present experiences informed their greater teaching knowledge and provided the foundation the knowledge they draw upon when making teaching decisions. Teaching knowledge then evolved into established teaching beliefs which served to further categorized domain-specific knowledge. When addressing their students, teachers engaged in both long-term and immediate reflection-in-action as they categorized and framed problems and sought out solutions that were individualized for each student. How teachers spoke about challenges served as a way of framing the limits of their current teaching knowledge. All three teachers in this study were deeply engaged in the process of learning how to teach. Their differences in teacher preparation offered insights into how teachers draw upon their current domain specific knowledge to make teaching decision. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]