[2] The book Conscience of a Profession: Howard Swan, Choral Director and Teacher (Chapel Hill, N C, 1987) is a collection of his speeches and writings from 1945 through 1986.
[5] During both his undergraduate and graduate studies, Swan supported himself financially through his work as a tenor soloist in churches and synagogues.
[5] In summers of 1933 and 1934 he studied choral conducting with the Catholic priest Father William J. Finn, founder of the Paulist Choristers and a nationally recognized choir conductor of the early 20th century, at Loyola College.
[5] Four years later, in the summer of 1937, he studied choral conducting with John Finley Williamson, the founder of Westminster Choir College, at his masterclasses in San Francisco.
[5] In 1969, Swan regained the use of his once paralyzed vocal fold after receiving teflon injections which greatly improved the richness and quality of his voice.
[4] Swan's career as a choral conductor began at Eagle Rock High School in Los Angeles, where he was hired as a social studies teacher in 1929.
[5] In 1935 he joined the music faculty at Occidental as a full time professor; at which point he left his post as a teacher at Eagle Rock High School.
[2] The book Conscience of a Profession: Howard Swan, Choral Director and Teacher (Chapel Hill, N C, 1987) is a collection of his speeches and writings from 1945 through 1986.