One of the most common emails we get here at TeenVoice has to do with becoming a performer.  Someone will email us and say, "My dream is to be a singer! I know I've got what it takes," or tell us about how they want to be a famous actor.  These emails many times close with "can you help me be famous" or simply "what can I do?" 

The best piece of advice that we can offer is to just start doing it.  If you want to be a singer, there are plenty of opportunities - at school, at church, and in your community.  It won't take much looking to find them.  Getting out and performing is the best experience.  If you want to be an actor, look to your school play or possibly community theater or someone doing a student film.  All of these things will provide good experience.  You'll learn tips and tricks from people who have been honing their craft for years and if you ask, many times they'll have some good advice.  It will also serve as great experience to perform in front of live audiences.

For singers - learning music by ear can get you far, but you'll find learning how to read music will take you much farther and do it faster.  I've been in plenty of rehearsals where a music director will say "for those of you who don't read music - when the dots go up, make your voice higher and when they go down, make it lower."  It may sound funny, but for the singers that don't read music it's a reality.  The difficult part is that this up/down direction will only get you so far.  Once you understand how to read music, learn the intervals and most importantly learn how they sound in your voice you'll have a much better time.  It's also very helpful to learn an instrument, like piano, to not only understand the relationship of music notes on a page and how they sound, but it will also to help your singing.  In these same rehearsals, I see people with small digital recorders who are recording their vocal part as it is played.  This is so they can go home and work on it.  If you know music, you'll be able to practice on your own because you'll know how it should sound just by the notes on a page.

While all of that is nice, today's music industry is even more complicated.  No longer is it good enough to simply be a excellent singer.  Companies now are looking for the total performer package.  They're looking for a singer who can dance, maybe play an instrument, be comfortable in front of thousands of people, is well spoken in interviews and has the stamina to do these things all day long.  We know from our emails that Justin Bieber is someone TeenVoices watch and he is a prime example.  If you really stop and think about all of the different pictures, interviews, recordings, videos and concerts he gives you start to wonder how he as time to do it all.  The truth is that if his days are like other performers, he probably starts very early and does not stop until late at night.  He's had to pose for every picture, talk in every interview, find time to record music (which can be a long process in itself), perform on shows like CSI, sign autographs, participate in charity events like the TwitChange auction, and oh yeah - do a 2-3 hour concert at night.  Through all of this, he also has to stay very healthy because if he's sick for a day or two, there are a lot of these activities that have to get rescheduled.  When you look at it from that persepective I have to give him enormous credit for doing it day in and day out.

So to sum it all up, hone your skills and be ready for your opportunity.  You never know when it will arrive so keep working and learning in the direction you would like to go every day.  Singing, learning new songs and performing should be second nature to you and practice makes perfect.  Learning songs/lyrics quickly is very important and that's exactly why they do that exercise on a show like American Idol.  Giving a good interview is also a skill.  Learning how to speak in soundbytes and knowing how to avoid the pitfalls of an interview can add to your overall talent.  There are people and mentors along the way who can help with all of this and the ones who find success are the ones who never stop learning.  I hope this was helpful that that you are able to turn your dreams into your reality.