Finding my voice I

Now I'm only nineteen, so have absolutely no conception of how my voice is going to turn out. In truth, I don't think any singer ever discovers what their voice is until after it's already changed again.
That's the tricky thing about being a singer. My dad always says the body is our instrument. We have to take care of it, be gentle with it, and understand that practically anything can affect it. (The weather, emotions, levels of stress, what we eat or drink, how much sleep we get, how much partying we do, the way we speak. The list can literally go on forever.) But with that, singers have to learn how to adapt to change, produce some sort of sound so we get paid at the end of the day. So if you're someone who's thinking about going into music, I don't mean to scare you, but this life is HARD. I'm not even doing it completely yet. 
I mentioned my dad, he's in the business. He's sung with major opera companies, big time choruses, teaches at a college, is the music director of our church, delegate for unions of these companies, and on top of all of that, a dad and a husband. And a fine one at that. Moral of the story is, I've gotten a taste of what I'm getting myself into. 
However, I don't want to live my dad's life. I want to live my own. I want to be Renée Fleming's 

protégée. (The possibility of this happening is actually realistic, but more on that later). I want to travel. I want to sing in major venues and opera stages everywhere. I want to give recitals all over everywhere. I want to sing major roles. I want to be one of the stars. And I refuse to take no for an answer. 

None of this is going to happen over night. It's going to takes days of practicing, hours of creating bios and resumes, taking hundreds of rejections before that one yes that will be all the difference and (hopefully!!!) change my life forever. A singer must be marketable, teachable, a pleasure to work with, have the passion, have the talent and a singer has to want it. That's the most important thing. This world, this life, is so competitive that even the chance that anyone could do something else, they'll thank me later if they chose to do that instead. I need to do this life because I can't see myself doing anything else. Maybe in reincarnation I could be doing something different, but not in this life. Not while I'm in control of my own destiny. Maybe I sound crazy. Maybe I sound like a diva. Okay fine! I'm those things and a whole lot more. Being a singer is being myself. And I don't want to be anyone else. 

Until next time.

sopranodivaEm