Do any of the following situations sound familiar? Maybe you hear your child long before you see them. Perhaps they find melody in everything, even when no music is playing. Most importantly, your child is never happier or more confident than when they are singing. Congratulations! Your child is a singer! Now, to complicate things, has their enthusiasm gotten to the point where you’re considering allowing them to pursue a professional career? It’s a decision that is significant and can be quite daunting, with many factors to consider.
There are multiple types of professional opportunities for young singers. This includes musical theater, pop music performance, TV competition, and ad-supported online media platforms such as YouTube. As a voice teacher in NYC, I have the honor of working with some of the best professional child performers in the business–a phenomenal group of kids and young adults who are talented, driven, sensitive, and mature beyond their years. They are also still children who have the same personal strengths, struggles, and insecurities that any other young person would have. Being a young professional can bring moments of extreme excitement, devastating heartbreak, and enormous sacrifice. Before committing your child–and your family–toward the pursuit of a professional career, there are two big determinations that need to be made.
First, consider if your child is currently able to perform and compete at a professional level. This may be tricky to determine since art is subjective and the professional world constantly considers many non-talent-related factors such as height, personality, age, perceived closeness to puberty, and voice type. With that being said, there’s definitely a baseline of expected vocal proficiency in your average young pro. Professional vocal demands are usually quite challenging in range and musical complexity. Take a look at the songs other professional children are currently being asked to sing and determine whether or not your child is able to sing these in the correct style with regularity and ease. Enlisting an experienced voice teacher may help you make this assessment. Additionally, professional work is about more than just performing. Your child will be required to have the maturity to spend a long (supervised) day of rehearsal or performance without a parent nearby to motivate or focus them. The industry requires them to have the tenacity to face constant rejection and peer competition. They’ll need to have the self-discipline to forgo playtime with friends in order to practice their craft, as well as take care of their bodies and voices.
The second determination requires some significant soul searching: Assuming all criteria of readiness have been met, is this the right choice for your child and your family? Consider that the full-time job of a performer requires near-constant availability–sometimes on very short notice. In addition to school responsibilities, the average working week for a child performer may require up to eight shows a week, plus several daytime auditions and afternoon lessons. A caretaker will be required to shuttle your child back and forth from school to each location. A relocation to NYC, Chicago, or L.A. may be required, so you’ll have to consider if your child’s income will be enough to offset those costs or if your family will need to ensure there is additional income coming in. Overall, you’ll need to determine how all of these new circumstances affect your child’s school, your job, and the rest of your family.
Voice Teacher vs. Coach: Do Singers Need Both? Let’s say that after careful consideration, it still seems that you’re all ready to take the leap. Now what? Some advice:
- I cannot over-stress the importance of a great team around your child to help support them in their career and in their life.
This includes an agent or manager who understands your professional desires and availability, a collection of solid technique teachers of singing, dance, and acting who specialize in working with professional children and who’ll help safely build your child’s craft in a way appropriate for both their immediate professional and long-term developmental needs, a set of supportive peers (for you and your child) within the performing industry with whom you can share experiences, and a set of supportive peers outside the industry to help keep your life balanced and maintain a sense of normalcy.
- Constantly help your child learn to separate success as an artist from their worth as a person. This takes daily work, even in adults, but is a crucial step to a healthy mindset.
- Be ready to walk away from it all if your child ever feels the sacrifices overcome the rewards.
- Encourage your child to stay artistically and intellectually curious outside of their career.
- Finally, remember that growing up is a good thing. The window of opportunity as a child performer may incredibly narrow but every subsequent year outside that window gives room for growing into a constantly better version of themselves.
Despite the challenges above, most of the children I work with are grateful for all the opportunities their career has provided. With solid guidance and a little luck, it can be a positive life-changing opportunity. Some of my students’ parents say they can’t imagine their child doing anything else because it brings so much joy to their life. If you find your child in a similar situation, take a big breath, and jump on in!
Looking for remote work? Backstage has got you covered! Click here for auditions you can do from home!
The views expressed in this article are solely that of the individual(s) providing them,
and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Backstage or its staff.
