| Firstimer - Welcome to group therapy for parents of young sopranos! I could have written your letter verbatim last year (or last night, for that matter). It's fascinating and often shocking to be the parent of a teenaged singer whose skills are rapidly developing. You spend over a dozen years with your daughter, learning who they are and what their interests may be. The sudden transformation that changes girls into young women at 13 already offers a lot for a Dad to cope with; then almost magically, this voice starts coming out of your daughter and its development becomes something of a soundtrack to the other near-miraculous changes that you're watching. I don't mean to be getting too sappy with this, but as spellbound as a lot of us undoubtedly get by the process, we also have to adapt to a change of priorities that includes trading in other promising dreams and career goals for one with some very unsettling prospects. As Lorelei (our chief reality therapist)told us earlier, "The lifestyle and choices of a professional singer in the early stages are not ones that you, as her (parent), will like . . . It is a gruesome process." As I work my way through the new priorities, I just remind myself that nothing could be as gruesome as going through life believing that you were given a true gift but were persuaded not to pursue it to the fullest out of fear of failure. |