<p>DD was given the advice that unless she loved the other 90% of music, then the career was not for her. The other 90% is all that you do when not on stage. She studies her music, explores the literature it is based upon, translates and marks her music with the IPA pronunciations, listens to recordings by renowned experts, and practices all of the time. She loves all of this and the rehearsals. The performances are the icing on the cake. </p>
<p>She graduated last year with a BM and while waiting for her voice to grow more has been patching together a couple of jobs in music with one that is not. Next year she plans to try to have all music related jobs. It is scary, but she is supporting herself in a distant city and doing what she loves. One of her studio mates just was hired for a touring company production of a major Musical Theater show in Europe. But she also worked hard not only studying music in school, but working in the summers on her MT skills.</p>