Courtney in the studio

We arrived at the studio, where Courtney greeted everyone by name, and they all said their hello’s just as enthusiastically.  She changed into her dress for the photo shoot they were doing that day for the new CD cover, as her mom adjusted her hair.  Courtney had spent the morning at the salon getting ready, and her mom wanted to make sure she looked perfect.  The photographer arrived and for thirty minutes Courtney posed for the camera, each smile just as happy and as eager as the last.  When the photographer’s work was done, it was time for one of Courtney’s favorite parts of the day:  lunch at McDonald’s.

We came back to the studio after lunch, (during which Courtney spent most of her time playing with her happy meal toy) and it was time to get down to business.  Courtney went into the recording booth with her voice coach, and you could see on her face that she was all about the job at hand.  Dave and Ron, her producer and voice coach, recorded and re-recorded her singing, always pushing her to do just a little bit better, and Courtney rose to every challenge.  She never once complained about having to sing the same line over and over again; never once asked if she could stop or suggested that something was good enough the way it was. 

Courtney looked so at ease in the studio. She interacted with Dave and Ron like she’d known them all her life.  When they teased her, she teased back.  When she got silly straws for her water, they did too.  She looked perfectly comfortable there in the recording studio, singing and working to improve her craft.  But this wasn’t work for her at all, this was fun.  I have to admit that I was skeptical when I first heard about an eight-year-old girl spending hours on end in a recording studio.  But after one day there, I realized that there is no place this little girl would rather be. 

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