A t the rehearsal

Victor: We need some more singers in the band. Andy is good singer but if we had more voices ...

Rosy: We all want to sing - Patrick, Tom and me. Andy can teach us.

Victor: Before you choose the date for your first big concert or gig, you need to find out about singing before you step out onto the stage. Andy , will you tell us about the basics of singing.

Andy: First, you should get yourself aligned - that is, line up all your body parts to get ready to sing and then explore your breathing. Breathing while singing isn't that much different from

how you breathe normally, but you have to take in more air and use more air. When you get the air flowing, you can explore the tone of your voice.

Patric: What about the posture?

Andy: Posture is important to sing well. If all the parts for singing are lined up correctly, you stand a really good chance of getting wonderful sounds to come flying out of your body.

Rosy: We must work on the vocal tone?

Andy: Vocal tone is important, because you want the best sounds to come out of your mouth. By exploring exercises on tone, you can make changes to your sound.

Sometimes, singers try to imitate their favorite famous singer. What you want to do is sound like yourself. Your voice can be just as fabulous as that famous singer. You just have to practice to develop it.

Tom: Will you tell us a few words about categories of voices?

Andy: Most singers want a category to belong to. You may have heard of the categories of singers - soprano, mezzo, tenor, and bass.

Victor: What do we need to do to start singing?

Andy: You need to make a plan of practicing it on a regular basis. Your goal is to make your singing voice sound like one smooth line from top to bottom. Your voice may have a few bumps and wiggles as you work your way up and down. Work with specific areas of the voice called registers chest voice, head voice, middle voice, and falsetto. The first step in the workout for the voice is to find he different registers of the voice and then notice what each feels like. After you find them, you want to try and smooth out the transition between the registers. You may find that your chest voice and head voice feel miles apart. Finding new songs to sing can be overwhelming.

Say if the statement is right or wrong: right wrong

Breathing while singing is much different from how you breathe normally.

Posture is important to sing well.

The categories of singers are soprano, falsetto, tenor, and bass.

The first step in the workout for the voice is to find the registers of the voice.

How to become a star

T here are many ways of becoming a star and one of them is getting an 'education' at Fame Academy

(Фабрика Звёзд).

Fame Academy is a popular reality show set in a kind of boarding school. Its aims are:

• to find a new all-dancing, all-singing star between 18 and 35 years old;

• to train the students to sing, dance and give performances;

• to watch the students' progress and see how well they cope!

Twelve young singers are chosen from many contestants and for ten weeks they sing and dance and give performances. Each week a student is expelled until three are left and one of them becomes the winner.

W hat would you do to win?