Rocking advice

Bailey Giroux has a passion for musical theatre. 

The 15-year-old-singer started to become interested in music and theatre while at elementary school and when she later enrolled She moved on to perform in plays such as Fame at , one of her first performances in front of a large audience.

"It was interesting because I didn’t know anyone and I didn’t know what to expect," Bailey said. "The first night we didn’t have that many people and then the next night we got more people than the last night. We had so many people we had to bring in chairs. That was really amazing."

Bailey joined her classmates to watch a concert performance by Hartford, an Ottawa-based pop-punk band, on Tuesday. Following the concert, the individual band members broke up the students into a guitar, drums and singing workshop.

Bailey and more than 15 students followed lead singer and guitarist Carl Boucher in a few warm ups before belting out a few tunes.

"It’s really different because I’ve never had that outside influence from a professional," Bailey said. "We’re going to learn what’s like to perform in front of other people and on a large scale because a lot of people here haven’t had that opportunity."

Boucher, 22, shared Bailey’s passion for music and said he wanted to show the students that musicians can lead normal lives. Music was part of Boucher’s life early on. His father sang in the Capital City Chorus for the past 20 years. When he attended high school he wished someone came to his school and told how a rock star lives while on the road touring, he said.
Often the life of a touring musician becomes harder when other commitments sometimes interfere with the music, he said.

"The music industry is really, really hard especially when you get older," Boucher said. "You see all your friends getting married and having kids. In the end, I have a lot of fun doing it and I guess that’s it. I get to have fun and play music every night and that’s just amazing."

Boucher said the best advice for singers is to get rest, eat healthy and not to party too much.