Singer hopes to inspire others to be brave with voice

Senior Jamie Knox had the dream of being a pop star like singer Hannah Montana ever since she was little girl. Singing along to the radio, she discovered her talent and joined a choir as soon as she could in fifth grade. Jamie continuies to pursue her passion for singing through school opportunities like All-State which she has participated in multiple times. This spring, Knox was just cast as Cinderella in the high school musical, and she said she hopes to inspire many with her voice to be brave and confident. 

1. How many years have you been singing? “I mean singing probably since I was in kindergarten. I actually started, I guess you could say train or learn, to sing in a choir in fifth grade when we were allowed to do choir as an extracurricular thing.”

2. Were you always singing with the radio when you were younger? “Definitely with the radio. I definitely wanted to be a popstar. Hannah Montana was my idol. It was just fun to sing.  Music class was my favorite. I think it was called specials. Music class was my favorite special.”

3. Do you have a voice coach? “I have never taken private lessons outside of school. I guess technically I work with [choir teacher Eliott] Kranz, like I’ll do lessons with him, but not an actual voice coach .”

4. What part do you sing? “I’m a soprano ll.” 

5. What’s your favorite thing about singing? “It’s just a lot of fun for me. I guess when I started, it was something I was good at, so it was something I gravitated toward. It brought me a lot of joy to sing. I love singing because I know it makes a lot of other people happy. “

6. Outside of school, what type of music do you like to sing? “I will say I am a very classically trained person. I guess this is more in-school, but I love the kind of old churchy music from, I don’t even know the years, probably the middle ages, stuff like that, but I do. I love me some pop. I love country. Those are probably my two favorite, more modern types of music to listen to.” 

7. You are Cinderella in the musical. Is acting one of your passions too? “I’ve always enjoyed acting, especially once I got into high school, I enjoyed being apart of theater, but I definitely think it was the music aspect that gravitated me toward going for a lead in this show. I’m excited. I’ve never had a lead role before, so this is going to be a whole new experience. I’m really excited.” 

8. What are you most excited for? “I guess like I said, this is my first lead role, so it’s  going to be a whole different ball game than anything I have ever done. I really hope I’m going to meet some little children who actually think I’m Cinderella. It’s kind of bringing me back to when I was a kid. Everyone wants to be a Disney princess, and I want to bring that joy to other kids. “

9. What kind of message do you want to portray with your voice? “I guess that you are stronger than you think you are. I very much like the idea of the Cinderella. While she is, I guess you can say she is quieter and kind of lives under her oppressive stepmother. She still is bold. She still has ideas and still is passionate about who she is, and eventually she finds her happy ending, and I want to share that with a lot of people.” 

10. Do you want to pursue acting or singing after high school? “I hope to do theater and stuff when I get to college. I am going to be going into music education as my major in college, so I am definitely going to be surrounded by music as I go through my life, which is what I want to keep doing, living with music.