{"id":7574,"date":"2014-07-30T15:31:13","date_gmt":"2014-07-30T19:31:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=7574"},"modified":"2014-07-30T15:31:13","modified_gmt":"2014-07-30T19:31:13","slug":"rising-star-doesnt-let-setback-take-her-eye-off-singing-stardom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/rising-star-doesnt-let-setback-take-her-eye-off-singing-stardom\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cRising Star\u201d doesn\u2019t let setback take her eye off singing stardom"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Brock Weir<\/strong><\/p>\n

Amanda MacDonald is not one to rest idle when faced with a setback. <\/p>\n

An Irish Dancer at heart, Ms. MacDonald is counting down the days until she can get back into fine form after two stress fractures in her ankles forced her to scuttle her dreams of taking part in the Canadian Championships last year, but she has used her downtime to keep on top of her other passion \u2013 singing. <\/p>\n

Having served as Aurora\u2019s Teen Idol in 2011, fun-loving Aurorans will soon have another chance to see her in action, this time in Toronto, as one of the \u201cRising Stars\u201d of the Canadian National Exhibition (CNE). <\/p>\n

Amanda is set to show off her vocal chops this August on the CNE\u2019s Variety Stage as part of the annual summer festival. She is no stranger to the competition, having put herself forward twice previously, but she is coming in this year well prepared.<\/p>\n

\u201cI get a lot of constructive criticism from judges out of these competitions,\u201d she explains. \u201cThe more experience, the better. It is just about getting my name out there, meeting other musicians, making connections to collaborate, and, of course, knowing people in the industry is always great. It is a win-win for everybody.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to go to a seminar beforehand to prepare as much as possible so that you are 100 per cent on the day giving it everything you\u2019ve got. It is really engaging the audience and learning to share with them. It is not just being on the stage, but being part of something for everybody to enjoy and participate in. Engaging the judges and the audience is always fun \u2013 taking them on a story, if it is not a fun song \u2013 and just going for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Holding back is not a watchword in the MacDonald house. Her father, for instance, is a member of the \u201cFab Four\u201d Beatles tribute band, which recently wowed the crowds at Aurora\u2019s Canada Day Celebrations. Her mother was also an actress, a profession which has also caught Amanda\u2019s eye. It almost goes without saying that she has grown up in a house full of classic rock, and that is where her first love lies. <\/p>\n

Singing \u201cI Want To Hold Your Hand\u201d at a family wedding several years ago is when she first had the inkling her passion was on the stage. But, she says, she is still finding her own way, developing a love for what she describes as the \u201cjazz pop\u201d sounds of people like Nikki Yanovski and Michael Buble. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt is just a matter of finding a way to combine it all,\u201d she says, noting her temporary physical setback has given her a chance to reflect.
\n\u201cI had made it into a professional Irish Dance show that was going to be in Germany and Switzerland. I graduated high school last year and took the year off to go into the Irish Dancing professional world. Since my ankles broke, I started from scratch and reworked my plan.\u201d<\/p>\n

So far, that plan includes going to college or university to study jazz, while looking for just about any singing competition she can find to gain experience, and even securing a job for herself as a singer on a cruise ship. <\/p>\n

\u201cI am just doing what I can and building a plan from there,\u201d she says. \u201cIt is important to have short-term and long-term goals for myself. [In the long term], it is hard to know because everyone has a path they go on, so it is hard to pinpoint exactly where they will be. I definitely want to be performing [in 10 years], recording some songs, and I am learning how to write songs and play guitar. My dream is just performing wherever I can.\u201d<\/p>\n

But, in the \u201cnow\u201d, her eyes are firmly set on the CNE\u2019s Variety Stage where she is preparing to wow the judges. She hasn\u2019t quite decided which song will knock them out of the park, but she\u2019ll know it when it clicks. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe most fulfilling part of it is the moment I am on stage and everything is clicking,\u201d she says. \u201cIt might sound cheesy, but when I feel at home on the stage, I am just completely happy and I realise it is exactly where I should be and what I want to do. It\u2019s the little moments while performing that make it make sense and make it worth all the hard work, lessons, and the trial and error process.\u201d<\/p>\n

For more information on the Rising Star competition, visit tinyurl.com\/risingstar-CNE.<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Amanda MacDonald is not one to rest idle when faced with a setback. <\/p>\n

An Irish Dancer at heart, Ms. MacDonald is counting down the days until she can get…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":7555,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7574","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/2014-07-31-06.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-1Ya","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-04 13:46:15","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7574","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7574"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7574\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7555"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7574"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7574"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7574"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}