A Camp for Future Grammy Winners

From voaspecialenglish.com | facebook.com/voalearningenglish Getting a job in the music business is not easy. But getting advice from people who have already succeeded could help. That is the hope of more than one hundred young musicians who attended a camp in Los Angeles this past summer. Nick Jonas of the Jonas Brothers told the wannabe stars about the importance of social media. NICK JONAS: "Social media was incredibly important for my brothers and I at the beginning of our career and still is today. With Twitter and YouTube and Facebook, there are so many instant ways to connect with your fans." Other music professionals also shared their knowledge at the week-long camp. The event is part of "Grammy in the Schools," a project from the organizers of the music industry's Grammy Awards. The summer camp gives students a chance to improve their music industry skills. Ben LoPiccolo worked on his skills as a music reporter. BEN LOPICCOLO: "I found that I really enjoyed writing and telling people about music that I like to kind of expand their taste." These teenagers hope to be part of an industry that is going through big changes. Kristen Madsen at the Grammy Foundation points to the influence of social networking on sites like Facebook and Twitter. KRISTEN MADSEN: "I would say that that's probably the biggest theme that you can see, is watching the artists and the professionals come through and talk about, there are new ways and new roadmaps for kids to succeed in the music industry, and they have a lot more access to doing it themselves." Thirteen-year-old Greyson Chance was preparing to release his first album. He says his career began with a music video on YouTube. Camper Giovanni Quattrochi was hoping for a career as a music producer. He likes the way music is changing. GIOVANNI QUATTROCHI: "Especially with hip-hop, there's a lot of sampling of different genres of music. And I think I'm excited to see where music is going to go." Young songwriter Elise Go says music is also becoming more international. LISE GO: ""I'm also pretty excited. I think it's very cool, like I'm really interested in Korean and Asian-genre music. So it's like Korean and Chinese pop music, and they're like fusing American influences into their music, and I feel that's very cool to hear, like a pop song you think you'd hear on the radio in America, in like another language." Brian London plays keyboard for Lady Gaga and other artists. He told the students that succeeding in music takes more than just having skills. BRIAN LONDON: "Being a great player -- everybody's a great player. So a lot of artists, management labels and music directors look at more than just being a great player in order to be hired for a gig." The musicians say most of all it takes a love of music to succeed in this exciting and ever changing business. I'm Barbara Klein.