A LOVE of singing and a lust for stardom pushed 20-year-old Qian Yue to take a break from her university studies to learn music full-time at the Lee Wei Song School of Music in Shanghai.

    For almost a year, the cheerful Yunnan native from the southwestern city of Kunming has been taking a combination of voice, dancing, and keyboard lessons to fulfill her dream of becoming a singer, inspired by a recent flood of TV talent shows.

    The musical talent school has a full-time course for an “Asian Music Artist” class, with students taking in about four hours of classes each day including voice training, studio recording, keyboard skills and dancing.

    Talent shows have been the rage in China since the success of the “Super Girl” national singing competition organized by Hunan satellite television in 2004.

    The musical talent show was basically a Chinese copy of the popular U.K. show “Pop Idol” and has since spun off other forms of singing and dancing competitions on local and national TV.

    Chinese television has become more market-oriented in recent years and talent shows have helped push ratings to all-time highs despite criticism from government officials of the nature of the shows and their “negative” impact on society.

    This year, Shanghai’s Dragon TV pushed audience ratings to the top of the ratings chart with its own “China’s Got Talent” show, the local version of the U.K. series “Britain’s Got Talent”.

    With the lure of stardom, many young Chinese people are starting to look at singing as a career option.

    The full-time course costs 24,000 yuan (US$3,600) for six months and is divided into junior and senior levels for a full two-year course.

    The school was founded first in Singapore by local musician Lee Wei-song in 1995, and the Shanghai branch opened in 2007. Lee and his twin brother Lee Shih-shiong are credited with being pioneers of the Singapore xinyao music movement, a local music movement with a focus on songs about life in Singapore.

    Lee Wei Song’s school later became famous for grooming one of Singapore’s best-known singers, Stefanie Sun. His school now hopes to unearth the Chinese mainland’s next singing superstar and expand its presence in other Chinese cities.

    There are now more than a dozen similar professional music schools in Shanghai alone, offering music courses to wannabe singers looking for a shot at fame.

    Although TV talent shows have fueled a demand for these schools, they are actually a double-edged sword, said Ethan Han, manager of the Lee Wei Song School of Music.

    “It’s a dilemma because talent shows give a quick shortcut from our school. Some talent shows judge you on your image and general package and you don’t have to sing very well. So they are not choosing the best singer,” he said.

    (SD-Agencies)