Mila Miller to balance two careers: teaching and music

Mila Miller hadn't really thought about getting into the music business when she auditioned for Canadian Idol. As a teenager living in Woodbridge, a Toronto suburb, she was more focused on high school, riding roller coasters and playing clarinet in her school band.

"(Canadian Idol) opened my doors to singing," said Miller after finishing the summer of her life. "I did have a passion for music but I was never given the opportunity until then."

After finishing in tenth place on Season 5 of the competition, a transformed Miller is back at school, finishing Grade 12 and getting ready to go to university. She says she'd like to stay in her hometown, having selected the University of Toronto and York University at her top choices.

"I'm going to be taking teaching," she told Eye on Idol, noting she'd ideally like to end up at the front of a Grade 6, 7 or 8 classroom. "I really love kids as well as singing. (Teaching would allow) me to have a lot of time off to pursue singing as well."

Returning to her last year of high school after a summer on live TV, Miller was a bit nervous about walking her newly recognizable face down the hallways. She said she's gotten used to being recognized, and is happy when it happens because she's so proud of her work on the show.

"There are a lot of people who didn't know me that now know me, but they don't know me personally," she said, adding her newfound singer status helped her find the perfect role in a recent school play.

"It was called Planet Couture... I was the singer. It's about people coming in for job interviews at a fashion store. I finish everything I say with a song."

As far as other singing gigs go, Miller did a few charity shows with the rest of the Top 10 shortly after the show's finale but has kept her focus on her scholarly pursuits since the school year began. No big deal, says the lighthearted teen, there's plenty of time left for her to develop as a musician.

"I'm really young as it is now -- only 18 -- so I still have a long time to go out there and really give Canada another taste of what I'm worth," she said. "Winning isn't everything and that's one thing Canadian Idol hasn't taught me. While I'm in university and after university I'm going to keep pursuing my dream, to be performing on stage."

source: http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20080115/CI6_mila_update_080115/20080115?s_name=idol2007&no_ads=

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