There are very few things that I love more than being on stage and performing, but more than anything, I want to be a positive role model for teenage girls.
Lindsey Stirling
The great thing about YouTube is there are no gatekeepers. No one is waiting to tell you if you're good enough. It's just your audience.
I started making music that I loved and was passionate and excited about, but it was really cool when I started touring to realize it's an extremely diverse group of people who come out. In the front row, I'll have everyone from a little girl in a frilly tutu, to rockers and gamers and older couples. I love it that it's just everybody.
There is one person that I have learned always sees the beauty in us, and that's our Savior Jesus Christ.
Visualization - it's been huge for me. Your mind doesn't know the difference between imagination and reality. You can't always practice perfectly - my fingers will play a little bit out of tune, or my dance moves might not be as sharp - but in my mind, I can practice perfectly.
Once I know a song really well, I can then have fun dancing.
If I like dubstep and electronic, why don't I make the violin fit me rather than making myself fit the violin?
There are so many things that can go wrong while performing. I've had violin strings break; I've had pants that were slowly falling down, and I'd have to pull them up in between every song; my hairpiece was falling out, so a big chunk of hair was just flapping around as I danced, and I've completely fallen on my butt.
I was struggling with anorexia, and one of the biggest problems with an eating disorder is you don't realize you have it. And you can't heal until you realize there's a problem.
It is very unnatural to dance while playing the violin. I had to practice so hard to learn how to do it, but now it is part of my expression, and it comes naturally. I have to know a song perfectly before I can even begin to move.
I played the violin my whole life. I wanted to play from the time I was just a little kid, and I've always loved dance as well. I wanted to make people smile. I wanted to add an extra energy to my playing and make it visual and make it unique and fun.
When I first came to college, it was a time that I was trying to figure out, 'Who am I? What makes me special?' and I started to find most of my value in the fact that I was thin.
Online is such an important platform... it's all one giant melting pot of talents. The times are changing. It's just art now. You can share your audiences with everyone, and it's exciting.
I feel like when I'm on stage and when I'm performing - or I think when anybody is developing their talents and sharing it - I think you glow.
What gives my art the most meaning is when I can connect with others through it. When people say that my music has helped them, or it makes them feel good, or it inspires them, that is what gives my art lasting meaning to me.
It's not like I try to be different, but every single person is unique, and every single person has special things to offer, and it's about embracing it and not being afraid of the fact that maybe you're different or quirky, but it's okay to be different, and it can be a wonderful thing.
If you're public speaking, imagine yourself feeling confident; if you're nervous about a date and thinking, 'I'm gonna be a dork,' picture yourself being funny. Then it will be familiar to your brain.
Sometimes, being different feels a lot like being alone. But with that being said, being true to that and being true to my standards and my way of doing things in my art and my music, everything that has made me feel very different... in the end, it has made me the happiest.
I have been so incredibly blessed, and I just feel like my calling is to be a missionary and share the gospel... The Lord's given me a platform to stand on and an audience that is listening. I feel like it's so important to share what makes me happy.
I still follow the lifestyle of the Mormon church. I try to go to church every Sunday even when I'm on tour. It's not only my upbringing, but it helps me stay sane. It helps me remember my purpose and the overall picture of what is important to me and what makes me happy.
I think YouTube used to have a negative connotation, like it was the place where the rejects went and made careers, but I'm proud to be YouTuber. I wanted to be in that first generation of YouTube stars who transitioned into the 'real world.' It was a really good way to build my business.
I feel like my art is very eclectic. I have taken my favorite things - be that costume designing, fashion sense, music and video editing - and I threw them all into one big clump. And that's what I do.
I really feel like sometimes I'll write these songs, and I'll just think, 'You know that couldn't have come from me alone.' I believe that God inspires us. I believe that He gives us gifts and talents, and it's up to us to develop them and choose what we do with them.
I love going into the studio with just an idea of the direction. Like, I want this tempo... I love to start from scratch, and the tracks sort of take on a life of their own.
If your mom asks you to do the dishes, do not pull out your pirate attitude. But if someone tells you you're not good enough, says your dreams are too lofty, or claims there is no room in showbiz for a dancing violinist - well then, by all means, pull out your eye patch, my friend, and take to the high seas.
I was told by so many people that I wouldn't succeed because I was too different. Ironically, the very reason that people watch my channel and travel thousands of miles to see a show... is because it's different. God didn't send us to Earth to just blend in. We are here to share what makes us unique.
I was very unfamiliar with YouTube; I thought it was the place for dog and cat videos.
I never liked feeling like the world needed to have labels on everything, whether it's people or categories of music. I think everyone should be what they want to be, and you shouldn't have to look a certain way in order to fit this mold or that mold.
A lot of these reality-TV shows people go on, they come off, and nothing happens. You never hear from them again. Fifteen seconds of fame is not the name of the game. No matter how big you break, or how many people you break in front of, you still have to slowly build a fan base to have anything loyal and lasting from people.
I love to perform not only music, but to make performances extremely visual, and create almost a magical fantasy. It's really an uplifting style of art that combines visuals and music in very dreamlike ways.
I was told at first that being different was a bad thing. Everywhere I went, it was just, 'You're too different'... And it turned out that being different was the best thing that ever happened to my career. It is why people travel to my shows. It's why people want to hear my story and buy my book.
For several years I had no idea that I had become anorexic. And I'd be at places with people I cared about, but what I was thinking about was how much extra grease was on the pizza or the calories that I knew was in that shake.
I think it's most important to, rather than just do what everybody else is doing, like tons of selfies, find out what makes you excited. You know, is it taking pictures and doing cool makeup and making yourself look great? If so, wonderful. Is it music? Is it teaching something? Are you great at teaching?
I've always had a fascination with pirates. You know, I've written a song completely inspired by I want this to feel like pirates, you know, fighting together, made a music video about it, yada, yada.
I always meditate before every show. I say a prayer with my crew and my band to get in the mode, and I also stretch because it's a very athletic show. We've got to entertain; it's what we do.
I tried so many different musics. I kind of burned out on classical and wanted to make it fun again. I started playing with indie bands and country bands and finally realized electronic music brought my style to life.
YouTube - holy cow! - I can do my career at my own pace. I didn't have anybody to tell me I wasn't ready, and I learned how to self-market and how to strategize. 'Spontaneous Me' had already been up on iTunes, but besides my mom and grandma, no one bought it. Once it was up on YouTube, it went crazy.
As a kid, I was creative and unique, and I've had that my whole life.
I submitted videos and applications to talent agencies and TV shows; I drove to Vegas and visited agents. I was on 'America's Got Talent'; I played for free at venues in attempts to be 'found' and yet all the experts in the entertainment industry told me that what I did was not marketable and that I had to join a group or do more traditional music.
My audience is a huge part of my success, so I see us as a team. They send me tons of song requests every day. Some of the songs I've never heard before, but I listen to them and then pick the ones that I love.
I can remember dancing around living room with my two sisters to the music of Paganini and Mozart. I can still remember my dad combing the newspaper, circling all the free concerts in town, and on the weekends, we would go as a family.
My favorite thing about the success I've found is that I get to share it with my family and the ones that I love.
I never would've tried YouTube if I hadn't had so many doors slammed in my face.
All the things I do in my videos - the jumps, twirls and back bends - will also be onstage.
I tried to work with a record label; I tried to work with a booking agency, variety shows. I went to Vegas. I just tried everything I could think of, and nothing took. No one thought there was a place for my style and my music; it was just too different.
I just loved EDM because I felt like it inspired dance and movement.
Maker is extremely proactive and creative with their talent. They seem to have mastered the difficult task of giving attention to their smaller, growing channels while still being able to add value to their larger established channels - plus, with this partnership, I am one step closer to becoming a Disney princess!
The truth is that several years ago, I suffered from depression. And I remember during this time, I basically fell into this hole where my life became cold, and it became gray, and I lost sight of everything that was important to me.
The same way that I practiced the violin, the same way that I practiced my dance moves, I decided that I was going to practice being positive and practice loving myself.
I know that I received so much help from God to become that kind of person that I wanted to be. That's honestly the message that I think is in a lot of my songs.
