PINOY DREAM ACADEMY (PDA) Season 2 Begins on June 9

For the past nine weeks, ABS-CBN has been introducing the potential scholars of Pinoy Dream Academy (PDA) Season 2 via a segment integrated with the Saturday edition of Pinoy Big Brother Teen Edition Plus. This primer, hosted by Yeng Constantino, introduced the 32 PDA dreamers—with all of them giving the public a sample of their own brand of music.

According to PDA Business Unit Head Laurenti Dyogi, over 10,000 people worldwide auditioned for the second season of PDA.

This season's hosts are Toni Gonzaga, Nikki Gil and the newest Kapamilya star Billy Crawford. Toni will be seen hosting the primetime edition, Nikki will deliver updates that will be aired two to three times a day, while Billy will be seen in the afternoon update dubbed as Uberture.

The 16 PDA scholars will train under new Headmaster Ryan Cayabyab (who takes over the reins from Jim Paredes); Performance Master Joey Reyes; UP College of Music Voice and Music Theater Chairman and this season's Voice Master Kitchy Molina; and Voice Mentor Monet Silvestre.

One of the modifications of PDA Season 2 is the addition of a live-in mentor who will be staying with the dreamers as they train to be excellent singers. "I want to emphasize something new here in PDA. Merong live-in na mentor and that is Hagrid," joked Maestro Ryan Cayabyab. Hagrid is the kind giant who is part of the Harry Potter series. "Si Teacher Monet ang live-in mentor. This is something that you should look forward to because this is a different take on the new PDA."

What are the mentors looking for in the new PDA grand star dreamer?

"Let's get real," says Direk Joey. "It's not enough that you sing well—you have to be a star. In other words, people you can sell. Do looks count? Being good-looking counts definitely but if you are not exactly blessed by nature, then you won't be deprived of the chance to improve yourself. We are looking at this in a very realistic manner.

"In the process of selection, we know those who have a strong chance of making it and that matters a lot in the auditions. Let's face it, dito sa ating bansa, sa bawat kanto may magaling kumanta. Dito rin sa ating bansa, kailangan mong lumakbay sa mga probinsiya para makahanap ng isang star."

PDA Headmaster Ryan Cayabyab explains the grading system that the scholars will have to undergo when they enter the Academy. "We all come from the academe. Kitchy, Joey, and myself, lahat kami nagturo. Among all of us, we could log in some 50 years in the academe. In fact, Monet was my student in music composition while Kitchy teaches classical music in the University of the Philippines College of Music.

"Sanay kami sa structure. When I talk to them, meron kaming goals na sine-set at yun ang pupuntahan namin na goals. We will push them to get to those goals. Ang grading system nila ay based kung maaabot nila ang standards na sine-set namin. I talked to Lauren and I said I want a developmental curriculum."

Despite all these lessons and the training given by PDA mentors, they are quick to point out that real success depends mainly on the singer.