We’ll soon have another group workshop at Dance for Joy
Studios in Sellwood, September or October, so stay tuned! This is what the last
participants had to say:
I would recommend this class – and highly – to anyone finding or
working with their voice. You are delightful and encouraging. -Emily H.
This workshop was such fun – if I have any feedback, I wish it was
longer! Laura was warm and inviting and made us feel comfortable from the start. -Michelle L.
I feel much more knowledgeable about my own voice and have a few
practical exercises to use and explore. -Jennifer F.
First time I have been comfortable with my voice. Especially want
to say I feel safe in class with Laura. -Sara G.
Enjoy summer, sunshine, and love your voice while I’m away.
Please
spread the love and pass this along to a friend!
Lake Oswego’s Transformational Voice® Teacher (Transformational Voice® is a registered trademark of Transformational Voice® Training Institute, LLC, and Linda Brice.)
TVTI Apprentice Teacher Graduation Ceremony May 7, 2011
Connections
to Your Vocal Dreams
Long before I became a certified Transformational Voice® Teacher, I was
part of a women’s group designed to help each other make our dreams come true.
We impassioned women who joined M6 in Salem, Oregon, quickly
accomplished so many dreams I just had to write a book about our process …and create a video to share with
Oprah Winfrey. (At the time, Oprah had a TV network show.)
The miracles pouring in after I first voiced my “Oprah video” dream at
an M6 meeting still amaze me. First the camera operator showed up,
then she brought her video editing friend, then a friend I hadn’t seen in
several years introduced me to someone who had just been hired by Harpo
Productions as a Field Producer.
Seriously…what are the chances?
I knew the exact day the pitch had been made to the top Harpo
producers, and – to this day – still think M6 would likely have been
featured on Oprah’s show…if the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New
York City hadn’t been annihilated on September 11th of that year,
just a week or so after the pitch.
Yes, friend, that was the horrific time frame. I’m taking a few moments
here to breathe and send light to the countless individuals who were touched by
that enormous tragedy.
‘Touched’ isn’t really the right word, is it?
Sigh.
And…
So…
What does this have to do with vocal dreams?
While the Oprah video was being edited, I wrote a page and a half of my
first book, which would eventually become Six
Degrees to Your Dreams.
My thusband (then-husband) sold office equipment, and he drove to
Portland to meet with a woman named Renee at her martial arts school. She
needed a copier.
Jeff, thusband, didn’t know Renee https://www.askrenee.com/ was also a psychic medium. When he discovered this, he mentioned I had recently read a book on the topic (Rosemary Altea’s The Eagle and the Rose) and that I had recently had my first reading.
That’s all he said about me.
Renee grabbed a piece of paper and wrote down a note for me: “TV is a
go. You have a book to write.”
Even Jeff, who didn’t believe in all that psychic crap, was so blown
away he called me from the parking lot before he got back on I-5. “You won’t
believe what this woman just wrote down for me to give you.”
Now let’s fast-forward to 2008. After I’d gotten to know Renee as an
intuitive and friend, I received an e-mail about her new voice teacher, Linda
Brice. Renee doesn’t recommend people easily, yet she highly recommended Linda.
She wrote, “I’ve seen this woman take people who are off pitch and have them
singing on pitch in a matter of minutes.”
And here I was, wanting to sing again – right at the same time.
When I took Linda’s first voice class, I was hooked. There was no
competition about people being better or worse singers. People shared from
their hearts. The outer voice became a mirror of what was happening with the
inner voice. Everyone grew and became braver in sharing their voices.
Being curious by nature, I wanted to know how Renee met Linda!
Renee met Geoffrey Knight through hypnosis training, and he introduced her to composer Michael Hoppé https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Hopp%C3%A9 to help with music he was composing, Renee mentioned wanting a new voice teacher, and Michael had just run into Linda a few weeks earlier in Portland.
Now, get this! Linda had met Michael Hoppé in Los Angeles around 1996 through Julia Cameron, famed author of The
Artist’s Way and several other books on creativity. After reading
Cameron’s amazing book, Linda attended an Artist’s Way workshop with Julia,
during which Julia confessed that she had always wanted to sing but had been
told she was a “bad alto.” She got up her courage to sing a lullaby
she had written, and Linda immediately recognized that she was no alto, but
a very high, light coloratura (the same voice type as Renee!)
Several
months went by, and one day Julia called Linda out of the blue, wanting to
study voice. She introduced Linda to Michael, whose
album, Solace, had
been nominated for a New Age Grammy award. (Michael and his lovely wife, Monica,
have since moved to San Miguel de Allende in Mexico, where he is composing up a
storm!)
Renee and I went through the first Transformational Voice® apprentice teaching seminar together, and now Renee http://www.reneesings.com/ is a professional singer. You can call her America’s Singing Psychic, or at least I do. 😊 Linda Brice http://transformationalvoice.com/ continues to inspire singers and voice teachers across the globe.
And me?
I resigned from the workers’
compensation insurance world in 2014 and now teach voice and piano full time.
Not just in my home studio and at Lake Music, but in vocal workshops at schools
and organizations.
Soft Surroundings is my favorite
store, and I work there usually one-half day a week, because I love the
employee discount on my clothes, wonderful facial care products, and the
sisterhood I’ve found there.
At Soft Surroundings, I met the woman
who would introduce me to a small alternative high school…the pilot school for
my Speak Up! Workshop for teens with colleague Katie Ramseur.
More recently, in speaking for the
Lake Oswego Chamber of Commerce, I met another woman who will help bring the
fundamental principles of healthy and effective vocal technique, the powerful
inner voice meeting the outer voice, bringing it out into the world, to teens
in other schools.
Friend, you never know where your next
inspiration will come from.
Just keep sharing your gifts with the
world and be open to the possibilities of inspiration and guidance. You will be
amazed by what happens next.
Please spread the love and pass this
along to a friend!
I hired Laura to be my voice coach after
hearing her speak at an NSA (National Speakers Association) event. Laura is
AMAZING! In just a few coaching sessions with her, I learned so much about
where my voice comes from, what my range is, and how to get the most out of it.
I absolutely love working with Laura!
-Cathey A. Speaker/Trainer/TEDx Speaker Coach
Lake Oswego’s Transformational Voice® Teacher (Transformational
Voice® is a registered trademark of Transformational Voice® Training Institute,
LLC, and Linda Brice.)
I auditioned for the role of Nat and wasn’t cast. A few
weeks into rehearsals, Joe contacted me after deciding he didn’t want a
recorded soundtrack for the show, rather live piano music. I reflected on his
request, and took my trusty pendulum to the test, before saying a whole-hearted
YES! (Let me know on the blog if you’d like more information about how tools
like pendulums can help you align your inner spirit with your outer voice
before making important decisions like this.)
This volunteer gig has been an amazing process, full of
learning, collaboration, and making beautiful music and theatre.
Joe, his partner, Valerie (an expert on physical movement on
stage who is directing her own show at the Pentacle Theatre right now) and I
threw several ideas out on the table (literally, my kitchen table) at our first
meeting. Those few musical ideas led to others, and before long…we had a roster
of songs that would work well to open the show, for scene transitions, and to
close the show.
Then this voice and piano teacher had to order sheet music
she didn’t have and start rehearsing.
I took piano lessons from Mrs. Hamre in Clark, South Dakota,
for a decade, from second grade through my senior year in high school. I
accompanied soloists back then. Tom Woods called me his “good luck charm,” as
every time I accompanied him, he earned a Superior 1 rating at state vocal
contest.
My Yamaha Arius electric piano is my trusted and cherished
instrument now; I couldn’t give voice or piano lessons without it.
Yet I was out of practice.
I’m not a professional pianist. I don’t know how to
transpose music into different keys; I’ve never even really tried. You can’t
use a capo with a piano.
Anxiety set in before my first rehearsal with the cast and
crew Friday the fifth of July. The cast had been together for weeks, working
this show, and I was playing on an old piano I’d never seen before. I was there
from 7 pm until 10:40 pm, getting over my nerves and becoming a part of the
show, realizing how the music we’d chosen would – or wouldn’t – work during the
scene transitions.
Would I rather be on stage acting? Maybe. Yet Patti plays Nat
so well, I can’t begrudge her the role; she’s consistently knocking it out of
the ball park.
After afternoon rehearsal the following day we’d worked out
most of the kinks, and everything started coming together.
Most of the pieces Joe, Valerie, and I had decided on at the
first meeting stayed. Thank God for Kids. Smoke Gets in Your Eyes. Que Sera,
Sera. Tears in Heaven. So In Love. Try to Remember.
And consider volunteering your beautiful vocal and
musicianship skills, even if you don’t feel you’re ready, to a local community
theatre, where joy is created, found and shared.
Please spread the love and pass this along to a
friend!
I would recommend this
class – and highly – to anyone finding or working with their voice. You are
delightful and encouraging. -Emily H.
This workshop was such fun – if I have any feedback, I
wish it was longer! Laura was warm and inviting and made us feel comfortable
from the start. -Michelle L.
I feel much more knowledgeable about my own voice and
have a few practical exercises to use and explore. -Jennifer F.
First time I have been comfortable with my voice.
Especially want to say I feel safe in class with Laura. -Sara G.
Lake Oswego’s
Transformational Voice®
Teacher (Transformational Voice® is a registered trademark of Transformational Voice® Training
Institute, LLC, and Linda Brice.)
The impact we speakers, singers, performers have on our audiences starts before our speech or song does. Check out this seven-minute vlog to learn how to improve your stage presence.
Please
spread the love and pass this along to a friend!
I hired Laura to be my
voice coach after hearing her speak at an NSA (National Speakers Association)
event. Laura is AMAZING! In just a few coaching sessions with her, I learned so
much about where my voice comes from, what my range is, and how to get the most
out of it. I absolutely love working with Laura! -Cathey A.
Speaker/Trainer/TEDx Speaker Coach
Lake Oswego’s
Transformational Voice®
Teacher (Transformational Voice® is a registered trademark of Transformational Voice® Training
Institute, LLC, and Linda Brice.)
When my voice teacher and mentor, Linda Brice, first started
teaching group classes in addition to individual voice lessons, she was
surprised to find people learn faster in a group setting.
I can’t explain the reason for this either, yet I’ve
witnessed and experienced it myself. Something magical happens when people come
together with a common intention and purpose.
My June 15thEmbrace Your Authentic Voice
workshop at Dance with Joy Studios in Sellwood, Oregon, was just such an
experience.
A comment led to a question, then to an explanation, which
raised more comments, and questions…and we were all learning and growing
together in ways that went way outside the Four Critical Pillars of Healthy
and Effective Vocal Technique. I don’t remember when I’ve had more fun! What
an honor for this voice (and piano) teacher!
One thing, way outside the intended curriculum, truly amazed
me. Each participant found her third register! (If you’d like to know about the
third register, please ask on the blog, and I’ll answer.)
This isn’t something that happens every day in any first
group vocal class.
The energy of the group made the magic happen.
If you would like to be a part of, or host, a group Embrace
Your Authentic Voice class, do let me know. Let’s spread the magic around.
Please spread the love and pass this along to a
friend!
I would recommend this
class – and highly – to anyone finding or working with their voice. You are
delightful and encouraging. -Emily H.
This workshop was such fun – if I have any feedback, I wish it was longer! Laura was warm and inviting and made us feel comfortable from the start. -Michelle L.
I feel much more knowledgeable about my own voice and
have a few practical exercises to use and explore. -Jennifer F.
First time I have been comfortable with my voice.
Especially want to say I feel safe in class with Laura. -Sara G.
Lake Oswego’s
Transformational Voice®
Teacher (Transformational Voice® is a registered trademark of Transformational Voice® Training
Institute, LLC, and Linda Brice.)
The Lake Music recital was awesome! Three of my students were brave and got right out there. I’m so proud of Reagan, Paige and Karley. And, dare I say it? I’m proud of myself, as I performed, too. As a teacher, it’s important I know what my students are going through, and to perform as often as I can. My performance wasn’t perfect, yet I’ve started to get over my nerves of public solo singing performance. Here’s a little video of my Folsom Prison Blues performance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ow6fAsgYzeI
Easily Affordable Vocal Workshop in Sellwood!
Embrace Your Authentic Voice:
Four Critical
Pillars for Effective and Healthy Vocal Technique
This
interactive and dynamic class teaches you how to:
Harness the power of the Breath to create maximum vocal impact without
weakening your voice or your throat getting hoarse.
Avoid harsh Onsets, which can cause damage to the vocal cords. (Internationally renowned pop singer, Adele, had to have vocal cord surgery due to this issue, not once, but twice.)
Create vocal Resonance,
so your voice carries to the back of room without a microphone, and without
pushing or straining your voice.
Speak in your natural, authentic Pitch to avert vocal fry.
Please
spread the love and pass this along to a friend!
I hired Laura to be my
voice coach after hearing her speak at an NSA (National Speakers Association)
event. Laura is AMAZING! In just a few coaching sessions with her, I learned so
much about where my voice comes from, what my range is, and how to get the most
out of it. I absolutely love working with Laura! -Cathey Armillas,
Speaker/Trainer/TEDx Speaker Coach
Lake Oswego’s
Transformational Voice®
Teacher (Transformational Voice® is a registered trademark of Transformational Voice® Training
Institute, LLC, and Linda Brice.)
