I have two upcoming vocal
workshops I’m excited to tell you about, but this post is personal.
I got married!!!
I have a husband!!!
I’m a wife!!!
Okay, I’ll stop with all the
exclamation points.
Or not!!!!!!!!!
George and I have been in a
committed, loving relationship for seven years, but it still feels weird to say
those two little words. My husband.
The ceremony was short, sweet
and simple, planned just a little over two weeks ahead of time.
Still, getting married is a
big deal, so I wanted to share our big news and a little bit of our story.
In September of 2010, I started a new full-time job as a Sr. Claims Examiner, while I was completing apprentice teacher training with the Transformational Voice® Training Institute. I was at the studio three nights a week after the day job, doing homework and rehearsing, and dating was the last thing on my mind. I didn’t have the time, and besides…as my marriage of 12 years was ending in 2006…I swore I’d never get married again. (Oddly enough, my new husband was also married once before, in 1994, and divorced in 2006.)
My back, especially around
the left shoulder blade area, was bothering me as I was sitting at a computer
again for hours a day. It became almost intolerable one day. I had left my previous
chiropractor and massage therapist in Salem behind when I moved to Lake Oswego
after my divorce. And I had just moved into a new apartment, with a
chiropractic clinic right across the street.
I searched my mind trying to
remember the name of the chiropractic clinic and thankfully found it online. I
called and was told Licensed Massage Therapist George had an appointment
available at 5:30. I booked that appointment, and my back was so grateful I
did. The owner of the clinic also became my new chiropractor.
For a year and four months,
about once a month, I was typically George’s last client of the day, after I’d
finished adjusting claims at the office and my body at Curves gym. I’d show up
in gym shorts and a T-shirt, and George’s massage would make me feel better.
When I was getting ready to go home, he was closing the clinic after the doctor
and other staff had left.
We got to talking…George
behind the reception desk, me standing in the lobby. We became friends. He told
me about local bands he liked, and we became on friends on Facebook so I could
check out some of the music he suggested. It turned out we were also neighbors,
living just half a block away from each other.
Fast-forward several months. The TVTI graduation ceremony was complete and I had more free time. I hadn’t been in for a massage in a while, and it was around the time of the grand slam tennis events, which came up in conversation towards the end of my massage. I used to love to bat a ball around (I’m terrible at it, but it’s fun and good exercise) and mentioned that to George. He said he had a tennis racquet somewhere.
He flew at the Washington
State International Kite Festival while I celebrated my 48th birthday
with friends Lorinda and Richard. After George returned from the festival, I
received a message that he’d located his tennis racquet.
And that’s how it started.
George had never dated a
client and was cautious in his approach. I was just excited to have a tennis
buddy again!
We first walked to the tennis
court together on September 4, 2012. I thought we were just tennis buddies,
until I got an invitation to the Saturday Market. Then I realized my tennis
friend might be asking me out on a date.
This is the story we included
as part of our wedding ceremony:
L: It all started with a walk
to the tennis court
G: Sometimes when you first
meet someone, and you feel that energetic connection
L: Your heart starts to show
itself
G: So, I took her downtown to
Saturday Market and to see the Church of Elvis, which wasn’t really a church
L: Before we got the Moroccan
chicken seasoning packet that would soon cement our relationship, and we saw
the dragon boat races
G: Somewhere along the way,
we realized we spoke the same language
L: And looked at the world
through similar eyes, so I asked him to help me hang a sarong on my wall
G: And we made plans for that
Moroccan chicken dinner
Both: That was seven years
ago today and I’ve loved you more every day since, Baby.
We decided to get married
before our trip to South Dakota to visit my family late September and had
already made plans to visit our dear friends Kathie and Rod over the night of
September 14th. They live in the country, 30 miles from the Oregon coast.
After they agreed to host our wedding and be our witnesses, we realized the
date was exactly seven years after we’d committed to each other; 10 days after
that first walk to the tennis court.
Here we are with Kathie and
Rod and Rev Susan Dorn. Photographer Debbie is an old friend of George’s who
happened to be available at just the right time, and brought her granddaughter,
Gabby.
My favorite florist gifted me
with the orchids in my hair.
Each person was integral to
our sweet, short, simple and meaningful ceremony. (Which is what I would
recommend to younger people getting married, too, by the way. )
I had fun getting married,
and I hope you’ve had fun reading about it.
From your voice (and piano)
teacher,
Mrs. Laura Lee Handke,
Married to Mr. George Edward
Meredith
TWO UPCOMING WORKSHOPS:
October 5, Saturday, 2:00-4:00 pm
Dance with Joy Studios
8051 SE 16th Ave., Portland (Sellwood) OR
Embrace Your Authentic Voice: Four Critical Pillars for Effective and Healthy Vocal Technique
Learn 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.
In Partnership with Brenda Bryan and The Speakers Club
Location TBA
Four Vocal Superpowers Most Pros Don’t Know
Learn 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.
Within the
first couple of lessons with vocal coach Laura Handke, I learned to use my
voice in a more powerful way using the breathing and resonance techniques she
teaches. She is always pleasant and upbeat, which helps me to relax as I
learn. I would recommend her to anyone who wants to take their vocal
expression to the next level. Thank you, Laura! –Mary Jo H.
Laura Handke, Lake
Oswego’s Transformational Voice® Teacher
Transformational Voice® is a
registered trademark of Transformational Voice® Training Institute, LLC, and
Linda Brice
Every time I meet a new student, give a voice lesson, or sing
intentionally myself, I learn something new.
Hearing “I can’t” dismays me. And I’ve been hearing those two little
words a lot lately, especially from young female singers. “I can’t sing that
high.” “I can’t breathe like that.” “I can’t hold a note that long.”
The more subtle and insidious message behind those I cant’s is “I
won’t.” “I’m not willing to consider that I can.” “I choose to believe I am
unable to do this.”
Admittedly, some of the suggestions I give students feel downright silly,
and that can be embarrassing for tweens or teenagers. Say ‘nyaaa’ like an angry
cat. Stick your tongue out of your mouth and tack it onto your chin with a
finger, while you say ‘aaa’ (as in the word cat or hat.) Pretend you’re
throwing your voice all the way across the room then down the street three
blocks while you say, ‘money, money, money’.
Yet these exercises help free the authentic voice. Trust me…it’s not always easy figuring out how to help students get healthy and effective vocal technique into muscle memory, while keeping in mind how self-conscious we can be at certain ages. It’s not like I’ve forgotten my own experience of being 12, 14, 17…
Students of all ages tend to respond to the idea that your breath is a river – or a conveyor belt – carrying the sound of your voice. If you can picture your belly/abdomen as the bellows which bring forth the breath, which carries your voice on the river… you’ll be several steps ahead of most people who talk all day long without having this conscious awareness.
Just one little tip today to help free your voice.
You’re welcome. 😊
TWO UPCOMING WORKSHOPS:
October 5, Saturday, 2:00-4:00 pm
Dance with Joy Studios
8051 SE 16th Ave., Portland (Sellwood) OR
Embrace Your Authentic Voice: Four Critical Pillars for Effective and Healthy Vocal Technique
Learn 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.
In Partnership with Brenda Bryan and The Speakers Club
Location TBA
Four Vocal Superpowers Most Pros Don’t Know
Learn 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.
In the
meantime, love your voice and voice your love,
Laura
Please spread the love and pass this along to a
friend!
In only a few lessons with Laura, my voice quality
improved tremendously, both for singing and speaking. I’m noticing more
resonance, clarity, and range. Laura has a great ear, and her teaching and
coaching style feels safe, friendly and professional. She is supportive and
stretches me. Her acting, singing, and speaking backgrounds blend beautifully
to support presence and confidence in her students, as well. I’m excited to
continue with her, and highly recommend her if you want to improve your voice.
–Cricket W., MD
Lake Oswego’s Transformational Voice® Teacher (Transformational Voice® is a registered
trademark of Transformational Voice® Training Institute, LLC, and Linda Brice.)
Registers of
the voice is a complex topic I only begin to introduce in this short 4-minute video,
yet I bet you’ll find it super helpful:
Here’s a
little physiology background I didn’t get into in the video. Musculature
changes as the larynx moves between registers; for example, when going from the
1st to 2nd registers, the thyroarytenoid muscles pass
control over to the cricothyroid muscles, as the vocal folds are pulled tauter.
Also, the back of your tongue goes down as you shift down through your register
“gears”.
I told you –
complex stuff!!!
We won’t be
getting that complicated in my two upcoming group voice workshops:
Four Vocal Superpowers Most Pros Don’t
Know
Learn 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.
October 5, Saturday, 2:00-4:00 pm:
Dance with Joy Studios
8051 SE 16th Ave.,
Portland (Sellwood) OR
October 26, Saturday, 1:00-4:00 pm:
In Partnership with Brenda Bryan and
The Speakers Club
Location TBA
I hope you
can make it to one of them!
In the
meantime, love your voice and voice your love,
Laura
Please spread the love and pass this along to a
friend!
Laura has helped me find my true,
authentic voice. She’s given me music I didn’t know I could sing to help me
realize I’m truly a singer, not just a person who can sing. -Kenyon A.
Lake Oswego’s Transformational Voice® Teacher (Transformational Voice® is a registered
trademark of Transformational Voice® Training Institute, LLC, and Linda Brice.)
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.)
