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.)

Laura