Our Faculty

Craig Jones

Craig Jones is starting his 10th year at Reed teaching jazz piano. He also teaches choral conducting, piano methods, and vocal jazz improvisation at Multnomah University. He is the music director at Christ the King Lutheran Church. He performed with a jazz trio in NYC for 10 years, toured with the Chamber Jazz Concert Orchestra under the direction of Calvin Jackson, played the hotel circuit in southern California, and concertized in Italy, Germany, Slovenia, Switzerland, and Austria. He also has arranged numerous charts for cruise lines, big bands, and choral ensembles. At his recording studio, he teaches composition, arranging, and offers private lessons in jazz and classical music. Jones holds a B.A. in Psychology (Chemical Dependency), a B.M. in Jazz Performance, and a M.M. in Classical Performance.

Linda Brice

Linda Brice, Founder/Artistic Director, has been a passionate and committed teacher of the art of singing and speech for 30 years. Linda’s students sing professionally and avocationally throughout the world, across styles and genres. She is the developer of the breath-based, spiritually grounded system of techniques, methodologies, and principles which form the core of the Transformational Voice Training curriculum, the goal of which is to liberate the Authentic Voice and thus the spirit of the singer or speaker within. Linda is a frequent guest lecturer on vocal technique and spirituality, and has also taught Voice and Diction on the faculties of Oregon State University, Oxnard Community College, and Indiana University-Bloomington. In a prior life, she designed some of the first computer-assisted instruction in music theory while directing an artificial intelligence research project for IBM-Los Angeles Scientific Center. During this time she served as the Founder of the First and Second International Congress on Music and Artificial Intelligence, as well as on the Editorial Board of Journal for Computers and the Humanities. During her corporate days, Linda also founded a speech and accent modification consulting firm, Amerispeak. She taught hundreds of speakers from every walk of life how to discover their authentic voice and to use it fearlessly and effectively, for clients such as 20th Century Insurance, Wells Fargo Bank, Citifinancial, and Continental Airlines. Linda holds a Master’s Degree in Voice Performance from the Indiana University School of Music (where she began her teaching career), pursued a doctorate in Systematic Musicology at UCLA, and holds Certificates in French Language and French Art Song Interpretation from the Institute Internationale d’ete de Nice. A professional classical singer, she is also a lover and advocate of popular music, especially jazz. She is indebted to her many great teachers who showed her the way, especially Gerhard Husch, Virginia Zeani and Reri Grist.

Laura Moya

Laura Moya, soprano and harpist is a Certified Music-Thanatologist who serves as a full time staff member with the chaplains of Providence St. Vincent Medical Center. She obtained extensive experience in vocal performance and musical theater prior to being a student at the Chalice of Repose Project School of Music Thanatology, in Missoula, Montana. She graduated in 1996, was certified the following year, and served on the faculty as Clinical Mentor from 1998 through 2001. Laura is one of the core faculty members of the Music-Thanatology Training Program through Lane Community College and serves as it’s vocal instructor. Laura served as the first president of the Music-Thanatology Association International,the professional organization of music thanatologists from all over the world, from 2002-2006.

Angela Reiswig

Angela Reiswig has a Vocal Performance Degree from New Mexico State University where she played lead roles with the Dona Ana Lyric Opera. Since then, she detoured into corporate America supervising and managing medical offices for 15 years. Coming back to her music she has studied with local master teachers Peggy Norcross and Linda Brice. She is the founder and owner of Animaté Voice Studio for Children offering classes in Voice for children ages 7-17. Additionally, Angela is an Apprentice with Transformational Voice Training Institute in Portland and on Faculty with Rose City Music Academy. Angela’s performance background is in Opera, Music Theater, Jazz, Symphony Choirs, Church Choir and Worship teams. She is currently teaching out of her home and studios in Forest Grove, Beaverton and Portland. She Cantors regularly at St Thomas More Church in Portland, Oregon. She is passionate about the soul’s connection to singing, the singer’s job as storyteller, and uncovering and affirming the innate beauty of each individual voice. She very much feels like a fellow traveler with all her students, believing that at any level the honesty of the offering is paramount. She is also a grateful mother and wife and a hopeless dog lover!

Rosalind Diamond

Rosalind Diamond is a Minister and Teacher with the Ridhwan School for spiritual development. She wants to expand her teaching modalities to include the student’s voice in speech and song. After a lifetime of dedicated listening, Diamond began studying voice with Linda Brice in January 2009, and in April, Celtic folk harp with Suzanne Cerddeu. She will apply for the Music Thanatology Program in 2012. She received an MA in Integral Counseling from the California Institute of Integral Studies, and was on staff at the Institute for the Study of Humanistic Medicine. A former director of JFK University’s Transpersonal Counseling Center, she has a lifelong interest in community development and conflict resolution, and sees music as a healing art. Diamond will be the elder in the TVTI Apprentice Program, and it’s youngest musician.

Rebecca Stager

Rebecca Stager, a native of Portland, Oregon, has been playing piano since the age of six and accompanying vocalists since the age of thirteen. While completing her Bachelor’s degree in Music at Oregon State University, she performed piano and voice recitals, and accompanied vocal recitals, opera scenes, and choirs. She studied piano performance with Dr. Rachelle McCabe, vocal performance with Janet Hackett, and choral conducting/music education with Steven Zielke. She has also given performances with groups such as the OSU wind ensemble, Willamette Stage Company, and Bel Canto Northwest. Currently, Rebecca is in the last year of her Master’s degree in Accompanying at Manhattan School of Music in New York. Rebecca eagerly looks forward to joining the team as director of TVTI’s new Collaborative Piano Program. She sees this as the next step in discovering her role in performers’ lives through the gift of collaborative piano.

Judi Julien

Judi Julien’s life journey has integrated a love of music with a passion for teaching and a belief in the human capacity for growth and healing. She has a BA in Music from the University of Washington, with a voice major and minor in education. Her postgraduate work includes an M.Ed. in Counseling from Lewis and Clark College, and a Doctorate (Psy.D.) in Clinical Psychology from Pacific University School of Professional Psychology. She completed Post Doctoral training in Neuropsychological Assessment and she is retired from practicing in that field. Judi has counseled in Life Planning, adult development and transitions. Musically, her metier has been liturgical music. She has served as Director of Music, cantor, vocal soloist, choir member and piano accompanist at various services. She has taught cantor workshops through the Liturgical Music Department at Marylhurst College, focusing on each student’s personal gifts and spiritual journey as expressed through music. Spirituality has always been the underlying factor in her life and this deep calling continues to influence her endeavors. It is an integral part of her musical expression. She views herself as a contemplative in action.

Lex Rakowski

Lex Rakowski completed her BS degree in Speech and Hearing Sciences from Portland State University, and intends to pursue a Graduate Degree in Speech Language Pathology. Lex is interested in children’s developmental speech issues and voice disorders. She is a classically trained violinist and classical singer, and has been involved in many choirs including the Phoenix Girls Chorus, which tours internationally every year. She simultaneously instructs the Institute’s group voice classes, participates in its voice apprenticeship program, and continues her study and performance of classical singing.

Nevada Jones

Nevada Jones is a Portland-based composer, artist, and teacher. He has been making music for as long as he can remember. But his musical journey has not been a conventional one. Disenchanted early on with prevailing methods of music training, Nevada wandered the musical plain, trying, sometimes in vain, to teach himself what he needed to know to bring his music out into the world. Thankfully, he has had help along the way. Nevada has been very fortunate to have several creative mentors and master teachers appear in his life, one of whom has been Linda Brice, who has challenged him to teach what he has learned, and to re-learn what he teaches, and helped him discover his Authentic Voice.

Nevada studied acting and music in New York City, and has acted in community theater. His compositions include scores to several professional theater productions and short films. He is currently preparing music for a debut recording as a singer and songwriter. He completed both the Musicianship and Voice Teacher Training apprenticeships as a proud member of the Institute’s first graduating class of apprentice teachers. He believes strongly in the Institute and its mission, and is honored to be a member of its faculty. Today, Nevada feels privileged to be able to help others on their musical path with the kind of approach, embodied in the Transformational Voice Institute, that he had been looking for his entire life.