Apprentice Alumni/Alumnae

It is my pleasure to share with you our 2011 Apprentice Teachers for the Transformational Voice™ Training Institute. In reading their biographical statements, you will see the tremendous diversity of life path and experience that they have brought to the learning, practice and teaching of Holistic Voice. This diversity is both intentional and essential. It is intentional in that it emanates from the core philosophies upon which the Institute is based. It is essential in that it fulfills its missions.

Learn further about our Voice Teacher Apprenticeship Program.

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.

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!

Lynette Carney

Lynette Carney is a classical-popular cross-over dramatic coloratura soprano who performs a variety of styles from operatic arias to popular songs, musical theatre and hymns. She sang as a soloist with various groups through high school and was involved in community musical theatre and starred as Nelly Forbush in South Pacific. She has a B.A. in Music and graduated cum laude from Azusa Pacific University. As a soloist she was involved in numerous recording projects domestically and abroad with APU’s University Choir under the direction of Gary Bonner. On Easter 2009, as part of the Festival di Pasqua, Lynette was chosen to be a part of the American Choir which presented the cantata “The Birth of Christ”, by Andrew T. Miller. It was a filmed production performed at the Cathedral of Santa Maria in Ara Coeli, in Rome. She sings locally as a Cantor at St. Thomas More Catholic Church and is on the board of directors for Voices of Hope Choir, which exists to promote community singing while raising funds for charities through benefit concerts and recordings. Lynette’s professional experience in sales and management has provided a strong foundation for her business endeavors, including her own custom painting business called Adorable Additions. She is blessed with two children and an amazingly supportive husband.

Laura Handke

Laura Handke is the founder of Wishweavers, an organization devoted to helping people manifest their greatest dreams. She is a published author, singer, pianist, actor, inspirational speaker and energetic facilitator. Laura’s background is in psychology, sociology, business management, and career planning advisement. Laura is the recipient of iUniverse’s prestigious Editor’s Choice Award for her first book, “Six Degrees to Your Dreams”. She is committed to helping others live their lives to the fullest. In her extra 40 hours per week, Laura is a Senior Integrated Claims Examiner with Matrix Absence Management, managing workers’ compensation claims. She wishes she could sing to all of the injured workers on her claim load, and their employers. She enjoys spending time with family, friends and animals, reading, and being in the great outdoors.

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.

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.

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.

Matt McCarthy

Matt McCarthy was born locally in Milwaukie, Oregon but was raised in Brightwood, and Lake Oswego, Oregon. After a year of vocal performance study at the University of Oregon, Matt moved into a year of philosophical study, and ultimately finished a degree in sociology at PSU. After a few years of office work, and playing rugby, a shoulder injury directed Matt into the healing arts. He finished a year of massage school and went into private practice. Singing re-emerged in his life as he began to live his passions.
He now enjoys a Portland life with Aaron, his partner of ten years. Matt is performing and teaching voice in addition to his other passions of bodywork, and sharing the Divine Oneness Blessing. He is a member of the Portland Opera Chorus, and will be performing a secondary role this summer with the Mock’s Crest Opera Theatre. Matt wishes to share his gifts with the world in a unique way to inspire others into living their hearts passions.

Renee Madsen

Renee Madsen is a well known psychic medium, teacher and healer. She has been a student of voice for over ten years and is also learning to play harp. In 1998 Renee founded the Northwest Psychic Institute, a center for healing and spiritual development, which conducts seminars, group and private consultations, certification courses, workshops, and events. She’s appeared on many TV shows including AMNorthwest, and has been heard on the popular radio stations Z100, KUPL and KEX. She currently works with clients to connect with lost loved ones, find their path and purpose in life, and to open their own gifts. Renee is a Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist and a Certified NLP practitioner. As a Reiki Master, she teaches and certifies students in the art of Reiki healing. She is also a Certified Instructor of Martial Arts and Head Instructor of the Professional Martial Arts Association.

Barbara Slader

Barbara Slader has served as a freelance cantor with numerous synagogues throughout the Pacific Northwest. She is in great demand as a guest cantor for high holiday services, and serves as a music consultant to many congregations. Barbara is the conductor of a community chorus for the Jewish elderly. She is a graduate of Hebrew Union College, and in 2003 was invested into the American Conference of Cantors. She has been singing, conducting, and playing guitar and piano since her childhood. Barbara is particularly interested in the non-ordinary states of consciousness achieved through the practice of music. Central to her work is the belief that helping people to connect with music connects them to themselves and to their community.

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.