2006-09-05T16:08:00.000-07:00

Reisa enjoys a voice lesson with The Birmingham Sunlights. Seated: Wayne Williams (four octaves!). Being goofy: James Taylor (Artistic Director). Looking on: Barry Taylor (the greatest gospel quartet bass). Reisa was chosen as the lead for Balm in Gilead.

Photo: Zoe Abigail

Why Take Voice Lessons?

Visit Chilliwack Community Arts Council to register for Singers Yoga! Reisa is also teaching an oral storytelling workshop for CCAC: A Heart Full of Stories. Details on their website. See you there!

Receive event notifications: lessons (at) reisastone.com

We learn a physical discipline so the soul is free to express itself.

As practitioners of yoga and tai chi are learning, the spiritual is often found in the physical. Dedicated singers have always experienced this. In voice lessons, you discover that the human body is an independent instrument.

I was fascinated to learn from Southern gospel and bluegrass singers, that in some churches, musical instruments are forbidden. This is so they may not interfere with the bodily instrument, known as the Sacred Harp. Once you learn solid techniques to access this sense of sacredness, you will fall deeply in love with your own voice.---Reisa Stone

Reisa teaches private and group lessons. Lessons are fun and relaxed. The program is holistic, customized and accelerated. Lessons draw from both the latest voice techniques as well as ancient disciplines such as martial arts, yoga and dance. Vocal exercises are interspersed with brief silences to access the body's intuition. Each lesson is partially structured, partially created by the student. You'll learn to get out of your own way, and strengthen the best of who you are!

Reisa has been blessed with amazingly educated and loving instructors. She passes a lifetime of education and performance experience on to her students.

With Free Voice techniques, you'll develop a voice with an "open" tone, like the contemporary singers you admire. You'll notice an improvement in your breathing and tone soon after starting lessons. Your stamina and range will increase. Your pitch will improve. Have you ever left a rehearsal with a sore throat? Don't let anyone tell you, "You've had a good workout." Experienced singers and actors push their voices six hours a day with no soreness. You can, too.

Highly recommended reading: Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way. Reisa achieved professional (SOCAN) status as a songwriter within one year of studying this book. Another good one when choosing a course of voice training: Randy Jackson's What's Up, Dawg? You know him as the cool guy on American Idol. Randy has played bass on & produced more than 200 gold & platinum albums! The man produces Christina Aguilera, for goodness sakes :-D

Private lessons: Reisa provides sing-along practice CDs. She adapts lessons to your learning style. Individual attention is the key to rapid progress.

If you'd like lessons in your home, you do need a piano keyboard. But you don't need to know how to play. The CDs will take care of most of your practice sessions. Reisa will show you some basic piano skills.

Lessons and workshops combine profound relaxation & breathing techniques, simple movement and visualizations you’ll use for a lifetime. You’ll learn to centre, stretch & greatly improve your voice. Group workshops can be booked for one time, or on an ongoing basis.
r performance bookings, please email: bookings (at) reisastonecom.

For lesson inquiries, please email: lessons

Receive event notifications automatically: email lessons (at) reisastone.com. Register for voice workshops early.

More About Voice Lessons

Are you attracted to some of the lesson programs on the Internet---but would rather have personal instruction? Have you always wanted to study voice, but were afraid you'd end up sounding "operatic"? Benefit from lessons that incorporate wacky but effective Free Voice exercises like these accelerated U.S. programs. The exercises that American Idol singers use: Kelly Clarkson, Adam Lambert, Jennifer Hudson, Bo Bice.

Reisa Stone rebuilt her voice from a ruptured vocal cord. She teaches from the perspective of the body as a musical & spiritual instrument. You'll receive thorough instruction in vocal anatomy. You'll extend your range, increase stamina and build power.

No more guessing what someone means when they say, "Sing from your diaphragm."

Have you struggled with this? No wonder---it's information from the Dark Ages that ignores the facts of vocal function. Western vocal music developed during a time when the body was considered profane, women were not permitted to sing in public, and graves were robbed in order to get the barest hint of how we actually "worked."

We now have the benefits of CT scans, MRI's, laryngeal cameras and open scientific inquiry to show us how the body truly produces sound. Stop struggling! Learn logical, efficient methods of breathing and vocalizing.

If you'd like lessons in your home, requirements are: a piano keyboard, a minimum 10' X 12' space, and a 100% smoke-free environment. Sorry, smokers are not accepted as students.

Group workshops in your home are also available!

July 19th & 26th Reisa performs in the Shadbolt Centre's Summer concert series.

Please E-mail: bookings (at) reisastone.com to book other voice and storytelling workshops.

Public Dreams Society presents The Parade of Lost Souls, 6:30 pm Saturday, October 25th on Commercial Drive. Watch for Reisa's shrine constructions on the VJ giant digital screen, Grandview Park. And for Reisa as one of Vasalisa's crow protectors. Baba Yaga can take care of herself, thank you. Community art rocks! Please donate generously to Public Dreams. Yet another Arts program with cut funding.

Vancouver Society of Storytelling welcomes Reisa as a guest artist October 19th. 7:30 pm at 1805 Larch Street. She will reprise her favorite (and true) Hallowe'en tale, Funeral For A Crow. For adult listeners only. Themes of death, sex, magic and too much sugar.

Reisa will perform in the Shadbolt Centre's summer concert series. 2 pm, Sunday, June 13th.

We're 80 years old! Join us for Vancouver's Ukrainian Cultural Centre Anniversary Party, 2 pm June 8th. Excellent choir Barvinok will perform under the direction of Beverly Dobrinsky. Enjoy Reisa's solo in a Ukrainian classic: a Cossack implores a maiden to put her hand on his horse. She wants to, she doesn't want to, finally she does but isn't sure she should have. You'll have to be there to hear how it all turns out.

Also entertaining will be the Ukrainian School of Dance & the Vancouver Folk Orchestra. Please stay for an incredible dinner of traditional foods. nce tix.
Tickets $20 for concert & dinner. 805 East Pender (at Hawks). Call 604-254-3436 for adva
Fall 2007, listen for Reisa narrating Art Is A Mirror on Bravo TV. This film chronicles the work of visual artist Jeremie Giles, who creates a beautiful tribute to other Canadian artists.

Watch for upcoming voice workshops & group classes in this space.

September 10th, 2007, Reisa will read from her middle grade children's book ms, Rosie's Spider. This coming-of-age novel is based upon a Ukrainian creation myth. Rosie, a rough & tumble aspiring veterinarian, opens the door to a universe woven by grandmother spider. She learns compassion for human frailty by rescuing animals in distress, guided by her outspoken Stalinist survivor Baba. Plenty of horsey elements & humour. Please join us at Kids in Print Bookshop, 1540 Fairfield Road (by Thrifty Foods). Call (250) 370-9899 for details.

2006:

A Heart Full of Stories, Victoria School of Writing, November 25-26th. Immerse yourself in the ancient art of storytelling. www.victoriaschoolofwriting.org

Hallowe'en Stories at the Library! 2-3:30 pm, October 31st at the Central Victoria Branch. Reisa will tell Funeral for a Crow, her story of a love stronger than death. No charge---just be nice to the librarians & pay your fines to this incredible resource, will you?

Reisa hosts Victoria Storytellers Guild & debuts her newly rewritten Ukrainian legend, Petro & the Princess, 7:15 pm September 18th at 1831 Fern Street, $5 at the door.

Organic Islands Festival, July 8th. Join Reisa for story & song in the glorious Japanese Gardens of the Horticultural Centre of the Pacific, 505 Quayle Road. An incredible annual event that brings together artists, organic farmers, wineries & chefs for a weekend of celebrating the sweetness of sustainable culture. The largest organics festival in BC!
http://organicislands.ca

For more information on upcoming events, please E-mail: bookings (at) reisastone.com.

2006-02-23T23:29:00.000-08:00

Publications

The Horsewoman of Chornobyl, Nasha Doroha, Spring 2007. Published by the Ukrainian Canadian Congress.

The Night Before I Met You received an Honorable Mention in Victoria School of Writing's 2006 Postcard Story competition.

Reprieve for the Trees, Village Vibe, June 2006

Spellbound, Tell Me A Story, June 2006 (opens as a PDF file)

Media Appearances

Pining for a Compromise, Monday Magazine, April 26th, 2006

If A Tree Falls in Fernwood, Monday Magazine, April 19th, 2006

Global TV News, April 15th, 2006

The A Channel, April 14th, 2006

The Balmoral Eight, Fernwood News, May 2006 (opens as a PDF file)

Multicultural Stories, Tell Me A Story, March 2006

Peacock Rescued, Victoria News, July 4th, 2005

Spreading the Soul, Victoria Times-Colonist, April 26th, 2005

Lessons & Performances