Tillie Grundel
Senior Voice Educator
Tillie Grundel is a Swedish-born turned Aussie voice educator, singer, songwriter and performer specialising in contemporary voice. She brings together European contemporary music training, practical performance experience and evidence-informed vocal pedagogy to help students build voices that are confident, expressive and sustainable.
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Tillie has taught singing for almost 20 years across Sweden and Canberra, working with students from children through to adults. Her teaching is warm, structured and highly individualised, with a focus on helping each student understand their voice rather than simply follow instructions. She works with singers on healthy vocal technique, breath coordination, vowel shaping, range extension, stylistic control, interpretation, audition preparation and performance confidence.
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Her formal music training includes jazz, rock, soul and performance study at Kulturama in Sweden, followed by further contemporary voice training at RockMusikLinjen (RML) at Birkagårdens Folkhögskola in Stockholm. At RML, Tillie completed a music teacher and performance course with a singing major, as well as EPlinjen, focusing on songwriting, production and performance. This gives her a strong foundation across contemporary styles including pop, rock, soul, folk and singer-songwriter repertoire.
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As a performer and songwriter, Tillie has worked across pop, folk, grunge, soul and rock. Earlier in her career, she was part of the Stockholm soul/rock project Through The Cracks, contributing vocals and lyrics to the single “Breathless”, with her vocals also featured on “Marionette”. Her broader performance experience spans solo and ensemble work, live performance, collaborative music-making and community-based performance settings.
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At Canberra Vocal Development, Tillie is especially valued for her calm, compassionate and technically informed approach. She has a strong interest in vocal sustainability, anatomy, interpretation and helping students develop a voice they can rely on. She is a strong fit for singers who want to build healthy technique, gain confidence, prepare for auditions or performances, explore contemporary styles, or understand what is happening in their voice in a clear and practical way.
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Tillie continues to develop her own pop/folk/grunge music project and maintains ongoing professional development in voice education. Her training includes Estill Voice Training Levels 1 and 2; VocaLab’s Vocal Educator Toolkit, Build Your Belt and Sick Singers Toolkit; VocaLab Reflux-Informed Practitioner training; and Andrea Stolpe’s 30 Day Songwriter course.
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Within the Canberra Vocal Development team, Tillie is known for being generous with her knowledge, steady in her support and a positive presence for students and colleagues alike. Students commonly work with Tillie on beginner and intermediate singing technique, contemporary styles, audition and performance preparation, songwriting, performance confidence, vocal sustainability and healthy return-to-singing after vocal difficulty.
Madeleine Rowland
Voice Educator & Artistic Director
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Madeleine Rowland is a passionate and experienced voice educator, performer and artistic leader with more than 15 years’ teaching experience and over three decades of private voice study. She brings warmth, humour and deep technical knowledge to her work, helping students build healthy, expressive and confident voices across classical, music theatre and contemporary styles.
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As one of Canberra Vocal Development’s two Directors, alongside Elisha, Madeleine leads the creative direction of the studio as Artistic Director. Her work includes shaping concerts, performance opportunities, creative programming and advertising, as well as establishing Canberra Glee Club — Canberra’s first show-choir style performance program for people who love musicals, movie music and contemporary performance. Through Canberra Glee Club, Madeleine has created a welcoming pathway for singers who want the joy of musical theatre without the pressure of auditions, competitions or being judged.
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Madeleine is also the innovator and creator of Canberra Vocal Development’s Gender Voice Affirmation Course, a specialist program supporting people to explore and develop a voice that feels authentic, sustainable and aligned with their identity. She has a passion for working with trans and gender-diverse singers, supporting voice exploration and voice transition with compassion, technical care and respect for each person’s goals.
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Madeleine’s teaching is nurturing, practical and grounded in strong vocal pedagogy. She has trained extensively in Estill Voice Training, completing Levels 1 and 2 and earning Estill Figure Proficiency certification. She has also studied the Accent Method of breathing with Dr Ron Morris, supporting her evidence-informed approach to breath, vocal health and sustainable voice use.
Her teaching spans all ages and stages, from young children discovering their voices to adults returning to singing or preparing for performance. Madeleine has a particular interest in music theatre, Disney repertoire, opera, singing for wellbeing, and the role of voice in confidence, identity and self-expression.
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Madeleine’s own love of singing began with classical music, choirs and musical theatre. She has performed widely across Canberra in opera, operetta and musical theatre, with solo roles including Zerlina in Don Giovanni, Phyllis in Iolanthe, Oberto in Alcina, the Second Woman in Dido and Aeneas, and Rosie in Bye Bye Birdie. Her chorus experience includes La Bohème, Tosca, La Traviata, The Merry Widow, The Marriage of Figaro, Die Fledermaus and many Gilbert and Sullivan productions.
Madeleine is known for helping students feel safe enough to try, brave enough to perform and technically equipped to keep developing. She is especially suited to students wanting to build vocal confidence, explore music theatre or classical singing, prepare for auditions or performances, reconnect with singing as an adult, or work on voice in a supportive and identity-affirming environment.
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Madeleine is the current President of the ANATS ACT Chapter, reflecting her ongoing leadership in the voice teaching community. She is currently fully booked for 1:1 lessons, but welcomes students working with her through Canberra Glee Club and Canberra Vocal Development’s Gender Voice Affirmation Course.
Elisha Holley
Voice Educator & Founding Director
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Elisha Holley is one of Canberra’s most experienced and well-known singing teachers, with an education career spanning more than 20 years. She is the Founding Director of Canberra Vocal Development, and specialising in singing education centre grounded in evidence-informed voice research, extensive teaching experience, and a student-centred approach that meets each singer where they are.
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Elisha works from the belief that singing is a learnable skill. Her approach is practical, technical and highly individualised, recognising that every singer brings a different instrument, learning style and goal. Her work is focused on helping each voice function freely, efficiently and sustainably.
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Elisha has been performing since primary school and completed a Bachelor of Music majoring in both Performance and Pedagogy at the Queensland Conservatorium of Music in 2004, where she studied under Professor Margaret Schindler, Dr Adele Nisbet and Dr Ron Morris. She has been teaching and performing ever since, building a reputation across the ACT for helping singers understand their voice, resolve technical issues and move into more confident, expressive singing.
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Her work spans classical, music theatre, contemporary and spoken voice contexts. She has particular expertise in vocal technique, breath coordination, performance preparation, vocal health and troubleshooting technical challenges for both developing and experienced singers. She draws on her formal pedagogy training, including Ron Morris’ Accent Method Breathing and Estill Voice Training Levels 1 and 2, alongside ongoing professional development in contemporary voice pedagogy.
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Elisha’s teaching is highly collaborative. She sees voice education as a partnership between teacher and student, built on curiosity, trust and shared exploration. Rather than asking students to simply obey instructions, she helps them understand what they are doing, why it matters and how to use those tools beyond the studio walls. Her approach is student-centred and adaptive, drawing on technical knowledge, experimentation and the individual needs of each singer. Elisha considers it an absolute privilege to be chosen as a student’s voice educator, and one of her favourite parts of teaching is the laughter that happens along the way because "singers learn best when they feel safe, curious, connected and confident enough to try!"
Elisha’s contribution to Canberra’s singing and opera community extends beyond the studio. She directed Canberra Opera’s 2015 production of La Bohème and its 2018 production of Così fan tutte, reimagining the latter in a contemporary Canberra setting. Her work on Così fan tutte was noted for its Braddon café concept and clear production flow. She has also served as a Director of the Australian National Eisteddfod Singing Event and as a Board Member of National Opera, including during its transition to a professional company.
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At Canberra Vocal Development, Elisha leads a team culture focused on teacher development, shared knowledge and high-quality specialist vocal instruction. She connects with the teaching team and invests in professional development so students benefit not only from one teacher’s experience, but from the combined expertise of a collaborative voice education team.
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Elisha is especially interested in working with singers who want to deepen their technical understanding of the voice, teachers seeking practical and proven approaches to complex vocal issues, and professionals who rely on their voice in leadership, communication and presentation settings. She also has a strong interest in working with neurodiverse students, using experimentation and adaptive approaches to help uncover and develop each individual’s unique voice.
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Elisha is only taking referrals at this time.
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