Quote from: AmyBerlin on July 22, 2014, 03:54:21 PM
Dear Ashley,
I'm 5'10" and have quite a sturdy build. My male voice pre-surgery was a dramatic baritone. When I didn't pay attention to raising my larynx and making my voice come out femininely, the male voice would always resurface and come out loud and clear. Post surgery, this register is unavailable. If I just relax and speak or sing with low larynx position, it gets strenuous and the voice, while still feminine, will tire in a relatively short timespan. If I raise my larynx, however, my voice can keep going for hours without problem. So the surgery sort of forces you to use the correct larynx position.
I find it crucial that you're able to reach the feminine-voice "sweet spot" before surgery, because you'll need that post-surgery to find a comfortable place to speak from.
Regards,
Amy
Thanks for the responses! I'm wondering though, since you've had significant vocal training and have used a high larynx position for quite some time, is it because you had used a high larynx position that it sort of became the 'default' muscle memory position (to a small degree) and using a lower larynx position takes conscious effort, which is why it tires out more quickly?
For me, I think I semi-unconsciously maintain a higher larynx position most of the time, except when I'm doing some involuntary actions (laughing while trying to talk is probably the worst) and I don't tend to have to think about it for day to day stuff. So it's mostly automatic, but it requires a sort of unconscious effort to maintain, if that makes any sense.
I'm about 6'3", but luckily I have a pretty slim build. My male voice goes down to about 100 hz, but nowadays when I do recordings the average is around 130 because of learned usage of inflections in my speech patterns. My trained voice is usually around 160, which sort of fits for my size.
My personal hang ups about the sound of my voice notwithstanding, my friends and family in the know say my voice passes fine, and I don't usually get any odd looks (except to gawk at my height) when speaking with patients.
Ashley.
I swear... waiting 2 1/2 more months is going to be torture!