What a Difference Being Confident in One's Voice

[melissa90299]

Using the course from exceptional voice and practicing the exercises several times a day has improved my voice passabilty 1000% in just a week. I got ma'amed three times on the phone this am. I "passed" in person despite my androg voice but I was always uncomfortable when I spoke, now without that fear, it has improved the quality of my life 10,000 percent!

What a burden that's been lifted, looks like it is finally all coming together for me as a couple weeks I will be post-op and have boobs that match my large frame too!

[gothique11]

That's awesome.  I'm supposed to see a speech therapist, but it takes months and months... I'm in the waiting list anyway. In the mean time, I met someone who is going to teach me to sing. Although people tell me that my voice works, I still want to improve it.

[Laura Eva B]

Today ordering cab from work to station (was tipping it down with rain), and tonight ordering a takeaway chinese meal on the phone, no hint of name or gender, and I was Ma'am-ed both times, so I must be doing something right, especially as I wasn't making a concious effort ....

It still pleases me everytime I'm read as a woman on the phone (90+% of times) as its the big test .... my voice is the last thing that would ever give me away face to face !

I abandoned NHS funded voice therapy two years back as it was eating into work comittments, the lovely young woman therapist didn't have a clue (all we did was chat and become friends), and I realised I'd never reach the squeaky pitch of same 25 year old therapist.  But its working for me speaking in my natural voice (turning those concious efforts to sound masculine off), and I wonder if I have anything to gain by teaching myself to speak in an artificial register, something which will always be a kind of an "act" ?

Laura x

[Maud]

I had the same thing laura, I ended up just having a nice chat with mine for an hour we didn't acctually work on my voice at all. To be honest I think that's some of the best training for people who lack a social life but I've been chatting to other women like that my whole life so it was not teaching me anything. My voice came from being FT and it was mostly a recovery thing as I used to force my voice down to stop people taking the piss at school as I sounded like a girl, I did that for so long it took a while to get out of the habbit.

The key thing I suspect is to socialise as much as possible with other women and just blend in, I never made a concious effort to copy other women it just sortof happened.

[louise000]

Personally, my problem is not just that of getting pitch and resonance to female levels, but I also have an appalling regional accent and my diction is not good. I am contemplating doing some general elocution exercises first prior to working on getting my voice to an acceptable female range. I've sent off for the Exceptional Voice course, plus the Finding Your Female Voice from Deep Stealth. I've also got some useful techniques following the "Melanie Speaks" video. If it sounds a bit over the top my getting all this stuff it's because I'm desperate! I know it's a real challenge, but I'm actually loving doing all this work and I am driven by the dream that at the end of it all I'll be able to speak confidently as a woman.

[melissa90299]

Personally, my problem is not just that of getting pitch and resonance to female levels, but I also have an appalling regional accent and my diction is not good. I am contemplating doing some general elocution exercises first prior to working on getting my voice to an acceptable female range. I've sent off for the Exceptional Voice course, plus the Finding Your Female Voice from Deep Stealth. I've also got some useful techniques following the "Melanie Speaks" video. If it sounds a bit over the top my getting all this stuff it's because I'm desperate! I know it's a real challenge, but I'm actually loving doing all this work and I am driven by the dream that at the end of it all I'll be able to speak confidently as a woman.

Frankly, after using the exceptional voice course, I now agree with someone who posted that Andrea's "course" is a waste of money, in fact, I actually think it does more harm then good. I don't understand why she gets people to practice speaking in a pinched voice. It makes no sense. Also, why not just make an audio CD. Answer: Andrea is all about self-promotion. Personally, I think these two are charlatans and it is a shame that the media gives them so much credence.

Susan has done a lot more for the community than they have without resorting to self-promotion and crass commercialism.

Kathe Perez offers telephone coaching via telephone for about $600 and I still say that telephone coaching is just as effective as in person coaching when it comes to voice. When I talk on the phone, I hear all kinds of nuances that get lost when combined with visual cues.