Feedback on my voice

[Donna Elvira]

Hi,
I'm doing GRS in August and as I'll be using the downtime afterwards to do the preparatory work for a new professional project which I will start early 2015, I have been thinking that I may go the whole hog and also do VFS with Yeson before the end of the year, mostly likely second half of November.

Other than singing (quite a lot of choir singing at different periods in my life) I have had no voice training of any kind . However as I think I'm pretty OK regarding pitch, I am also wondering if I might not be better advised to just work with a speech therapist on resonance and inflexion. The reason I am wondering about this is because I still rarely called "Madame" on the phone. It is mostly either nothing or worse... "Monsieur". 

The other main  reason I am considering voice surgery is I just love singing and would really like to be able to join a choir again, this time on the female side, at least as an Alto

Here is my natural voice: http://vocaroo.com/i/s1R6RSl8E2sy 

and here is what my "female" voice sounds like: http://vocaroo.com/i/s1s7dHjSSqQ8

Feedback from those who have already gone down this route would be much appreciated.
Thanks!
Donna

[JLT1]

Your natural voice is higher than mine.  I worked with a voice instructor and have a good female voice now.  However, it was close to $2000 US and it took months.  You can try the instructor for a few weeks.  They should be able to tell you where to go from there.

Hugs,

Jen

[Donna Elvira]

Thanks Jen,
Checking my pitch this afternoon, I saw that I could reach 270 - 290 Hz without any real difficulty so that got me thinking that the biggest issues were maybe elsewhere. Did you use a normal voice therapist or was it someone already experienced in "re-educating" a male voice?
Apart from that, congats on the new avatar photo, it looks like your recovery is coming along very well and I wish you every joy as the new you continues to emerge over the months ahead!
Warm regards.
Donna

[JLT1]

Book:  Voice Communication Therapy for the Transgender/Transexual Client, Adler, Hirsch, Mordaunt Eds, Plural Publishing, 2006  My instructor wrote chapeter 19, "The TS/TG singing voice".  She new what she was doing.

I sang a lot.  She worked with me on taking care of the voice, extending the range, listening to myself and finally, breathing.  I was frustrated after a couple months because all we did was sing.  Then, after 10 weeks, all of the sudden, I could talk in the right pitch.  The rest was just working words and phrases.

Hugs,

Jen

[Donna Elvira]

Quite an expensive book (80.95$). Did you use that too (it comes with a CD) or are you just citing it as a reference. Over here I don't think I will have access to anyone other than a standard speech therapist of the the type that mostly works with kids, so I might need to educate them...:-)
Hugs
Donna

[Monkeymel]

Although the Zurich Unispital system is fairly complex - they do have a good voice department as part of eyes nose and throat clinic. And they have a lot of experience for transgender patients. I was paying privately to start with (later reimbursed) and 10 sessions over 1 year was about 1200 chf including video monitoring of vocal cords (before / after) and good pitch tone analysis tools.

In my case I was pretty poor at doing my homework but still shifted the range quite a bit. If you know you are Zurich way once every few weeks then they might be able to help. Certainly they worked with Zurich opera singers so some experience In getting that singing voice would be feasible

[JLT1]

Quite an expensive book (80.95$). Did you use that too (it comes with a CD) or are you just citing it as a reference. Over here I don't think I will have access to anyone other than a standard speech therapist of the the type that mostly works with kids, so I might need to educate them...:-)
Hugs
Donna

There are a couple key chapters.  I'll talk with my instructor and see if I can get permission to copy them for you.  The CD is OK but I have a better one that I can send as I'm done with it. 

Jen

[Donna Elvira]

There are a couple key chapters.  I'll talk with my instructor and see if I can get permission to copy them for you.  The CD is OK but I have a better one that I can send as I'm done with it. 

Jen

It's really kind of you to offer to do that Jenny and I 'm very touched. I have no problem providing you with a postal address but if you have a good CD, an alternative might be to creat MP3 files and send them using a service like "Yousendit" .
Anyway I really appreciate the offer!
Regarding your recovery, when do you go back to work?
Hugs
Donna

[Donna Elvira]

Although the Zurich Unispital system is fairly complex - they do have a good voice department as part of eyes nose and throat clinic. And they have a lot of experience for transgender patients. I was paying privately to start with (later reimbursed) and 10 sessions over 1 year was about 1200 chf including video monitoring of vocal cords (before / after) and good pitch tone analysis tools.

In my case I was pretty poor at doing my homework but still shifted the range quite a bit. If you know you are Zurich way once every few weeks then they might be able to help. Certainly they worked with Zurich opera singers so some experience In getting that singing voice would be feasible

Hi Mel,
I missed out on this but unfortunately it's not a practical proposition. While I regularly go to the Zurich area I rarely know far in advance and I also have little control over my hours.
Thanks for the suggestion though and the idea might be of interest to others.
Hugs
Donna