Expanding the very high registers of voice

[Jane's Sweet Refrain]

I've been full time for over a year now, and I have a voice that as far as I can tell passes as cisgender female 100% of the time. However, though my speaking pitch is normal enough, I don't have access to the really high voice, almost a squeal, that women use when they great each other, laugh, show excitement, or scream (obviously). Outside of going under the knife, are there resources out there or exercises that can expand my falsetto and other upper range? I'd really like to have use of a much higher voice.

Thanks!

[anjaq]

I think actually "the knife" would be not much of an option in this case. The upper registers are available without that.
Now, what you can do: If you have a program like praat or spectro-gram, use it for this test. Sing an O sound (go in the upper half of your range, basically go into a head voice. go up in pitch  - if you cannot go any further, switch to an e sound and see if you can go higher. Check what frequencies you are at as a baseline.
Then you should try some of the voice exercises that are often used. Lip trills are a great one. Use them while doing glissandos that go up and down - each time a bit more up than before. Maybe it also helps to sing notes in a certain distance - lets say sing an "o" in one frequency and then go up 4 notes and sing an "e" - repeat and go up a not each time. Also what ypou should watch out for is to keep the throat open and relaxed, it may feel like you are pulling down the larynx actually when going up in pitch. Always use a LOT of air flow to make the sounds.

I hope this helps. It is what worked for me, but it may be individual of course. My voice therapist said, I can nearly hit the "high c" and she is amazed at my upper range - actually worries a lot if I get surgery if I will loose that range. I hope not.

[Jane's Sweet Refrain]

Wow! Thanks anjaq! I'll have to look up what some of those terms mean, but I look forward to starting serious work with these exercises very soon. And your near High C is impressive!

Jane

[anjaq]

Yes - I like to be able to squeak, But that high range is not useful unless you scream - for talking this is too high anyways. Here is my voice range by the way - You can see - I tested how low I can get and how high (left to right) plus loudness. Speaking range is the cross though, its way too low sadly. http://i.imgur.com/ZOsvgys.jpg