Vocal octave?

[LoriLorenz]

Ok guys, this is something that's been bugging me. I am a trained singer - as in did three years operatic/classical training - and am currently classified as a First Soprano. Very high octave, very "flute like", basically a counter-tenor in female equipment...

Can anyone estimate how much their voice dropped on T? Either octave or voice category (please tell me I won't go from Soprano down to Basso Profundo).

Is there anything I could do to help myself maintain some range if I go on T?

[Bran]

No advice, but hope someone else will have some for you.  I'm nowhere near your caliber, but have a decent singing voice and am fairly good at using it.  I'm lucky enough to be a contralto (my voice cracked the *first* puberty), and I'm not looking forward to completely loosing the ability to sing when I go on T.  I understand it changes vocal mechanics pretty dramatically, as well as pitch. 

[DragonBeer]

Practice. That's really all you can do when your voice gets a new vocal range but you also need to retrain yourself to sing because you will be struggling to sing since you'll lose your top range pretty quickly depending on your dose. I've heard it's recommend to start low dose for a good few months so the voice change isn't that fast. Anyways, I was considered contralto before T and I lost quite a lot of range but now I would be considered a dramatic baritone. Just note that it can take 2 years on T for your voice to fully stabilize. There's a transguy named Ryan Cassata who decided not to take T for fear of losing the ability to sing.

[lionheart]

I read somewhere that some guys' voices on T drop as much as an octave. Sorry I can't remember the exact source, but it sounds about right to me seeing some peoples' comparison videos. However, it is different for everyone so your best bet is to really just wait it out.

So, you will definitely lose your spot as a soprano, but your singing voice won't necessarily get worse. It is a lot more difficult in the first few months before your voice settles down, but I'm sure with the right training you'll be just fine.

[AbbyKat]

Ok guys, this is something that's been bugging me. I am a trained singer - as in did three years operatic/classical training - and am currently classified as a First Soprano. Very high octave, very "flute like", basically a counter-tenor in female equipment...

Can anyone estimate how much their voice dropped on T? Either octave or voice category (please tell me I won't go from Soprano down to Basso Profundo).

Is there anything I could do to help myself maintain some range if I go on T?

This is just one more example of where I wish all the FTM and MTF folk could just get brain transplants with one another.  I have the exact opposite problem and I sound like Isaac Hayes when I perform (more accurately, David Gahan from Depeche Mode).  It's crazy how much most of us want what the others have.

Maybe the mods here could create some sort of vocal coaching exchange program between MTF and FTM?

[aleon515]

This article might be helpful: http://transguys.com/features/testosterone-ftm-singing

--Jay

[Kreuzfidel]

I was also classically trained pre-T.  My range was mezzo-soprano - post-T, within the first 2 years, my voice range dropped to a baritone.

[Dante]

I don't know all that much about singing/music, so I can't tell you the technical details but I can give you an idea of what's happened for me so far. I'm 8 months on T, I've been on a low dose up until my last two shots, which are in the low end of the normal range.

My sister is a first soprano (she's been professionally trained) and I could hit most of the high notes that she could, and she also mentioned several times (much to my dismay and annoyance) that I was probably also a soprano. (I never had a very high speaking voice, though. Don't know what that's about.) I didn't really realize but apparently compared to most people I had/have a pretty wide singing range, as I could also do pretty low notes even before I started T. I don't have a very nice singing voice (imo I guess) but I can definitely carry a tune well (you don't live with a sister who sings opera constantly without learning how to sing haha).

Anyway, so far oddly enough I haven't lost all that many high notes, though I've definitely gained a lot of low notes. But, I am definitely awful at singing right now, I'll be honest. A month or two after I started on T, I had had some notable changes in my voice, and a little while after that my voice died. Basically, there were the high notes (which I could hit), and the low notes (where I was able to sing comfortably), and then this middle range between the two where my voice would crack awfully. It's like there was just a gulf in the middle somewhere frustratingly exactly where every band sings, and if I dared to try and sing into that range with any intensity it just would not work at all. My voice must've dropped last month because I can sing much better than that now. I can sing that range again, albeit still with considerable difficulty. My voice fluctuates a lot depending on the day, as well.

Long story short, your voice will probably be crap for awhile. That's just how it is. But it seems like as long as you keep singing and practicing despite that, you can maintain a good range and skill at it. Also, you will have to relearn how to sing a little bit as well, because your voice won't work exactly the same way. It's not like starting from square one, but you'll have to work at finding the rhythm in your new voice, if that makes sense. As far as how low your voice will drop, it's all genetics, but I think it would be unlikely for you to end up in the bass range if you started at soprano.

[LoriLorenz]

Thanks for all the advice and words guys.

Dante, you just gave me some hope! I have at least that. I have a vocal crack currently that lands right exactly where the majority of people sing comfortably, so if that would move, that'd greeeeat. I will indeed keep singing and might even go back to a few vocal lessons to help keep my voice in shape. We shall, see. I have yet to get a referral to an endo (my next step, as I may actually be intersex as mentioned here and also at an FTM face to face group I just joined), but it may fast track me to changes that I ought to have been born with and got gypped along the way.

[Bran]

This article might be helpful: http://transguys.com/features/testosterone-ftm-singing

--Jay

Jay, thanks-- that article is awesome.  I'd been planning to actually do some sort of vocal exercise program on my own.  A voice teacher seemed like overkill for someone who's basically a social singer, but I was doing daily vocal exercises throughout my teens, and I figured that if I was going to regain a decent singing ability in my "new" voice, I'd have to do the same thing again now.  Especially since the men in my family tend to bass-baritone range.  That article gives me hope, and the "vocal exercises" link gives me a place to start.   

[LoriLorenz]

This article might be helpful: http://transguys.com/features/testosterone-ftm-singing

--Jay

Seconding Bran's thank you! Awesome resource, thanks!

[LoriLorenz]

I found an interesting app on on Android that will give an idea of what your voice might sound like once it's dropped from being on T. Just look up "Voice Changer with Effects" and you can play around with creating audio clips and changing your voice to sound different. It's a free app, so not perfect by any stretch, but you can laugh at yourself on helium without needed the balloon, or hear your version of Darth Vader or Bane, or Optimus Prime. Optimus is my favourite for getting a realistic vocal tone with *fairly* minimal interference. It works for singing too!