Voice Help? Advice?

[zyz765]

Voice Help? Advice?:

So today I was feeling very dysphoric about my voice - I've tried raising pitch in my own time and recording it and well I still sound masculine, or if I go too high I start sounding like the elderly woman with a fake British accent (and I am British ;_;).

I'm not to the point where my voice really disrupts me - but it is something I'd like to work on and hopefully get through it without having to go extreme lengths of surgery - already expensive enough as it is! (Some-one find me a sugar daddy pls?! - lol)

I tried an app and it says my normal speaking voice is a B2(funny b thing) or a C3 - which is 116 - 130 Hertz I believe (so average male?) The highest I go is a D4 - and I struggle to get between C3 and D4 - I have basically no vocal range control (though occasionally I can hit an F3(185), but that lasts about 2 seconds) so it's either man or very high pitch that sounds old lady-ish or like comedic purpose.

In reality I want an A3 (220) - which is around the average - and I understand the voice comes with more than just pitch and there's other things but I think one thing at a time works for me - as my transition is early on and waiting for results from HRT and such before under-going any extensive surgeries (aside from the brow lift I wish to have - which I would of had w/ or w/o me transitioning)

So any advice on what I can do? Because I practice by myself (not enough but hard when you live in a busy household) and I tried watching Youtube videos which I haven't found any that helpful - apart from some I found back in 2010ish by CandiFLA who has now taken the videos down and can't even find her videos anymore! ;_; So I'm just in need of some advice - generally about how you, or trans friends have made their voice sound like a woman's (My dream would to do an Ursula and steal Ariel's voice - I want it aha)

Thanks,

Tama xoxo

[Dena]

I have moved you to the voice section where their is more help available. If you have a singing background, it's a matter of moving from a chest voice to a head voice. This is a process where you raise your voice by tightening the muscles above the larynx to raise your voice when done properly, it give you a new range that's shifted up from your old voice. The process isn't difficult but making it a habit takes time and practice. I have used it for over half my life and find it very difficult to return to my old speech pattern. I a willing to work with you but you will have to be willing to make the time commitment.

[Megan.]

Tama, I'm not sure if you have a budget, but Christella Antoni and increasingly other speech therapists do voice modification sessions. I've had several with her, and it's been very useful. Regardless, I know I'll never make real progress until I'm using it day-in day-out, only then will it become reflex.

[zyz765]

Thank you Dena, sorry once again! I'm still getting used to all the forum placements and so on. I will do further searching in the future!

I have never had a singing background - as I said I have 0 capabilities in holding a note, let alone sing a note aha!
I've always tried understanding the chest and head voice but I don't know how to do the difference apart from I feel I talk from the top of my throat. If that is the head voice?

As I've watched videos doing it from the highest pitch and getting used to it and I've done that - not enough as I live with a family and it'll get embarrassing if they walk in on me in my 'old lady' voice or Minnie Mouse voice. I have notice with the few times I've done it - it's been easier to get to the higher pitch though it still strains my voice as I done it 10 minutes earlier and my throat area has some-one stiffened. Probably due to stamina on holding notes and so on.

I am willing to work - basically all I do. I get bored sitting about I like to do something - so it'd be good use of my time!

Megan,
Unfortunately I don't have a budget! I'm currently a student looking for a job - with no success as it's hard being limited to evening work (and it's summer so in the UK - you probably know they do 'seasonal' jobs - which is not what I'm looking for; I'm looking for full time - so probably a 5+ hour a day job from 5pm to 10pm, (preferably) then get home by 11-12 spend hour relaxing, sleep then repeat the day. A bit of a grind but it's probably the only way I could save up a decent amount of money for thing like surgeries and paying my own prescriptions and so on (as my parents, thankfully pay for that - but I feel bad as I am now 20 and should have some sort of independence!)

Tama xoxo

[Dena]

If you place your fingers on your larynx and swallow you will feel it move up. Using the same set of muscles will shift you into the upper range. Think of it like shifting gears in a car. If you just work the vocal cords, it's like running the engine up in first gear. Shifting to second allows you the full range of engine speed again. One way to find it is to start at your normal pitch and then raise the pitch at some point you should hear a break where you switch from chest to head voice. You need to work the range above the break point but don't try to push to the upper end or you will lose the ability to add inflection and it will sound flat or masculine.

[zyz765]

Dena
I understand what you're saying but once again I don't have the ability to shift pitch in a natural manner - I go from deep to high - for me I can't get a middle ground as much as I try. I feel the larynx thing - whenever I try to move it with my voice/pitch alone, it doesn't shift it stays in place even when hitting a higher register.

Videos say that you should feel vibration in your head when hitting head voice.  I don't feel that - but I don't feel anything in my chest either - so it's either I don't have the strength to hit higher notes - or I don't know how to hit it because I watch videos and follow your instructions but I don't feel any noticeable change where I hear a 'break' as it. Every sound is coming from the back of throat and I can't push it any higher - the pitch may be higher but it's not going to 'head voice' it's an inability for me, I guess.

Unfortunately as I've done this, I've damaged my throat or something because I now can't hit higher notes, so practicing will probably be out for a couple of hours as the sound is strained and hurts my throat area.

I hate to be pessimistic as it's a typical British thing but I feel like I'm getting no-where and it's quite upsetting as it's something I try and watch videos but just can't get it - and I beat myself up for not being able to do something.

Note: I did a little bit of googling and it seems like I go from 'chest voice' to 'falsetto' - but it's not even somewhat feminine in falsetto. So I guess the middle ground I'm talking about is 'Head Voice' which I just can't seem to grasp - I will probably have to fork out some money to get lessons as I don't think I can quite get it by myself.

I appreciate your help and time Dena, and will keep trying and keep you updated! If you have more advice it'd be greatly appreciated as it'll help me - just think it's going to take me a lot longer as I have to try and differentiate and find my head voice rather than my falsetto.

Tama xoxo

[Deborah]

 I have found the Eva iPhone apps useful.  They do cost, but they provide good instruction and the tools needed to see where you are at.

I haven't practiced much and it's kind of on and off but the app made the whole idea and technique click.

My normal voice used to be around 120 to 140 I think.  Now, even with just a little practice my normal unthinking male voice seems to be around 160 to 170 and my voice at home with my wife seems to range from there up to around 200+.  Hitting 220 in a normal tone and without strain is easy too.

I still have a lot of work to do on it but the pitch isn't a problem anymore.  It was almost like magic that one day it just happened.

So if you can afford a few dollars I recommend the Eva app.  There are a bunch of lessons, each one in increasing complexity.  Each lesson is $5.  I started with the second lesson which is about getting to a pitch of 220.

[zyz765]

Deborah

I'll have to look into it. I would prefer free - but when it comes down to it - if I need to pay for something I will! I'm still trying to learn how to reach my head voice - rather than going straight into falsetto. As I said previously I struggle hitting a middle ground - so that's my issue and videos and words don't help very much as they don't teach me HOW to go into my head voice rather than falsetto. Most of the time I just find the difference between the two.

I will keep trying :3

Tama xoxo

[Deborah]

Dena said it pretty well.  Once you finally do it once it seems so simple.  Until you do it the first time though it seems impossible.  Basically it's just a matter of lifting your voice higher into the internal cavities where it resonates.  Once it clicks you might be able to go pretty high, close to 300 Hz or more before it breaks into falsetto. 

Having something available that will measure your voice frequency so you know what's happening really helps.  The app has that and it works through the phone's microphone so it's really simple to use.

Videos never helped me either.  Only being able to see it happen on the "Pitch Tuner" helped.

[LauraE]

This is a process where you raise your voice by tightening the muscles above the larynx to raise your voice when done properly, it give you a new range that's shifted up from your old voice. The process isn't difficult but making it a habit takes time and practice.

I'm glad this post came today because i've been thinking about this. i'm also new to working on my voice and i'm using a program called "Finding Your Female Voice" by Calpernia Addams. Part of the advice is to tighten the throat so that the adam's apple rises. My question, and you appear to confirm it, is whether you keep the throat tight all the time. i'm practicing doing that now and it takes time to relax the face and jaw as you work on it. Will it ever be automatic that your throat is tight so that  you don't have to think about it? Does this mean that you'r always working to ensure the adam's apple is raised?

Thanks in advance.

Laura

[Dena]

With practice, it becomes an automatic reaction when you are going to speak. You may be completely relaxed but when you take a breath and shape your mouth to speak, the neck muscles will tense up. It's very difficult for me not to tense the muscles and use the old voice.

[zyz765]

I'm still trying - I feel like I hit my head voice once, but cannot reach it again. And once I do reach the higher pitches my natural instinct is to sing, rather than talk as when I talk for some reason my voice cracks down to 'man' voice but when singing not. (I'm not a singer - so it's not a thing I do often) I have noticed it's slightly easier for me to go into high pitch - it's still falsetto - I just can't get to head voice still as my notes as previously said go from LOW to HIGH and not the middle ground - I'm thinking about changing my phone settings to America for 5 minutes just so I can download some of the apps over there as the UK store only has tuners, which is OK but obviously it's expecting you to hit certain notes and doesn't always give you a reading of what you want.

Tama xoxo

[Dena]

The stickies in the top of the voice section contain a thread on PRAAT which is a very powerful voice tool that runs on a PC or a MAC. It's not portable but it work well when working on the finer points. It will also displace a voice sample so you can see what happens over time. As for my iPhone, I only have PitchLab which I use mostly for checking a pitch.

[zyz765]

Yes! I downloaded Praat and it somewhat helps - however I listen back and noticed that my voice is just softer and not higher as I said before just goes straight to falsetto - I keep trying to find my head voice but it's not coming to me. I can keep practicing but I'm still annoyed with my lack of progress - but I guess doing it on your own is a lot harder than if you had someone to say 'no, yes' and so on - recording and then listening can be quite time consuming ;_;

Praat is definitely helpful though - as a recording device I haven't really explored more than that currently as I know my pitch is no-where near the feminine range so there's no point try to explore that.

[Dena]

I am willing to work with you over Skype but if you are located where I think you are there will be a sizable time difference. I am in the western part of the United States and currently am on west coast time.

[zyz765]

Dena,

Yes, I am from the UK - so the time difference is quite significant however I tend to be more active as a person during afternoon hours so it depends on you - if you private message me - I'd be greatly appreciative if we could make a time and the help would be great - if not then I also appreciate your willingness to help!

Also, sorry I haven't been active this week my family is on holiday so I've been busy ;_;!

Thanks Tama
xoxo