Singing voice

[Menoimagination]

So I've been on T since the end of March and my voice started dropping pretty quickly like within a few weeks. I now sing bass in my choir and sure my voice isn't super the deepest ever but for an 18 year old it is fairly deep. I don't think I'm actually a bass, maybe a low baritone. I can hit Fs Es and sometimes Ds.

Basically I was wondering how everyone else's voices are?

[AnxietyDisord3r]

My voice dropped a lot (I was a soprano before) but it's pretty rough. I can sing low notes but my voice breaks on higher ones. I'd like my singing voice back. I feel like I'm reliving my dad's life. He was kicked out of school choir when his voice changed in high school.

[Jonathan L]

So I've been on Tn since the end of March and my voice started dropping pretty quickly like within a few weeks. I now sing bass in my choir and sure my voice isn't super the deepest ever but for an 18 year old it is fairly deep. I don't think I'm actually a bass, maybe a low baritone. I can hit Fs Es and sometimes Ds.

Basically I was wondering how everyone else's voices are?

That's really cool that you're in choir! My voice has dropped – definitely not a soprano anymore – but it's still in the process of dropping more (I started on a lower than usual dose so I wonder if that's why it's taking longer). I'm not really sure if I'm a tenor or a baritone. Have a hard time hitting higher notes, but my voice also doesn't go super low either. It only cracks when I try to sing in my head voice. I'm really excited to see where it ends up.

My voice dropped a lot (I was a soprano before) but it's pretty rough. I can sing low notes but my voice breaks on higher ones. I'd like my singing voice back. I feel like I'm reliving my dad's life. He was kicked out of school choir when his voice changed in high school.

It'll come back! It just takes a long time to settle, or so I keep telling myself!

[WorkingOnThomas]

Still waiting for mine to settle. I only sing in the shower at the moment, but once I stop breaking I'm thinking of joining the university choir - probably as a baritone it looks like.

[Menoimagination]

I am on a low dose too ahah! Low dose buddies!
The levels of T in my bloods or something they said it should be between 10 and 30 and mine is at 4 :/ so they are increasing my dosage slowly. I'm impressed that my voice actually even dropped taking that into consideration ahah xD
I'm excited for where your voice will end up too! All voices are beautiful and sure it might be that you can't sing high/low but what you will have will be yours and that's special.

Mine hasn't settled yet either but I figured might as well keep singing through it all ahah.
But as a baritone you'll have to sing either tenor or bass, I don't think choirs have a baritone part, you just have to decide if you are gonna push it low or push it high ahah. Hope when you join you'll have lots of fun, choirs are fun)

[0searching0]

So I've been on T since the end of March and my voice started dropping pretty quickly like within a few weeks. I now sing bass in my choir and sure my voice isn't super the deepest ever but for an 18 year old it is fairly deep. I don't think I'm actually a bass, maybe a low baritone. I can hit Fs Es and sometimes Ds.

Basically I was wondering how everyone else's voices are?

Ive been on a regular dose of T for almost 3.5 years now. My voice is really deep
I used to be a decent singer (had no problem hitting notes like when following a song). Now my range is better than before, BUT i have trouble making my voice hit the notes I want WHEN I WANT THEM. It's like I'm tone deaf or something (but Im actually not).
I think it's like getting used to the movements of my vocal cords now that theyre different?? Like when a kid is all clumsy after a growth apurt. Im not super invested in singing like you, like I'm not in a choir or anything. But I am a musician and enjoy singing for fun when playing guitar or jamming with people. If I practised actively itd probably be better/more under control but oh well lol

[Hughie]

I haven't started T yet, but I'm curious about the voice change and singing. I saw a cool film in August about two FTM singers, recommended if you get a chance to check it out: Real Boy.  It was really powerful.

http://realboymovie.com/

[Dena]

Ive been on a regular dose of T for almost 3.5 years now. My voice is really deep
I used to be a decent singer (had no problem hitting notes like when following a song). Now my range is better than before, BUT i have trouble making my voice hit the notes I want WHEN I WANT THEM. It's like I'm tone deaf or something (but Im actually not).
I think it's like getting used to the movements of my vocal cords now that theyre different?? Like when a kid is all clumsy after a growth apurt. Im not super invested in singing like you, like I'm not in a choir or anything. But I am a musician and enjoy singing for fun when playing guitar or jamming with people. If I practised actively itd probably be better/more under control but oh well lol

What T will do to a voice is unpredictable. Most men can sing after puberty though in a lower range but I couldn't. T so limited my range that even in my head voice speaking was 130-140 HZ and the upper limit was about 180. If I were to sing, my voice would have been pretty flat and sounded much like Johnny Cash. On T, you may have to sing in a different scale and possibly a different style.

That said, many MTFs can produce a passible feminine range so most don't end up with the ultra low voice that I had.

[WorkingOnThomas]

But as a baritone you'll have to sing either tenor or bass, I don't think choirs have a baritone part, you just have to decide if you are gonna push it low or push it high ahah. Hope when you join you'll have lots of fun, choirs are fun)

Yeah, I haven't decided yet. Thus far the lower end of my range is far, far more stable. As soon as I try to push up at the moment, it cracks like crazy. So Tenor doesn't seem likely at this time. We'll see I'm going to give it another ten months, and that will put me right at the start of the choral year at my university.

[Kylo]

I can't sing worth a crap but the recent lowering of my voice is music to my ears. 

[Menoimagination]

well all of the parts in a choir are all equally as important so whatever you sing you'll be useful.

I'm glad your voice is deeper and it makes you happy! Mine makes me happy too but it also makes me feel like I'm no longer able to sing tune because it is deep and melodies tend to be high.




This is me singing the other day and I just wonder what other people think. Like, I know how you hear your own voice is different to how other people hear it so idk...?

Edit: I forgot I can't post videos (I've seen people do it idek? Maybe it says somewhere im not allowed to but my channel is ImGonnaFindMyPurpose and it is Too Young)

[Jonathan L]

Menoimagination, your voice sounds awesome and super low! I'm impressed (and slightly jealous, haha) Do you take lessons in addition to choir?

0searching0, I wonder if taking a couple voice lessons would help with that? I'm having a hard time matching pitch the way I used to because if I hear a note I can't really figure out where it is in my range anymore, lol. It makes sense that it would take time to get used to things, though.

Hughie, thanks for sharing that link. I keep meaning to watch that!

[Menoimagination]

Thanks yeah I take lessons (I do musical theatre I'm working towards grade 7 rn)

[Hughie]

Hughie, thanks for sharing that link. I keep meaning to watch that!

I hope you enjoy it - very powerful film for all sorts of reasons. And inspiring too.

[RedfootDaddy]

All you choir-y people - are there non-T methods you would recommend for trying to lower your voice? Vocal exercises or something? T isn't in my immediate future but I would really like my coworkers to stop describing my voice as 'valley girl'.

[GlobalPessimum]

(Sorry for butting in guys. I was browsing recent posts and this came up. I hope it's OK for me (MTF) to comment here?).

I wish I had the guts to sing in front of other people. I used to be a baritone before transitioning. I inherited my dad's voice (both our mothers and everyone else used to mistake us for each other over the phone) and he could have been an opera singer if he wasn't more tone deaf than a brick. I can sing... a bit... but I won't dare do it in my old, male voice.

And I don't care to sing in my feminine voice; I sound completely unremarkable then. I have a broad range, 3 octaves, but I only really enjoy singing on the lower end of that (over Nick Cave's songs, at that). I'd sound pretty stupid doing that in public, though, I fear.

[Dena]

All you choir-y people - are there non-T methods you would recommend for trying to lower your voice? Vocal exercises or something? T isn't in my immediate future but I would really like my coworkers to stop describing my voice as 'valley girl'.

Pre T you are somewhat limited to what your voice will deliver but there is a way to get the most out of it. You need to start by using your chest voice. To do this you need to relax the muscles between your larynx and your jaw. If done correctly you shouldn't feel your larynx move up while speaking. The other thing is you need to talk with a flatter voice and use volume for expression instead of pitch. Most likely you will sound like a young boy but that should be an improvement over what you currently have.

[Menoimagination]

Like has been said you can't do much about the pitch, but sounding like a valley girl is characterised by the inflection so your issue is that you're uptalking too much. So talking more monotonous might help.

To the baritone lady: hey embrace your voice and sing with your beautiful baritone voice. I know since cis women who have really really really deep voices and they mostly just get compliments on it and people are just impressed. Also it is a real asset in for example an all women choir/group/quartet...

[GlobalPessimum]

Like has been said you can't do much about the pitch, but sounding like a valley girl is characterised by the inflection so your issue is that you're uptalking too much. So talking more monotonous might help.

To the baritone lady: hey embrace your voice and sing with your beautiful baritone voice. I know since cis women who have really really really deep voices and they mostly just get compliments on it and people are just impressed. Also it is a real asset in for example an all women choir/group/quartet...

Hey, thanks- I appreciate the encouragement. I do indeed have a cis friend who sings the blues and she can go pretty deep and it sounds incredibly beautiful. She once commented how it was a revelation to her the first time she stopped an entire room with her voice (I believe at the time she was singing in a pub, full of rowdy Brits, so double hard to make them shut up and listen). I hear her sing and I know it must be very rewarding to be able to sound like that.

The problem is my voice sounds manly if I sing low- it's the polar opposite of a falsetto, I guess. Somehow, cis women singing low sound very feminine. I don't quite have the knack for that. I'd have to seriously work at it to get my male voice sound like a female singer's.

But, really, thank you for the encouraging words, that's really lovely. I might give it a try, OK?


Edit: Just listened to some of your stuff. Very nice and yeah, that's the kind of thing I mean- like in I Can't Help Falling In Love...? I sound that manly when I try to sing in a low voice X)

[RedfootDaddy]

Thank you Dena and Menoimagination! Great advice to start off. I'm starting to practice flattening out my voice when I'm at home and dealing with cashiers and things, but I didn't realise how ingrained my speaking habits are at work. I have a definite chirpy voice on the phone with customers.