I am still trying to figure out how to reply to other posts. I'll get it. I survived Facebook!
Here is a really great place to start, with a few diagrams.
http://lena.kiev.ua/voice/And here is a demonstration, by a very sweet girl on YouTube:
I'm very interested in how the voice that we hear coming out of our mouths every day can affect our mood, our relationships, our ability to be "conspiratorial" with other woman in tone and texture, our reflex to raise our pitch and soften our timbre when we speak to men, and, most importantly, how the gender clues that we hear from ourselves speaking change our reality, perhaps even our "personality".
It has changed my life in many ways. My old voice was female, but had little joy in it, lacking a good range, being "dark and flat". I was a jazz musician. Dark and flat!
I became annoyed when I heard myself on NPR. A whole hour with Terry Gross. OMG! That was 30 years ago, but it sparked a passion in me: to make myself the woman I had always wished to be. I was a pianist. Now I am a regular girl, a married woman, a housewife, a dedicated partner, a good cook, on and on. Who am I in my new role? Who can I become without spending a fortune?!
I think that voice is the Number ONE single most telling gender cue. We all know about brow ridges and pheltrum length. Visuals are easy to find for many, but the human voice is elusive and hard to quantify. Imagine a man bent over fixing a drain under your sink. You enter the room and speak, but he cannot see you. How will he gender you, the noises you make, the way you talk, walk, move, smell, your vibe? I think that Voice, not Eyes, are the Window of the Soul. The sounds we make tell other hominids who we are . . . and what.
Many of us work to make the gender divide less divided, and I think that is wonderful. It takes a terrible burden off all of our children well into the future. But there are also those of us who are stealth, and we remain silent and safe. It's a choice. After 50 years as a pianist who was also an activist every time I played, me and my husband needed a respite! We are enjoying a little peace and quiet.
I want to let others know what I've learned about Voice. I also would like to hear what others say about it. And maybe I'll make a friend or two.
Now, I must figure out how to post an answer to individual posts.