Voice and other tips?

[ConfusedMichelle]

Hey guys. Hope you all had a great day. 

I have a couple of questions.

Since I can't start transition until I move up North, I figure I could at least get a head start.

Anyways that I could start training my voice to be lower/more manly? It's already pretty low for a "girl" but I would like to improve it as much as I can before starting T.

Also, how is T put in the body? Pills? Injections?

Any way I can improve muscle mass as much as possible before T? Any special diets or work outs?

Thanks everybody.

With love,
Brady

[Julie Marie]

Being a T veteran of over 50 years I can say they do a pretty good job at masculinizing you.  Since I'm MtF I can't say first hand how T works on a natal female but I have seen some pretty impressive results.  Getting a 'head start' may result in some improvement but once you begin taking T you can sit on the couch and realize more masculinization than all the work you could put into it prior to starting it.

As far as voice I'll reverse what I was told.  Women tend to speak from their heads, in other words the sounds come from the upper throat and mouth.  Men speak from their chests.  I can boom my voice to the point I can be heard regardless of the noise going on at work (I work construction).  I've never met a woman who can even come near that.  But when you pay attention to where the sounds are coming from that whole head/chest thing makes sense.

Working out with weights will give you muscle definition but it will be female muscle definition unless your genetics are such that you'll gain more mass than usual.  Bulking up on proteins and cycling carbs and proteins during a workout will help you gain better mass.  Consult a trainer at your school or health club for better info on this.

Orals and injections are most common for T administration.  Whatever you take, make sure you consult with a doctor.  Hope this helps. 

Julie

[Kismet]

I can't remember who said it first, but it works for me and I got it from here!

Sing along with low male singers. Frank Sinatra works well for me. Singing in key with him will naturally harmonize your voice with his. Over time, you will develop the ability to slip into a lower key in everyday speech.

As male to females need to learn to speak from the top of their throat, learn to speak from the bottom of yours. Concentrate on speaking from the bottom of your voicebox, use the lower muscles of your throat.
I pass most of the time, especially when speaking Japanese.

[mikke]

Being a huge simon & garfunkel fan, I tend to blast it in my car while singing at top volume (and therefore using my chest rather than vocal chords to sing lower). I always try to sing the lower harmony; that's the beautiful thing about s&g, the harmony. I still can't hit all the notes but I have definitely noticed improvement. It also improves the way I speak.

[Nero]

Anyways that I could start training my voice to be lower/more manly? It's already pretty low for a "girl" but I would like to improve it as much as I can before starting T.

How are you today, Brady?
If your voice is already pretty low for a female, then take comfort in that until you start T.
In my opinion, the only time attempting to speak in a lower voice would be helpful is over the phone, due to the fact that when someone is trying to speak lower, the effort is clearly displayed on their face.
Besides, I'm a chatty person, and I'd much rather concentrate on the words coming out of my mouth, than stressing out over using a lower key.

Any way I can improve muscle mass as much as possible before T? Any special diets or work outs?

I've said it time and time again - eat pasta and lots of it.
I've eaten pasta everyday of my life and I have an awesome build for a guy.
It works.
I know my advice will be disputed and discounted by the health nuts on here.

[Cindi Jones]

Being a huge simon & garfunkel fan, I tend to blast it in my car while singing at top volume

An S&G fan?  Really?  Woa!  Cest cool!  I'm surprised at how many young kids these days listen to the music of my youth.  We were radical back then. We were listening to Satan's music.  My church was dead set against its youth listening to such terrible music.  I agree that some of it was radical.  It can still set off my dad;)  We couldn't listen to it openly until the Osmond Brothers decided to start recording it.  And then, for some reason, it was okay.

My son is always hitting me up for a copy of Pink Floyd or Deep Purple, etc.  Rock N Roll is here to stay a while.

S&G had such beautifully wonderful songs.  I listen to them for the same reason as you my friend.  I take Art's part and sing along.  His is the high harmony.  You'd be surprised at how many women can't sing that high.

Cindi

[Dennis]

Most common ways of taking T are injections or patch or gel. The pills aren't used much any more. Injections are cheaper and some say more effective. Gel, you have to be careful not to contact anyone who doesn't want to grow body hair and have a deep voice, and patch you have be somewhat careful of similar.

The shots are intramuscular and usually go in the butt or thigh muscle. I get a shot once a week in the butt. Doesn't hurt at all.

Dennis

[Melissa]

Being that my natural voice is not in the low range at this point, but I do have access to the low voice, I can achieve it by really relaxing when I speak.  The voice needs to come from your chest to sound like a guy.  It will definitely take some practice to get it so it's consistent though.

Melissa

[umop ap!sdn]

On one of the voice sites somewhere I read a description about putting one finger at the top of your voice box under your jaw and another down at the bottom near the collarbone. The site claims that a male voice can be felt in both places but a female voice only in the lower spot, not the higher one. (Surprised me to read that.) I tried it with my default speaking voice and it was stronger on the bottom. Sure enough, when I added a certain "sweet" timbre to it to make it sound more feminine the top stopped vibrating at all.

[LynnER]

Im with julie on the voice thing,  If I try that "head voice" thing I sound pretty fake but I can sound fairly natural with the same technique shes useing... also being a musician seems to help as I know what to listen for... you have to have harmonics and resonation of somekind in your voice... men have a deeper resonation (chest speaking???)  Like for singing, ALL singers learn to sing from the diaphram... so *shrugs*  Im kinda rambeling here.... but if you want to have a more male voice, try speaking from the diaphram and make it rumble to where you feel it in your chest...

[mikke]

Being a huge simon & garfunkel fan, I tend to blast it in my car while singing at top volume

An S&G fan?  Really?  Woa!  Cest cool!  I'm surprised at how many young kids these days listen to the music of my youth.  We were radical back then. We were listening to Satan's music.  My church was dead set against its youth listening to such terrible music.  I agree that some of it was radical.  It can still set off my dad;)  We couldn't listen to it openly until the Osmond Brothers decided to start recording it.  And then, for some reason, it was okay.

My son is always hitting me up for a copy of Pink Floyd or Deep Purple, etc.  Rock N Roll is here to stay a while.

S&G had such beautifully wonderful songs.  I listen to them for the same reason as you my friend.  I take Art's part and sing along.  His is the high harmony.  You'd be surprised at how many women can't sing that high.

Cindi

Definitely. I usually work through the lower ranges of Scarborough Fair and Sound of Silence. I've been a huge S&G fan since I was in middle school; everyone thinks I'm nuts. HAH.

[melissa90299]

My best friend is FTM, he started T a couple months ago. (I understand injections are really the only way to go) His voice deepened dramatically after about a month. No facial hair yet but that sometimes happens after three months.

The secondary characteristics that T brings are more effective in masculinizing the body in FtoMs than in MtoFs. Breasts, of course, are the main problem. The kicker is that the bottom surgery is not very effective. But it is much easier for FtoMs to "pass" for one thing men are not scrutinized the way women are.

And there is no such thing as Facial Masculinization surgery. Luckily, I always had a feminine face and was just considered cute asa guy. Still, I needed FFS to tweak my features.

[Shana A]

Count me as another S & G fan from way back. I had no hope of ever singing like Art Garfunkel, but learned some nice fingerpicking guitar from trying to figure out Paul Simon's accompaniments.

zythyra