Singers on T

[Lachlann]

I got some control over my voice after having a hard time singing.

I was wondering, though, my throat is drying out really fast when I sing. Has this happened to you before? Am I just singing incorrectly?

[Adio]

Mine is as well when it normally did not before.  I'm not professionally trained, however, and I have the feeling that I'm singing incorrectly. 

My voice also gets tired quicker than it did pre-T.  Of course, I'm not only trying to go lower, I'm trying to go higher as well. (I hate the fact that I'm losing range, not gaining.  I love being an actual tenor now, but I've just recently lost A4.  Gained A3 though.)

[Lachlann]

I've been professionally trained before, but I don't have access currently.

I've noticed that even if I drink water, it still gets dried out and I can't find enough information on boys singing through puberty to tell if I'm just singing wrong or if it's normal. I'm trying to sing at my voice level so I'm not even going too high.

[Adio]

I think maybe it's one of those wait and see kinda things.  I watched a video of this guy singing through one year on T.  It was definitely a major difference throughout the video.  Even at 7 months (if I remember correctly), his voice was still cracking.

Maybe because our vocal cords are changing so rapidly, our throats get drier faster than usual.  Singing is not my forte though.  I'd love to hear from someone who's been on T for a while who still sings.

[Miniar]

While it's still settling in, I think it's fairly reasonable to assume that it's gonna get tired easier than before.

[Arch]

I've heard that you shouldn't tax your vocal chords in the first year or so, but I don't know if that's good advice or simply alarmism.

[Lachlann]

While it's still settling in, I think it's fairly reasonable to assume that it's gonna get tired easier than before.

Probably.

I've heard that you shouldn't tax your vocal chords in the first year or so, but I don't know if that's good advice or simply alarmism.

I've heard that during puberty/the first year of T you should keep singing through it but obviously be careful with your voice.

[Arch]

A friend of mine recommends herbal tea, something with honey and lemon. But it sounds like your throat isn't irritated, just dry.

Maybe you just need to step up your fluid intake.

[Devin87]

Just from taking DHEA my voice is lowering a bit.  I've had *some* professional training (about a year during college) and before I was a sweet soubrette soprano with a light airy sound.  I don't know whether it's the DHEA or just getting a little older (most soubrettes settle to a different vocal type during their 20s), but although my range hasn't changed at all, I've definitely been losing the ability to get that sweet light sound (you know-- the sound little kids have).  All I know is, when I'm singing with a bunch of kids my voice doesn't blend in anymore.  It's getting... bigger.

[Flameboy]

There's a very good thesis about the FTM singing voice entitled "The Changing Female-To-Male (FTM) Voice" written by Alexandros N. Constansis and published (online) in the Radical Musicology journal. That should be enough information for you to google and find the article!

[Lachlann]

I have the same issue with throat dryness, but so do many non-trans singers. I think it is more climate-related for me, since it's been dry out. Is it drier than usual where you live? Or are you perhaps spending a lot of time in a dry environment? (I work at a retail store, and it is incredibly dry there!)

You said that this continues even when you drink water, but do you mean drinking water while you sing? If you aren't drinking enough water throughout the whole day, drinking only once you're already dehydrated isn't going to fix the issue.

As far as just singing on T in general: be gentle with your voice, but do explore it. Don't be too ambitious with your high notes--you're going to lose them before you get them back. Personally, while I can go pretty high in full voice, it's still taxing to do so. I think I'm going to lay off a bit until my voice has settled more. I'm sitting about in between tenor and baritone right now. My lower notes are becoming quite lovely at this point, so I'm going to work on developing that part of my voice. Also, I'm only beginning to get a falsetto (and its quality sucks). For reference, pre-T I sang tenor but struggled to hit the lower notes of the tenor repertoire and had a female-sounding timbre.

I live in a very humid climate and it hasn't really been any drier than usual. I've heard heat can have the opposite effect, but it hasn't been exceptionally hot either.

My voice never used to dry out like this until now.

I found a more efficient way to drink water and keep everything hydrated, though... as funny as that sounds. Basically when you have the water in your mouth you face your head down and you kind of inhale it in.

I don't try too hard to sing high notes, so I think I'm good. It's hard figuring out how to sing with a deep voice, though. People have told me to imitate male pop music but some of it is either too high or too low/awkward. Funnily enough I can sing male versions of female pop songs, lol.

Just from taking DHEA my voice is lowering a bit.  I've had *some* professional training (about a year during college) and before I was a sweet soubrette soprano with a light airy sound.  I don't know whether it's the DHEA or just getting a little older (most soubrettes settle to a different vocal type during their 20s), but although my range hasn't changed at all, I've definitely been losing the ability to get that sweet light sound (you know-- the sound little kids have).  All I know is, when I'm singing with a bunch of kids my voice doesn't blend in anymore.  It's getting... bigger.

Yeah I had a slight change to my voice pre-T last year. I couldn't sing nearly as high for a period of time, but I got it back. It could be your voice maturing.

There's a very good thesis about the FTM singing voice entitled "The Changing Female-To-Male (FTM) Voice" written by Alexandros N. Constansis and published (online) in the Radical Musicology journal. That should be enough information for you to google and find the article!

Sweet, I'll check it out.

[Adio]

Thanks for the advice, Kvall.  I sing all the time whether I should or not (I'm not that strong a singer, but I love singing).  I knew singing and T would be a challenge so your tips will definitely help.

[kyril]

I found a more efficient way to drink water and keep everything hydrated, though... as funny as that sounds. Basically when you have the water in your mouth you face your head down and you kind of inhale it in.

LOL! As silly as it sounds, that's the only way I manage to swallow liquids without choking on them.

[M.Grimm]

I've been worried about losing my ability to sing when my voice changes on T. I'm wondering if a little daily singing in the shower, where the warm moist air is soothing, might help in keeping one's vocal cords conditioned during the change. I'll definitely check out that thesis.

[Lachlann]

Thanks for the reminder and the tips on classical, Kvall.

Any suggestions for male singers in that area? I have a tendency to listen to female singers a lot in that genre.

[Devin87]

I've been on T exactly a week today and I've been on DHEA for about 2 1/2 months and I think my passagio is dropping.  I tend to stumble over my upper passagio instead of gliding through it so it's pretty obvious where it is and while before I was stumbling over my G (typical soprano) lately I've been stumbling over my F (typical mezzo).  And my high C, while there wasn't much power to it before, is now so thin it's almost non-existant.  So I'm already starting to notice some changes in my voice, although the low stuff is still elluding me.

[Cairus]

When I first started T, a couple of weeks in I noticed that my upper register was becoming harder to control. There weren't any detectable differences in the sound, but it was more difficult to steer... Then it started breaking, cleared up in three days, started breaking again, the cracking lasting for a couple of weeks, then slowly stabilizing and clearing up again... I'm at a point now where it seems relatively stable- during the last break, a lot of my upper range was not usable (absolutely no sound would come out, or it would be accompanied with a shrill honking/shrieking noise) but I tried to just sing every day regardless of how terrible it sounded.

Naturally if your throat actually hurts or the strain gets real uncomfortable, give it a rest. But even if singing through it doesn't help you 'retain' more(I've been told that it does) it *will* help you stay familiar with your voice as it changes. I pulled out of the last break with the notes that were unusable slowly returning. If your throat is feeling sensitive/scratchy, a tea made of slippery elm will help(it's sold as 'Throat Coat' from some wellness brand, comes in teabags) as it contains some natural mucilage that will lubricate your throat.

For anyone else reading this... As described above, I've had numerous small breaking periods and so far one longer one. Is this the type of breaking that usually happens? I'm wondering if I should be expecting more breaks after this. I'm at about four months.

How long does it usually last?