Voice training

[James-Alen]

For a long time this struck me as something that more MTFs dabbled in than FTMs and never really gave it a lot of thought, but I was playing around the other day and realized when talking in my natural voice, I can go up one breath higher, and one lower without straining to make it sound normal. It actually is a big difference either way. I sound a lot more fem or masculine just by altering my voice slightly.

does anyone else do this? I'm interested to know how it works for you guys.

[Shang]

I can't make my voice higher without it sounding fake, and I can't make my voice lower without it sounding fake--though it sounds better lower than it does higher.

[Crow]

Even going a little bit lower makes my voice crack and my throat get sore and dry. It's kind of a sorry state of affairs. (Ironically, I can go considerably higher without any troubles at all... but that doesn't really do me any good. XD)

[Bones]

I've been able to go a bit lower than my normal voice. I also learned, men are more monotone when they speak and if you try not to get excited and have your voice pitch, it helps...I've also trained myself to talk a lot slower than my jabbering jaws were used to, so it keeps that monotone quality in tact. I hope that makes sense.

[James-Alen]

I've been able to go a bit lower than my normal voice. I also learned, men are more monotone when they speak and if you try not to get excited and have your voice pitch, it helps...I've also trained myself to talk a lot slower than my jabbering jaws were used to, so it keeps that monotone quality in tact. I hope that makes sense.

That does make sense, actually. I never really noticed the monotone thing until you mentioned it. It's true. Also, I've realized getting excited about stuff verbally makes the voice high again for some reason. Maybe because you forget and lose concentration on making it deeper.

[James42]

I'm not on T yet, but I've been able to get my voice to sound naturally low, and my gf always tells me I'm so monotone lol

[Nygeel]

I've heard some guys do vocal exercises to lower their pitch BUT I do know a trans guy that spoke to a vocal coach who pretty much said you're wrecking your vocal cords by doing it. If you let your voice relax it will sound more male and deep.

[Michael Joseph]

I read somewhere that if you practice saying your abc's in the lowest voice that you can multiple times everyday you can train your voice to naturally be deeper. I tried it but it was too much work and it kinda hurt.

[zombiesarepeaceful]

I did pre-T. I had a lower voice naturally, but not a passable one. So I spoke lower, mostly by breathing from my stomach rather than my chest. It dropped really fast on T. I've only been on it 40 days. Idk if that has anything to do with me altering it pre-T or not.
Post Merge: June 22, 2010, 12:15:28 PM
I did pre-T. I had a lower voice naturally, but not a passable one. So I spoke lower, mostly by breathing from my stomach rather than my chest. It dropped really fast on T. I've only been on it 40 days. Idk if that has anything to do with me altering it pre-T or not.

[Lachlann]

I've always wondered how accents come into play, though. Some accents have more of a sing-song flow to it, even for the men.

How does one be monotone and still portray that or emotion?

[emil]

i trained my voice to become deeper but i didnt really have any knowledge of how to do it, i just talked in a lower voice and then tried to hold it up....now that i have learned how to do it i can speak like that all the time. i still do have my female voice which i can use, though. my male voice is way more monotonous and husky.

How does one be monotone and still portray that or emotion?

it helps to just listen to guys talking, preferrably listen to some interviews with guys that are.....not on the deepest end of the scale of male voices. you can even tell the difference in boys 11 years old, especially in English.
what kind of emotion would you like to portray? with a friendly, monotonous (of sorts) voice, you'll convey that you're open and laid back....."sad", "scared" and "oh my gooood this is great" are not emotions guys express very much.....but if needed:
"sad": lower your voice even more, slow down your speech, or most in character, don't say much at all
"scared": dont say much
"enthusiastic": stay calm, maybe you can raise your voice a little bit but you dont really have to...
....basically just try to keep your voice on a balanced "sedated" level and you'll be fine...when you're talking about emotional subjects your voice will most likely change a little anyways

[insanitylives]

Even going a little bit lower makes my voice crack and my throat get sore and dry. It's kind of a sorry state of affairs. (Ironically, I can go considerably higher without any troubles at all... but that doesn't really do me any good. XD)

basically this.

it dosen't help that when i was younger i took singing lessons with a teacher who focused on the higher end of my range [which was already unnaturally high]

[zombiesarepeaceful]

See, even when I had a voice like this...^^...I didn't pass all the time.

My .02 is that if we all concentrate on how guy's stereotypically speak....it won't get very far. It won't help us pass anymore if we still have an androgynous or not male voice yet speak "like" a man. I didn't really speak any different, I just spoke lower. That's it.