Susan's Place Transgender Resources

So music has been a huge part of my life and I have read and done a lot of research on singing voice and for transguys who continue to train their singing voice and all after they started T and while they go through all of their transition.

I was just curious if anyone on here, even if you're not a professional singer or anything...has T somehow effected your singing voice so that either you're...

1. Afraid to sing again?
2. More confidence to sing?
3. Just can't sing at all?

Share your experience with me please.

Dude, that's great to hear! I hoping to be like that too. My voice is pretty deep right now pre-t, but I feel uncomfortable singing in this voice still in fear of being discovered haha. But great to hear :)

Just my $0.02..

I cannot sing the way I used to - I had quite a deep voice too before T, now its even deeper!

My voice gets tired fast - at the moment can't sing for a as long as I used to. My throat also gets sore quicker than it used to. I have water with me at all times now and that only helps a little.

It is pitch-y from time to time and somewhat squeaky intermittently when attempting something from my old register.

There is definitely some adjustments to be made for the new register. I can hit much lower notes than I used to however that also means I no longer hit the higher ones I could.

When my voice first dropped significantly I couldn't sing anything pretty much without sounding like a drowning cat - that has gotten better.

I can make it through a good song choice! But hardly any of what I used to be able to do. And any of the old songs are sung much much lower than the original..

Good luck man - it is frustrating at times for someone who sings, music is like air to me and it sounds to be much the same for you.

And mate everyone is different - you never know your luck :)

Jay

Before T, I liked to sing along to the radio, but I hated the way my voice sounded. I kept trying to go lower, but of course it didn't work.

After T, I was a fairly stable tenor for a while and got very comfortable with my new singing voice. I didn't have to keep shifting...octaves?...to sing. And I didn't sound like a &^&%$#$ girl anymore, which was wonderful. I finally felt as though I sounded like ME.

Then my voice started cracking again. I lost a lot more upper range and didn't gain as much lower range. A couple of months later, I picked up the lower range. So now I'm a baritone, but I am relearning how to sing. Some songs are great. Others are weird. But I sound very very male, and I love it. I'd like to go lower, but I won't be too disappointed if I don't. I feel much more confident about my singing, even if I have to switch octaves frequently.

Now, if I could just get the hang of "Happy Birthday," I'd be set.

Well, I love music, and as a kid I loved to sing. I sang tenor in my middle school choir - I didn't really have a tenor "quality" to my voice (I'm more of a low contralto or a countertenor, Cher's or Chris Colfer's range more or less) but I could reach tenor notes with a pleasing tone, whereas my voice has always cracked, squeaked, and broken at the upper ends of even the easiest alto parts.

But I quit singing at puberty/the start of high school because the "basic" choirs at my high school were segregated by gender, and also because I actually lost some of my low notes when I hit puberty, so I didn't even have the "range" argument to place me in the men's choir. So I haven't sung seriously since I was a prepubescent kid.

But with T starting to strengthen my low notes, I've developed an interest in singing again. My tone's improved a lot at the low end of my range. I do get tired very quickly and my voice is extremely weak from lack of use - I'm extremely soft-spoken and almost never sing, shout, or speak out. But I'm getting a little more confident. It also helps that my range is shifting into the range that I actually hear well and the quality of my voice is changing to be a slightly closer match to the male singers I want to sound like, so I'm more in-tune and on-key and not shifting octaves or wobbling around trying to figure out what a note is because I'm not hearing it properly.

We'll see how things go as I continue on T. Most trans guys' voices go through an awkward squeaky stage. I'm sure I'll get that at some point.

Quote from: [CRYPT] Chris on October 21, 2010, 11:44:43 PM
Dude, that's great to hear! I hoping to be like that too. My voice is pretty deep right now pre-t, but I feel uncomfortable singing in this voice still in fear of being discovered haha. But great to hear :)

I can think of a guy who has no fears about his masculinity being questioned and can sing higher than I can now Pre T. He's amazing.

Dr Who Proms Concert  Mark Chambers singing "Vale Decem"

Doctor Who at The Proms (2010) - This is Gallifrey/Vale Decem (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bjETSpmZJM#ws)

http://transguys.com/features/testosterone-ftm-singing (http://transguys.com/features/testosterone-ftm-singing)

Quote from: JesseA link=topic=86053.msg612096#msg6120 :embarrassed:96 date=1287752003
http://transguys.com/features/testosterone-ftm-singing (http://transguys.com/features/testosterone-ftm-singing)

Yeah I have read this article a few times before. Thanks though :)

More confidence. I had a lot of vocal training and was ready to go into singing professionally but balked; because I just could not bear to be heard with a womanly voice. Being told how 'beautiful' my voice was only made me feel worse.

I'm on weekly doses of T which has allowed my voice to deepen slowly and gradually, and I've retained a lot of my vocal flexibility in the process. I lost the soprano and alto ranges (I don't miss them) and the upper tenor, but once my voice settles down I'll probably be able to regain the latter. My baritone is full and rich and strong, and it makes me so happy.

Quote from: M.Grimm on October 22, 2010, 03:31:01 PMMy baritone is full and rich and strong, and it makes me so happy.

That's awesome, Grimm. I wonder if good singers tend to remain good singers after T?

I'm convinced having vocal training prior to this helped a lot in allowing me to maintain my singing ability. I still have full control over tone, I just have a deep voice now. From what I gather it takes about a year for the changes to really settle in, so I won't push my range until then.

Quote from: M.Grimm on October 22, 2010, 11:45:46 PM
I'm convinced having vocal training prior to this helped a lot in allowing me to maintain my singing ability. I still have full control over tone, I just have a deep voice now. From what I gather it takes about a year for the changes to really settle in, so I won't push my range until then.

A year eh? Haha it's like going through purity for a year. But yeah, I can agree with you there. I'll bet the vocal training has helped a lot. I have very little vocal training, but I can remember which muscles to use to sing. I hope I can figure it out when I'm on T.

I couldn't sing before T, but I'm truly astounded at the degree to which I can't sing after T! :laugh:

But no, seriously, I'm REALLY bad. And I've gotten worse. I'm not tone deaf, I can hear I'm out of tune. I just can't seem to get in tune.

I try to put my voice somewhere where I think it's right, and it turns out to be totally wrong.

I'm not even trying anything that hard... just trying to belt along with some Colony 5 in the car at silly-o'clock when nobody else is around.

My voice never cracked, squeaked or dropped out. It just smoothly dropped in pitch. I can put my speaking voice where I want it most of the time just fine.

I just can't sing! :laugh:

Honestly, if a boy can sing before puberty and after puberty, we should be able to, as well.  I think the time of adjusting and growing into your voice, per se, is longer than people think.  I really don't think the vocal chords will settle down completely in a year: think about how long it takes for a teenaged boy's voice to stop cracking and squeaking, and then to stop sounding gritty and awkward and fall into his final, adult range.  Plus the vocal chords always undergo quite a lot of stress.  It might take a while, some training and some adjustment, but I really do believe that anyone can learn to sing after T changes their voices.  It just might take a lot more work for some people, like actual voice lessons.

Quote from: M.Grimm on October 22, 2010, 11:45:46 PMFrom what I gather it takes about a year for the changes to really settle in, so I won't push my range until then.

I didn't start getting a baritone until about about sixteen months on the "full dose" of T. I didn't get the full lower registers until about twenty months in. I'm not ruling out further changes.