...the reference, of course, is to the old Brady Bunch episode in which Peter Brady's voice changes. Well, I go through that over and over again, and I'm wondering if anyone else has had a bunch of mini-shifts, particularly after being on T for a few years.
I've been on T for nearly five years. I have had about three or four major vocal shifts, but I get a few mini-shifts every year, too. The most recent one is going on right now. I start feeling as if my throat is full of phlegm, and I go through a major throat-clearing evolution for a couple of days. Then I start wondering whether I'm in for another shift, and, as if by magic, I start losing some upper register, and I can't sing to save my life. My voice often sounds weird when I talk as well. After a week or two, things settle down, but I usually have to learn how to talk all over again because my voice isn't quite the same.
This time, I did get lucky; my voice slipped down a little and is already stabilizing, and I haven't had to go through the readjustment period I usually go through. My voice is a little different, but not so much that most people will notice. I do, and sometimes my therapist does.
I realize that men's voices shift throughout their lifetime, but not like this. Frankly, I'm getting a little tired of it. I appreciate a smidge more resonance when I get it, but the other guys I know had a major shift (or two) and a smoothing out period, and that was pretty much it.
Anyone else get lots of little shifts over the years?
My boyfriend will be going through this one day.
I'll miss the voice I've come to love so much but I'm glad I'll get to fall in with it all over again. :D
So T does effect the voice on trans men? A friend of mine is a trans guy, been on T for over five years now and I knew him pre-transition, can't say I've noticed any change in his voice.
I like the Brady reference, BTW. :D
Almost two years and I still have the shifting sometimes. It's pretty rough since I work with toddlers and I have to do sing-song voices and voices during story time. Mine went higher for a while but it's most recently been getting deeper. I wish it would just stabilize.
Quote from: Ayden on December 17, 2013, 01:53:38 AMI wish it would just stabilize.
Amen to that, brother. I hate the squeaking, the rasping, and the odd moment when my voice cuts out completely. I went to a social gathering today where nobody knows about my past, and my voice seized up right when I was talking to some guys I haven't seen in months. I started coughing, and I was dying to clear my throat aggressively. A few minutes earlier, I had squeaked and was mortified, but I tried not to show it.
I feel ungrateful to be griping about this, but it seems so unusual and is certainly inconvenient, especially considering that I have a job that requires lots of public speaking. When my voice acts wonky in the classroom, I make jokes about it and we all laugh; some of my students think it's a hoot when I accentuate the squeak. But when will I be able to stop doing that? It's a mystery.
You'd think that this wouldn't happen after nearly five years, but here I am. Gleep.
Arch
I know a rather feminine woman who stands in front of 300 students and speaks in a broad male Liverpool accent, and tries to look nonchalant.
She knows it too.
Such is life.
I'll be a year on T tomorrow and to be honest I'm kinda shocked I'm still having major changes. I think maybe the shock comes from seeing guys back in the day post or make videos about their first year like that was the huge transitional time for them with hormones. I guess passing wise it is for many of us but up to and apparently even beyond that point there are still major milestones to be had.
I was naive in my thinking that my voice would be settled by now (I'm sure you're really shocked at 5 years lol). I find it annoying because all of a sudden I get a lot of phlegm in my throat that I'm always trying to cough up. Just a couple weeks ago I wasn't sure if I had allergies or a cold coming on because I'm always clearing my throat but I don't feel bad at all. I'm lucky in one way though. I don't crack unless I'm singing and I only do that in the shower, lol.
I kinda wished I would have kept up with my voice recordings but I got lazy about it around the 7 month mark.
I just youtubed that episode of the Brady Bunch........I think I need the brain bleach!
I'm glad to hear it keeps changing, because I'd like mine to change some more. 20 months in I notice a few periods where it seems to get a tiny bit lower. I hate it because everyone goes "oh you sound so hoarse" and I have trouble speaking loudly.
Quote from: Simon on December 17, 2013, 10:19:09 AMI'll be a year on T tomorrow and to be honest I'm kinda shocked I'm still having major changes.
I didn't go into baritone range until nearly a year and a half in, and I had one or two major shifts after that. I was always worried that someone would say something about my suddenly deeper voice, but nobody seemed to notice! If the big shifts go unnoticed, I know that the mini-shifts aren't likely to alert attention once my voice has settled. But people do notice when I'm actually going through one.
I'm in the same boat. Only right now my voice is raspy and wimpy. I hate it. I can't project well, it's very soft, and not nearly as deep as I'd like. I don't need to be a baritone, but I'd like to be deeper than I am.
Jay, I've been thinking about getting some speech coaching when my job situation solidifies. I don't have the same projection that most cis men have (even tenors have more boom than I do), and I would like to learn how to speak from lower down. Maybe such coaching would help you?
Possibly. I have thought about taking voice/singing lessons. My voice never had a very good range, though, and maybe that would help. Some days my voice is deeper than others. But mostly not.
5 years is a long time... if you have good insurance it wouldn't hurt to have an ENT check it out just to make sure something else isn't going on. T isn't the only thing that causes voice changes- I've recently had to have laser surgery to remove lesions from my vocal cords.
Jay and Arch, it's really interesting to hear that you still have the projection/"boom" issue after so long on T. That's something I've noticed about my voice that I find really frustrating, and I was wondering if it would go away after more time on T or if there was something else to it. I wonder what it is. I find it very hard, if not impossible, to project from the chest.