Hey Ladies, more questions and concerns from resident newbie, Petti!
No doubt we are all aware that cultivating a feminine voice is an important part of transitioning and passing, and so in my very primal stages of transition I am working with my voice and I had some questions! Ready? Here goes.
Even if I get my speaking voice to a level where it's never mis-gendered, will I ever be able to scream or yell with my female voice? I do understand some cis guys can sing rather loudly with a higher pitch, which I suppose is sorta like yelling, but I have never been much of a singer. I do hope I'll be able to yell at people. :)
This may be a funny/silly question, but I am going to ask anyway: If after cultivating my voice to a level of femininity I find acceptable, if I cough or sneeze or clear my throat will I still sound like a male? I ask because I imagine if I was out in public and had to clear my throat or sneeze that if I sounded like a guy *BAM* clocked in a NY Minute.
Okay, last one. For some of you who have perfected your voice, let me ask: If you do something that causes you to suddenly cry out in pain, like stub your toe or cut your finger while cooking, do you sound off with a masculine or feminine voice?
My concern here is with how voice training/feminization impacts other areas of vocalization beyond simple conversational speaking. I wonder if I'll always have to make a conscious effort to maintain my feminine voice or if after mastering it, it will come to me as naturally as my ugly boy voice.
Ever grateful.
I've been practicing a female-ish voice a bit, and from what I've read and observed, you still have to consciously manipulate the voice to be more female. I am pretty phlegmy (i know so sexy) and am always clearing my throat and coughing, which unless I actively raise the pitch are both way deep in my throat.
I have never been able to scream since puberty.. before the T wrecked my vocal chords I could almost break glass with my shrieks. lol! Anyway, I think surgery may be the only option for a totally female voice without much conscious effort. Which is what I'm personally planning on doing ASAP.
only just starting on the voice journey... will report back ;)
L Katy
For me, female voice is simply a matter of holding my throat in a certain position. When I do that, everything I say comes out feminine.
Some how my muscles remember to do that when I talk. It's like now my body knows that it's the way it's done. So yes, when I laugh, scream, curse, or cry out in pain, it's with my feminine voice. Sneezing doesn't seem to be a problem.
Can't clear my throat like a woman, but then everyone pretty much sounds like a marsh monster when they're clearing their throat, so I don't think it outs me.
I should say that normally I'm not a kinesthetic person. I can't dance or remember sports move to save my life (literally), so I figured I'd drop my voice all the time. In practice it's happened all of twice, during the first few months. I haven't dropped it since I've been fulltime.
Does this help?
I'm still figuring this one out. I've seen some YouTube videos that were helpful but I need lots of practice.
I think these are answering all your questions:
For projecting your voice it helps by practicing singing. I sing in other languages to make me feel less awkward.
Sneezing is something you have to practice. I just compress everything upwards and slam my voice box into my brain and my sneezes are like little squeaks.
Coughing you can also make higher pitched, but even some cis women have guttural coughs.
As for pain, I try to make pain sounds by using just my tongue & mouth. Hisses, clicks, etc and once the initial surprise goes away I can moan or whine in my female voice.
It's too much effort for me.
I am going the surgical route.
Does that mean I give up? Nope. It means that I don't want to have to worry about my voice.
I have kids. They get into stuff. They run around in public places.
This summer I can only imagine when I'm out and they do something. Let's say I'm at a water park in a bikini. And one of them decides to do something naughty, and I have to correct them. All of a sudden this deep male voice comes out... what the...? Yeah, my worst nightmare.
That aside, I've seen people on YouTube who claim that they are more or less "stuck" in their female voice and it's hard to go back to the male voice without effort.
Yes, Suzi, that helps a lot. All of you helped me and I am happy for it. Voice seems like a tough hurdle to overcome but I have some confidence I can do it.
Two main reasons I am working on my voice is because 1) it's free and 2) I feel it will give me confidence if I could just call to order a pizza or something like that and be referred to as ma'am, miss, her etc. Even if I have not otherwise fully transitioned hearing that would make me feel good.
You girls are the bestest for answering this stuff for me. ~Hugs~
I have developed my female voice and have been using it for over 9 months and have found that I still cough like a male, sneeze androgynous, scream..meh I'd say androgynous for that as well. It is easier to holler like "AHHHH!" then to speak scream, like screaming for someone to help you. As you are only able to scream as high as you have trained to voice to peak at. The new voice you work on becomes second nature and over time you have to consciously think if your going to speak in your lower male voice, however, as a test I try all the time to sing in my male voice and I notice as I'm singing my voice is trying to raising into female singing on its own. So you do in develop the always speaking natural female voice that is you continue to use, becomes self sustaining. It's all about fluctuations on the wording, breathing, and learning where you should be trying to maintain your pitch at. Like I said, you become accustomed to all of this and the brains learns this new way of speaking.
Trying to get into learning the breathing and punctuation bit there Chrissy too, although Kate (Imaginekate) I think I agree with you on the Surgery side and if I can afford soon, will try and do, I believe it gets around all those thinking bits about 'what if I cough' etc... But there is a big time out for that...
L Katy :-*
Quote from: CrissyMarie on February 03, 2015, 12:10:35 PM
It is easier to holler like "AHHHH!" then to speak scream, like screaming for someone to help you.
Oddly screaming for me was never a problem. I always screamed like a girl. I got teased a ton for it in my (all boys) secondary school.
Quote from: ImagineKate on February 03, 2015, 03:57:25 PM
Oddly screaming for me was never a problem. I always screamed like a girl. I got teased a ton for it in my (all boys) secondary school.
Haaaa
I was always a "cissy" at school, same, was an all boys secondary school in S London (was a hard school too, somehow managed to talk my way out of beatings... ) But there's a book in itself :laugh:
L Katy
Thanks a ton for the insight you all. Really good stuff to know.
Quote from: katrinaw on February 03, 2015, 04:17:55 PM
Haaaa
I was always a "cissy" at school, same, was an all boys secondary school in S London (was a hard school too, somehow managed to talk my way out of beatings... ) But there's a book in itself :laugh:
L Katy
I went to a school run by the presentation brothers from Cork, Ireland. Presentation College San Fernando Trinidad and Tobago. One of the best in the Caribbean. Only the best and brightest (or well connected) go there. How I ended up there who knows lol.
Kudos to you for training your voice this early in your transition :)
After some time speaking and thinking in your female voice 24/7, it becomes your natural voice, and you will sound female in every situation, including yelling and sneezing.
I don't know if you will be able to (probably, with enough practice!), but I know it *is* possible. I can sneeze/cough/gasp in a feminine register, I cry out in pain like a girl (that I can't take credit for, I always yelped in a girly way even before I started trying), and I can definitely shout and sing in my female voice. I don't have the power or projection while yelling that I did before, and my singing voice has less range now, but it's doable. All that took months and hundreds of hours of practice followed by years of getting so that this voice is natural and reflexive to me, but it worked. Now I can't actually get the masculine chest resonance back even if I try; if I "drop" my voice, the absolute worst case is that it comes out sounding like a low-voiced woman. And my wife's a tenor, so, you know, it happens - she talks in a much lower range than I do these days.
Oh, and I've known cis women who coughed and sneezed and honked in a baritone register if they had a bad enough cold. :) Worst-case, you can always pass it off as a really terrible cold/allergies.
Quote from: Damara on February 03, 2015, 01:22:18 AM
I've been practicing a female-ish voice a bit, and from what I've read and observed, you still have to consciously manipulate the voice to be more female. I am pretty phlegmy (i know so sexy) and am always clearing my throat and coughing, which unless I actively raise the pitch are both way deep in my throat.
I have never been able to scream since puberty.. before the T wrecked my vocal chords I could almost break glass with my shrieks. lol! Anyway, I think surgery may be the only option for a totally female voice without much conscious effort. Which is what I'm personally planning on doing ASAP.
I was really sick for a couple of months with a lung thing that caused me to cough constantly. Having congestion just destroys trying to sound female as far as I can tell. I largely gave up on trying to sound female during that time.