So I was having just a great day until...

So several of you wonder ladies gave me advice about how to spend the next 6 months while I wait for my HRT intake appointment. So I thought I'd work on finding Alora's voice. Even in my male falceto I still sound super masculine. Why?!? 😩😩

Is estrogen going to help soften and open my vocal range? Or do I need to hire a vocal coach?

So bummed right now.

😔

I just speak an octave higher and softer and it seems to work.

Oh honey!

Yeah, it's very disheartening.  Voice work is, well, work.  It takes months of experimentation and practice.  But it can be done, and without HRT.  I didn't start HRT until I found my voice, which took me six months.

Read up on all the exercises that you can do to strengthen your voice.  But don't overdo it -- no more than an hour of practice per day.  When you're done, do a salt-water gargle (don't swallow) to soothe those vocal cords.  It wouldn't hurt to hire a voice coach, either.  It's not something that's going to happen overnight.  And it's something that has to be approached almost... sideways.  Slowly building up your pitch.  Working on the cadence and intonation that other women use.  Getting your voice out of your chest. 

There are all kinds of suggestions in the free "Finding Your Female Voice" workbook.  Do all the exercises -- not all at once, but over time.  Because eventually you're going to be using your voice in a very different way for the rest of your life.

Voice work is, I think, the most difficult thing.  It takes perseverance and fortitude and courage.  So, remember this: finding your voice is like running a marathon.  You're not going to run a marathon (26 miles) in one day, not if you've never run before in your life.  No, the first day you train for a marathon, you're lucky to get 50 yards.  But here's the thing -- now, you've started.  You did the work -- you practiced, you listened to the feedback, and you know you have more work to do.  You're better off now than you were this morning, even though you feel sore.

Keep training.  And never give up.

Since starting hormones people who haven't spoken to me till 10 months after told me that my voice sounded more female and I don't even practice or force it.

Quote from: Sophia Sage on November 21, 2016, 10:46:45 PM
Oh honey!

Yeah, it's very disheartening.  Voice work is, well, work.  It takes months of experimentation and practice.  But it can be done, and without HRT.  I didn't start HRT until I found my voice, which took me six months.

Read up on all the exercises that you can do to strengthen your voice.  But don't overdo it -- no more than an hour of practice per day.  When you're done, do a salt-water gargle (don't swallow) to soothe those vocal cords.  It wouldn't hurt to hire a voice coach, either.  It's not something that's going to happen overnight.  And it's something that has to be approached almost... sideways.  Slowly building up your pitch.  Working on the cadence and intonation that other women use.  Getting your voice out of your chest. 

There are all kinds of suggestions in the free "Finding Your Female Voice" workbook.  Do all the exercises -- not all at once, but over time.  Because eventually you're going to be using your voice in a very different way for the rest of your life.

Voice work is, I think, the most difficult thing.  It takes perseverance and fortitude and courage.  So, remember this: finding your voice is like running a marathon.  You're not going to run a marathon (26 miles) in one day, not if you've never run before in your life.  No, the first day you train for a marathon, you're lucky to get 50 yards.  But here's the thing -- now, you've started.  You did the work -- you practiced, you listened to the feedback, and you know you have more work to do.  You're better off now than you were this morning, even though you feel sore.

Keep training.  And never give up.

Thanks Sophia,

I really needed to hear that. And it's a good thing I'm not wearing makeup yet, otherwise my mascara would be running right now.

Loves 💋❤️💋

Estrogen will NOT alter vocal chords. It's all about how you use your voice.

Sophia gave really good advice.  Training your voice is a lot of work, and you can't do it all at once.  But you must practice literally every day for months and months.  Estrogen won't help.  It is all about putting in the time and work.

I did hire a vocal coach, and it was a good investment.  I still have lots of homework to do to make my new voice a habit, but at least I know what I have to do.

One thing I learned is that pitch is not that important.  Lots of sexy cis women have deep husky voices.  The online references all say you have to get your voice up to 220 Hz.  I tried it, and it was way too high for me.  I strained my voice in less than an hour of that.  I could get even higher using a falsetto voice, but doing a lot of that will also damage your vocal chords.

Through experimentation, and knowing from my coach about head resonance, I discovered that I could get the right resonance at only 165 Hz.  I can talk all day at 165 Hz without strain.  My normal male voice is around 110 Hz.  For me, 220 would be a full octave (do-mi-so-do) higher than my natural voice.  165 is only half as big a step (do-mi-so).  I wouldn't have found that resonance without the help of a coach.

Most of the feminine clues in a voice come not from pitch, but from how you enunciate your vowels and consonants.  The most important pitch clue is not the level but how much it varies.  Men speak in a near-monotone, while women's voices rise and fall for emphasis.

KathyLoren   Oh you aren't kidding. Voice training is work. A lot of work. I found my spot at F3 which is in the 165 range. My advice to Alora is to first download "Da tuner" from the play store. It is a guitar tuner but works on everything. After six weeks I am just beginning to build phrases with my speech therapist. After spending an hour with her I go home and practice for a half hour twice a day. I thought I was going to sound like Maude but it really isn't that bad. The hard part is not remembering to breath from my stomach and not my chest. There are several utube tutorials Since my F3 number is found just under where my voice cracks I also have to take care that I don't injure my vocal cords by talking too long or too loud. As training progresses I will be able to open up for longer periods.

Anything over 160Hz is probably good enough if everything else is right.  But that's if it's your base -- which means you're going up to 220 on occasion for emphasis. And you still shouldn't drop below 120. 

However, if you're doing everything else right, and your base is 220, you can hit 330, and you never drop below 160... that's a voice that can reverse a clocking, spontaneously, and with many apologies to boot.

Now, if your voice is straining at 220, you obviously can't stay there.  But it is possible to slowly work up to it.  You just have to go slow.  If you find the right resonance at 165, shoot for 170.  And then get comfortable at 170, for at least a full week, maybe two.  Then go for 175... and so on.  Baby steps.  There's no rush, and besides, it can't be rushed. 

I say it took me 6 months to find my voice.  It probably took another 6 months to cut out the tendency to slip out of it completely.  And lo and behold... I was still in the middle of transition. 

Yeah, this whole endeavor takes a whole lot of patience.

What everyone else says...  Ditto! 

I tried a number of apps, and settled on Singscope (iTunes store; free) to put on my phone.  It is more responsive and sensitive to voice than many of the guitar tuner apps.  It's on my phone rather than my computer, so I can carry it with me, and re-check my pitch through the day.  Without that, I find that I drifted down as the day went on.  I'm consistently running around G3-F3 for pitch, roughly 180 Hz.

My longer term goal is to reach B3-C4, the 220-240 Hz range, without cracking and to hold that well enough to do a 50 minute lecture.  Yeah, ouch!  It would be neat to not be misgendered by voice any more.  I am now trying to read a newspaper article or two at pitch every morning, and not slip during the day. I'm getting better at this, slowly developing the strength and control.

Drinking lots of liquids through the day seems to help, and pausing to make a little hesitation sound before speaking, what ToastMasters would consider a bad habit, helps me 'calibrate'.

Patience and time. Time and patience.  Hey, isn't that what we are constantly hearing in transition?

Quote from: Michelle_P on November 22, 2016, 08:11:10 PM

settled on Singscope

Patience and time. Time and patience.  Hey, isn't that what we are constantly hearing in transition?

I just want to start of by saying you ladies are the best. Thank you so much. 💋

Michelle, I'm not 100% sure how to have my settings for the singscope app. Could you help? And it looks like my everyday talking voice is along a solid c3 line. With inflection it can reach f3. I'm still not 100% sure what I'm shooting for, but I'm going to start with that workbook Sophia recommended.

Loves 💋❤️💋
Alora

 C3 is about 130 hz, a solidly male sort of pitch from our stretched vocal cords. F3 is about 175 Hz, closer to where we want to be. So, I'd bet you have the range you need. 

I'm just.using the default settings in Singscope, as they seem to do a good job of picking up my voice. I settled on this app as many of the tuner apps didn't seem to pick up my voice unless I was talking very loudly, a bit too much for me.


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Quote from: Michelle_P on November 23, 2016, 07:11:14 AM
C3 is about 130 hz, a solidly male sort of pitch from our stretched vocal cords. F3 is about 175 Hz, closer to where we want to be. So, I'd bet you have the range you need. 

I'm just.using the default settings in Singscope, as they seem to do a good job of picking up my voice. I settled on this app as many of the tuner apps didn't seem to pick up my voice unless I was talking very loudly, a bit too much for me.


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Thanks Michelle that helps a lot.

Loves 💋❤️💋

I went up by one octave. Currently I speak around C4 with great comfort. Since I am a musician and singer, that might have something to do with it. Yet, it took me around 6 months to feel comfortable to do it on a daily basis. Right now I don't even pay attention to it, I got used to it. But hiring a vocal coach was important, even for me. I spent 1 year with her, and did a weekly session.

Apps I use: Da Tuner Professional, and "Voice Noter" from Kangain. The latter is amazing, as it tracks the pitches over a diagram.

It takes time. And Falsetto is a big no no. You'll run the risk of damaging your vocal chords. Slow and steady expansion of your vocal range is the best way according to my speech pathologist. You need to be able to sustain your voice without fatiguing your voice. Vocal hygiene is where I started, then it was resonance, and now we are working on pitch. Next will be inflection and speech patterns. Take your time and baby steps. It'll come together, don't rush into trying to speak higher without first building good habits. Don't get too down on yourself. It'll come.