yeah i found that video helpful thanks

Quote from: Janet Lynn on February 20, 2009, 01:51:35 PM
Tape recorder and Practice, Practice, Practice.  Also try finding a female vocalist that you like that isn't really high.  And sing along.  I use  Cher because I can march her almost note for note.  And it trains the voice.

Janet

how do we find  a local female vocalist? i was thinking of doing vocal surgery or somthing?

Just to add my two cents, I think that for as important as pitch is, proper resonance is equally necessary (we can all think of examples that don't-sound-quite-right, like a high pitched voice that still sounds like a man because of the resonance, or the opposite of that, a low pitched voice that still sounds feminine, Bea Arthur being a good example).  The best thing I learned practicing my own voice is to learn how to control the muscles in the throat so that you're able to "lift" the voice box as you're speaking.  Over time, it takes less and less effort as you become accustomed to it (probably like the lowering of the larynx during male puberty becomes naturalized over time).

Lia

I think most people that have problems with voice do so for psychological reasons.  I write the following several years ago:

QuoteHi all,

I thought it was about time that someone brought up the subject of psychological barriers to obtaining a female voice.  People have already beat to death the mechanics of voice, but rarely discuss the mental aspects.  I think these mental barriers are mainly responsible for people giving up on their voice.  Some may be asking why I placed this thread here and not on the open board.  Because I didn't want some anonymous posters derailing the thread and besides anyone who's serious about developing a female voice will have joined the forum already.

The first barrier occurs at the beginning: To try or not to try.  Due to fear, pride or other reason some people never even make an effort at all.

Next up is "What if someone hears me?".  Everyone has time alone to work on voice.  Talk to yourself in the shower or in the car coming to and from work.

Next hurdle is testing your voice on someone else.  You can submit voice sample to sites on the internet.  Not being a techie I just started testing my voice on unsuspecting family members.  I'll never forget calling my sister early on and fooling her with my new voice.  She said "You little Sh*t!" after I told her it was me.  This told me I was on the right track.  Voice is about taking chances.  You have to take chances if you're going to get anywhere.

The next BIG hurdle is your public debut.  This is when you go out and about as yourself and use your voice for the first time.  Stage fright threw me for a loop at first.  My throat would close up and I could only manage a whisper.  I just kept at it and eventually got past this.  I knew my voice in private was okay, I just had to get over my shyness.  This was not easy and took months.

WTF?  This hurdle came out of nowhere twice.  First, early on I was completely caught off guard how my personality seem to change when I used my new voice.  Of course that didn't happen, but my new voice was definitely more expressive and this led me to be even more open with people.  Don't be afraid of how you sound!  This is the real you finally being expressed, go with it!

WTF?-part 2  After having done lots of private practice and after I was starting to get over my stage fright I had another WTF moment.  At first it stopped me in my tracks.  This time my voice seemed to sound different than it did in private practice.  Once again the answer was to persist and overcome.  The term I use for this is to take "ownership" of your new voice.  Your new voice is YOU.  Your voice is a conduit for not only your thoughts, but emotions and your state of mind.  Let yourself go, stop monitoring yourself!  Your old voice is the enemy.  Again it took me a period of months to fully integrate this lesson.

Don't give up!  I told myself at the beginning that failure was not an option.  Sometimes I took a break, but I never gave up.

Tape Recorder Fiasco-A tape recorder may work for a lot of people but it almost halted my journey.  I was devastated how bad I sounded when I played the tape back.  I took a break and went out to a movie.  After thinking about it for a bit I never used the tape player again (It eventually got sent to another forum member).  After that I went strictly by ear (80%) and feedback from others (20%).  If the tape player doesn't work for you, don't be afraid to try something else.  There's more than one way to skin a cat.

1.  Be patient

2.  Be persistent

3.  Appreciate how much work voice is psychologically.  Mechanics is only a small part of the total project.

4.  Practice, practice, practice and then practice some more.

5.  Take ownership of your new voice.

6.  Never give up.


I hope this helps somebody out there dealing with their own hurdles.

Don't psyche yourself out.  Just do it.

Beyond, thanks for reposting this.  Like ALL of transition, your voice is no different.  It's about expressing yourself (a TRUE FEMALE) through your voice.  The self-conscious man just has to let go, and that's probably why people struggle so much with their voice.

When your outer voice changes, your inner voice changes too.  This is incredibly disorienting.  Because the male voice inside MUST go, and when he's gone, you've crossed a psychological barrier that you probably won't come back from.  Read about NLP, voice hypnosis, and other stuff like that to understand what to expect when your "inner voice" changes.  As you begin thinking in a female voice, your entire experience of the world will change, and this can be really uncomfortable, disorienting, and disconcerting if you're not ready. 

I'd like to summarize here what it takes BEYOND just listening to one CD and practicing:
1. Auditory feedback.  You need to listen to youself in a tape recorder so that you can get the sound you want.  You've got to let others hear your voice and critique it.  Take this criticism literally, and get it from somebody who is reasonable, not stupid, and wants to help you.
2. Speech Therapist.  Probably a good person to get PROFESSIONAL feedback from.  In fact, I think this is extremely underrated in terms of passability goes.  It costs money, but the psychological benefit of a voice is enormous.
3. Imitate female voices.  That's how women learn to talk the way they do.  Sing, laugh, BE the female voice.  Get tons of voice clips (download a program called HiQ Recorder for free, rip audio in MP3 format from Internet streams like Youtube.)  Imitate the clips that approximate the voice you want.
4. Experiment.  Voice lessons are good to get you experimenting and learning how that complicated meat instrument (your voice box) works.  But YOU have to experiment with YOUR OWN instrument until you've mastered it.

To transition successfully, you're going to have to learn to do things that the AVERAGE person will never know how to do.

P.S. Writing this post just made me think of a profile signature.



P.S.S.  Think about how long it takes to get good at the guitar.  You pick it up, it makes no sense.  You female voice is no different.

You figure out a few chords (start to sound remotely female) and can play along to some easy tunes.  You play, and play, and practice, and practice, and eventually you sound competent (have a reasonably female voice) but it still takes a lot of effort.

In the end, you go see a guitar teacher (vocal specialist, hopefully a good one) and they set you straight, based on their years and years of experience teaching people.  Practicing with their new tips and advice, you sound like Jimmy Page (you reflect your true inner female with your voice).  In other words, if you're driven to have a better female voice, then seek out knowledge of the voice until you have your breakthrough.  If you give up because "you just can't do it", then you'll never reach your goal.

Example: I've been playing guitar since I was 17.  I went through the above process.  I always wished I was better at guitar and could play super-fast lead parts.  I wish I knew more popular songs.  Up to this point (age 25), I never had the motivation to practice.  Guitar has become a hobby, and I'm okay with that.  I express myself as best I can, I sound good, and I have fun.  MY FEMALE VOICE IS NOT LIKE THIS TO ME.  I will spend YEARS working on my voice to perfect it.  I will see a specialist.  I will purchase every female voice DVD there is.  Guitar is nothing compared to my desire to have a BEAUTIFUL female voice.  In fact, I probably picked up guitar as a substitute for my inability to develop a female voice.  The female voice is the real deal for me, and it's an instrument I am absolutely driven to perfect.

P.S.S.S. There's nothing more fulfilling than expressing yourself, whether it be through a musical instrument or your own voice.

Awesome post, thankyou!