I started testosterone at the beginning of August. Before that, I was a mezzo soprano--not a bad one, at that. After I began the hormones, I didn't sing at all (not even in the shower!). But I've been in theater and music all my life, and when I arrived at college, I noticed a poster for a musical that was holding auditions. I decided to go to a pre-audition rehearsal that was held to familiarize auditioners with the music. I picked up some sheet music and went to the rehearsal.

The problem was, I hadn't sang in over a month, and I'd NEVER sang with my new voice besides a little humming now and then to explore my new vocal range. I knew my voice was a ton lower than it used to be--a normal tenor, even lower than some of the guys in my dorm. But I was nervous when I got to the rehearsal. (Even more so because one of my JAs--the equivalent of an RA in most colleges--was auditioning, too.) We started off with scales, and I panicked for a moment because I couldn't find the note, even though I have perfect pitch. I discovered that it's a lot harder to hear yourself in the low range than in the high range. I finally found the right notes, and the scales went pretty well. I relaxed and sang along with the group.

Then we got to the music. I was sweating because I was afraid my voice would come out sounding terrible or childish or womanly, but we began to sing the baritone part (I was auditioning as a tenor, but we sang each other's parts anyway) and my voice came out fine! It was all deep and masculine and sounded better and louder than a lot of the other male singers. I couldn't believe that I could sing the baritone part confidently even though I'm a tenor! (As an added bonus, I was the only one who could hit the high notes with any clarity at all.)

I wanted to share this because I'm just so happy things are turning out so well. Today was my first day of classes and it looks like things are going to be all right.

(When my voice gets in the baritone range, I'm giving my dad a call. I love him and I think it would be good for him, even if he freaks a little.)

My audition's tomorrow. Wish me luck!

That's awesome, man. Just more incentive for me to get on T already.

Rafe

Andrew,
     That is  great. Man, and to overcome the fear of "what might happen" Sounds like you did it perfect. The power of T.


                                         Marco

That's great! In my case,female voice often ruins self-confidence. Wish u luck!Go buddy!!!Always up,never give up!

Well Andrew, Congrats to you.  I am absolutely envious!  I used to sing all the time.  I even directed choirs. That is something that I have had to abandon.  I still can sing bass (down to low C), baritone, and tenor.  I have a fake range where I can sing the easy parts at a Karen Carpenter level, and then there is the falsetto.  But I'll never be able to have the voice of a woman. I've pushed my music into other areas to compensate. 

As jealous as I am, I am all the more thrilled for you.  I know how much music can mean to a performer.  And I rejoice that you will continue to do so.  It is so down right cool (a colorful metaphor would be most effective here).  Way to go dude!  It's great that there is some happy news to share today!

Cindi

Congrats Andrew. Are you auditioning for baritone or tenor today?

If tenor, hopefully you won't get what I got a few months into T, which is the cracking high range (yay puberty). I'm starting to get it back now, but still singing bass in my group.

Dennis

hey andrew congrats and good luck i was a little worried about my  singing voice changing but its good to know it doesn\t change the fact that you can sing on  key.

jaded

Congratulations Andrew.  Like Cindi, I used to sing all the time as well.  The singing voice was something I was somewhat proud of.  Like Cindi, I can also sing bass, baritone, and tenor, but I'm also able to do alto as well fortunately.  In another post I wrote how I went to do karaoke as female in stealth and was able to pull it off.  I think I might be able to fake mezzo-soprano by using falsetto and softening it though.  Anyway, I'm jealous that you ended up with such a wonderful voice in your identified gender.

Melissa

Thanks for all your support, guys. I'm going to be heading out for my audition in a few minutes. It's still a little hard to adjust to this range, note-wise, but I'm working on it. I'm nervous for the audition, but not because of my voice!
Posted on: September 08, 2006, 05:26:43 PM

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Funny thing happened. When I got back from my audition, I went to a party and met the piano accompanist for the show. He was quite drunk, but he said he really liked my audition. I told him to put in a good word for me. I think he might have been hitting on me--he was pulling on my tie and saying how much he liked me. That was a little weird, but, hey, if he liked my audition, I've got nothing bad to say about him.