Progress? I Dunno..

[Guest Lizzie McTrucker]

A few days ago I was driving through Canada, just minding my own business when I decided I'd work on my female voice. I had followed a link in another thread here somewhere that lead to a virtual keyboard so I started with the high F (far right button) and tried to match that, then clicked on each key next to it as they went lower and tried to match each one. I made a mental note about how the high F sounded so I could start with that and then work down.

So I'm driving down the road and I started at the high F I remember. Then I remember reading on a reply to work down a few notes and remember that feeling in your throat. Then sigh and that would possibly be your female voice. So I went down a few notes aloud and then I did a sigh. What I ended at was a higher pitch voice but it didn't seem like I had a lot of range to it. I mean I could go up and down a little bit but nothing like my male voice so I'm not sure if that is my female voice or if that's just the starting point to where I need to work on adding range to that.

Anyway, I figured I was done so I stopped to rest my chords. Had a drink. Thought to myself. A song came on the radio so I said "omg I love this song" but it wasn't my male voice saying it. I then realized my voice was stuck in this higher pitch to which I said "um...uh oh." Then I thought, hmm, if my voice is stuck like this, why am I trying to get it unstuck? I'll just leave it up here and hope for the best.

..then I let out a belch and my voice dropped down. (soooooo lady-like!)

Then it made me sad..but I can now go back up to that voice I had whenever, I just don't know if that's the voice I should be practicing or not.

Thoughts? Ideas? Suggestions? Comments?

[Drea]

What I ended at was a higher pitch voice but it didn't seem like I had a lot of range to it. I mean I could go up and down a little bit but nothing like my male voice so I'm not sure if that is my female voice or if that's just the starting point to where I need to work on adding range to that.

Sounds like you may have hit a falsetto? Or do you think it is something different. If you don't know what falsetto is, it is high pitch but generally little range.

If it is a falsetto, you are largely suppressing your vocal chords and part of your voice box. That is a good starting point. The trick is to pull the falsetto down to a lower pitch. That will tend to sound more natural and give you more range, but it takes some practice. The pitch, even though lower than a full falsetto will most likely end up higher than your male voice, but more important the resonance will be different. The vocal range most likely will not be as much as your male voice.

If you know it isn't a falsetto, then maybe you are hitting it so it probably is progress either way.

[Guest Elena]

That sounds about like where you should be starting.

And yes, the fact that your voice got stuck there is actually a very good sign. It takes quite a bit of work to be able to speak with any sort of range or volume when you start building a new range.

<3

Elena

[Guest Lizzie McTrucker]

Just to clarify (I was thinking about this while driving today).

If the Mickey Mouse voice is considered either falsetto or high falsetto, that pitch is actually higher than where my voice got stuck. That's where I started at and worked my way down 2-3 keys and at that pitch is where my voice got stuck. I could go higher or lower from where I was. It was also at a place where my voice wasn't getting hoarse and I could actually talk at that voice and not have to stop or only talk in short bursts.

I'm still working on it though to bring my starting point down either one full step or a half step. I found going down a little bit added more vocal range so I think that's a good sign. I also noticed my current starting range would probably be okay for, say, a greeting or saying hello and then take it down a half step for regular conversation and then down another half for, say, an intimate girl's-only-no-boys-allowed type conversation.

..it's a work in progress. Just like me.

[Guest Julie T]

Just to clarify (I was thinking about this while driving today).

If the Mickey Mouse voice is considered either falsetto or high falsetto, that pitch is actually higher than where my voice got stuck. That's where I started at and worked my way down 2-3 keys and at that pitch is where my voice got stuck. I could go higher or lower from where I was. It was also at a place where my voice wasn't getting hoarse and I could actually talk at that voice and not have to stop or only talk in short bursts.

I'm still working on it though to bring my starting point down either one full step or a half step. I found going down a little bit added more vocal range so I think that's a good sign. I also noticed my current starting range would probably be okay for, say, a greeting or saying hello and then take it down a half step for regular conversation and then down another half for, say, an intimate girl's-only-no-boys-allowed type conversation.

..it's a work in progress. Just like me.

Lizzie?

I agree, you are on to something good. The voice tapes I listened to said find you range and slowly get it to the higher part. It takes practice to get your throat muscles accustomed to that area, then when you can wake up in the morning and automatically go there, then you have your voice.

Julie

[Guest Lizzie McTrucker]

So I was talking to one of my friends, telling her my story about getting my voice stuck so I went to that voice so she could hear it and she couldn't believe it when she first heard it. I asked her "So how did it sound?". She said "like a girl.."

[Guest Risu]

Congratulations Lizzie! Sounds promising. I think you found the sweet spot.

Over time your range and the abillity to talk using your new voice longer will develope. Now that you found your voice if you watch funny movies and things that make you laugh you can work on laughing in your new voice too!

Have you tried talking into a mirror yet? I was blown away the first time I did. I couldn't believe that was me or my voice.

Have fun with your new voice. Don't work it too hard, don't want to hurt anything.

~Risu

[Guest Lizzie McTrucker]

Oh...it's progress for sure. So I called one of my friends and left him a cute voice mail message in this voice I've been working on. He called me back a few minutes later because he saw I called. I asked if he had heard my voice mail and he said no. I told him to go listen to it because I sang along to his voice mail greeting message (it's to the tune of "If I Had a Hammer") so he hung up to listen to it.

He called me back shortly after and told me it's a good thing I told him it was from me because otherwise he would have had no clue. He said at first he thought it sounded like his mom so he was really surprised to find out that it was me and that was the voice I told him about. So yeah, he confirmed also that it sounded like a girl. So that's two people now who have confirmed that I sounded like a woman.

Houston, we have girl-voice confirmation.

[Guest Maria_B]

You go girl.

Like, you go and pick up some hot dates with your hot voice