Androgynous Voice?

[Guest Ashlyn M]

I don't really know what to call it so I guess androgynous works, right? Anyway, I have a decently deep voice at the moment, and I'd like to have a not so deep voice, but due to me being in high school still and being at home where my being trans is a topic worth being ignored. I was wondering if I could just heighten it to an extent and where to stop so that I sound more feminine but I don't sound so feminine that I get made fun of at school, or get questioned at home. I'd like for it to me high enough that I could possible pass or almost pass as female over the phone or something though too because I may be getting my makeup done by my aunt's friend in the future and I'd rather not have a deep voice for that. I have a lot more than my voice to prepare though. I have to lose weight and let my hair grow out a tad bit more unless I get a job and I have to wear a hair net in which case noooo. Anyway, I'm rambling at this point. Sorry if this is hard to umderstand. Ask any questions you want and I will do my best to clarify. Thank you in advance.

[VickySGV]

Boys are taught to speak from their upper chest for the baritone / bass effect. Shift your voice up to the back of your throat and it will help some and could place you more in the tenor range. Be aware that a huge part of sounding female is vocabulary and varying pitch to the words you use, and that WILL give you away if you start doing that in boy mode. Gay people catch bullying too. I am full time and never misgendered in person, but when I can't be seen, its a coin toss as to whether folks will get me right. I have given up on that!!

Losing the weight to a healthy level will help you in many ways, and it can be your attention to your "girl self" for the time being. Get a good medical plan for losing the weight and you will be on the way.

Just a couple of thoughts for you!!

[Guest Clair Dufour]

Take speech, acting and music in school. All teach voice training and acting how to move your body.

Also, play with the NC southern accent. It has a higher pitch nasal twang with soft inflections and

its socially acceptable to turn up the pitch and with long hair you look like a bluegrass player.

Good start?

[Guest Ashlyn M]

What kind of vocabulary?

[Guest Ashlyn M]

And at Clair, yeah good start. Though I've been avoiding a southern accent naturally for my whole life pretty much haha. But thanks for the advice!

[VickySGV]

What kind of vocabulary?

Listen to women carefully and you will find that they use more words relating to feelings and to describing things they see. An example would be that a man will describe something as Blue, but I and natal women will describe it as "navy" "baby blue" "sky blue" etc. How many words do you know for shades of Brown?? The woman has on a brown jacket says the man. The young lady has on a fawn colored blazer says the woman!! I can get away with telling another woman "You look great there girlfriend" and she will smile. As a male I would have gotten clobbered with a swung purse from the right woman!!

You almost have to learn to talk all over again, and it can drive you crazy until you get things together.

[Guest Ashlyn M]

Wait I already do some of that and no one says anything. Well, I do the color thing. Probably more stuff that I can't think of. I didn't know guys didn't do that.

[Guest Clair Dufour]

One thing you want to do is look and listen to your classmates and clock them. Work out where you and

them are on the gender scale. There's a good chance you can do more than you think. Also, find girls

to hang out with. That's a fast track to learning girl culture. Some may even have you clocked and a

few nice comments about their clothes and makeup get them talking. I doubt there is an LGBT club at

your school but, keep in mind that at least one in twenty of your classmates are LGBT and knowing

a few will connect you to a group that will accept you. Also, run a search on the web and there is

good chance there is a youth group where you live. Every public university has a group even in NC.

[Guest Ashlyn M]

Yeah we have a club I just don't go anymore. And thank you again!

[Guest]

As you quietly eaves drop the girl conversations and maybe watch girls in instructional Utubes, you will learn the tone, inflections and female sentence construction.

Next read out loud in your female voice, anything that suits you. Advertisements, textbooks, stories, anything. Practice practice practice.

For me, I liked the AA big book. In my transition, I practiced for many days before I was brave enough to try it publically. Soon I was ready.

One meeting I was asked to read aloud from the chapter "How it works". Yeh yeh, somebody reads it at the beginning of every meeting. People listen, or doze, or daydream.

From the moment she (me) started saying "Rarely have we seen a person fail..." I heard the clacking of jaws dropping and hitting the floor. Everybody did a double take! With fifty eyes upon me, I smiled as I have arrived!

By the next time they asked me to read it again, I had perfected it even more. Same result. When I got to the part that read (in my female voice) "many of us have exclaimed..." In a big booming male voice, "What an order, I can't go through with it!" Bang, right back into my female voice to finish. They were like dear in headlights, then the whole room busted out laughing. I had won them, my new voice was accepted ever since.

One thing I did change for the better is my female laugh. It is my saving grace when people are trying to decide my gender, especially on the phone. Seriously, I can't remember what my old male laugh sounded like. Nor do I want to remember! It was probably loud and ridiculing... Poor him.

well that's my $.02 worth. Try reading aloud, it works. Hug. JodyAnn

[Guest Raya]

well, I don't worry too much about my voice outing me, as Iv'e been working on it for months, and while I can hear a difference, no-one genders me as female except my friends who know me.

The advice above about hanging out with girls is spot on, there is so much to learn, and being comfortable as a girlfriend is a huge confidence boost.