Jump to content
  • Welcome to the TransPulse Forums!

    We offer a safe, inclusive community for transgender and gender non-conforming folks, as well as their loved ones, to find support and information.  Join today!

Voice Training and Voice Feminization Surgery


Amanita M. Nomi

Recommended Posts

As a transgender counselor, I support trans women during coming out and transition. Recently, many of my clients have told me that they face limits with regards to online voice femiziation training and that they want to look into a combination of voice femization surgery and voice training. I have done a lot of research on the topic now and can answer many questions. Nevertheless, I was wondering whether anyone on the forum has experience with the combination of training and surgery. I'd love to start a conversation. I'm happy to share what I've read and seen in videos and to learn what you might have experienced in one of the few places that offer the combination of the two.

Link to comment
  • Admin

Welcome to the Forums. I have not had the surgery, but have friends that have.  The thing that too many people do not realize is that feminine voice and speech is not a matter of voice pitch and timbre all by itself.  My voice is a second tenor singing voice, which is a little deep for women, but my vocabulary and speaking style bring me into an acceptable Alto range in public. I am a spoken word artist and lay reader in my church as well.  Choice of vocabulary and sentence structure can turn even a high baritone into a highly passable female voice.  (I am part of a 48 voice Trans choral group who does their audio work and listens to voice pitch carefully but have never had to electronically alter the voices.).  Engaging with other women in general conversation does wonders for all the people I come across.  

Link to comment
  • Forum Moderator

Hello and welcome!  I'm glad you've joined us.  

 

I considered surgery but learned it wasn't a 100% given that I would get a consistent alto voice.  Everything I have read (and seen in video) tells me that surgery alone will not completely solve the issue.  There will be months of vocal training afterwards to train the voice, and the possibility you may lose range if the vocal chords don't heal correctly.  

 

As you well know, males and females speak quite differently.  So a large portion of the feminization of the voice is down to intonation and cadence, along with pitch and timbre.  While my voice is not what I would consider perfect, I make do fairly well by focusing on how I speak.  Not all women speak in the soprano range, think Bea Arthur or Cher.  When I slip up I just maintain my rhythm and intonation.  As Vicky notes, practice among other women does wonders.

 

Jani

Link to comment
  • 6 months later...

Count me in on the conversation!  I’m a rookie, having just admitted my truth and come out to friends and family on Saturday morning. 
 

I wasted no time trying to train my voice in my own, amateur way — singing along with Taylor Swift, Jewell, Heart, snd most recently Idina Menzel (“Let it goooooooo, let it goooooooo...”).  If it’s possible, I think I temporarily blew out my top-end pitch on that one.  Others I had down I now struggle to reach.  Score one for overzealousness....”oops.”
 

Lesson learned... but I’m sure I’ll need to learn it a few dozen more times. 
 

I’m fairly certain I’ll need surgery...but I want to exhaust the training angle first.  Kinda like letting the hormones do their thing before trying augmentation or facial surgery.

Link to comment
  • 5 months later...
On 10/7/2019 at 6:19 PM, VickySGV said:

Choice of vocabulary and sentence structure can turn even a high baritone into a highly passable female voice.

 

I would love to learn more about this, this is news to me. Any examples or helpful links?

Link to comment
  • Admin
9 hours ago, Heather Nicole said:

I would love to learn more about this, this is news to me. Any examples or helpful links?

 

I would look up the web site for Kathe Perez who is a well known voice coach for the Trans community.  Kathe is the only one who comes to mind at the minute but there are many.  Next, I would simply recommend that you find some place to LISTEN to women as a group and you can hear it.  A simple example or two:

 

Men will describe colors as Green for all shades, while a woman will use Lime or Kelly Green to describe colors.  One of my instructors gave us all cards with a color sample, and told us to come up with 7 names for it and then use one of those in a spoken sentence. 

A male voice will say the word Hello as a monotone.  A female voice is going over several notes "he L ow" and may even use a pronoun for the person they greet.  

Women tend to use more adjectives in their speech as well and they are lighter:

Male: "I had a good time" (again in monotone)   Woman: "I had an absolutely wonderful time." (ab so lute ly won der ful  ti me" all on different notes.)  

 

It does take careful listening to the women around you to hear it on your own.  There are as I said above Speech Therapists who can help you with this, and when we can have TG conventions again they often give short classes at the conventions. 

Link to comment
  • Forum Moderator

I have found The Voice Stylist 9 part Transgender voice feminization series my favorite and most productive for me - I also use the Voice Pitch analyzer app, PITCH app and Voice Tools app and they are all free. For me the Voice Stylist comes at it from a vocal coach standpoint and reminds me of voice lessons many years ago and she uses easy to follow techniques that have extended my range another 1/2 octave and growing. 

 

 

 

Link to comment
  • Admin
2 hours ago, gina-nicole-t said:

No offense to the lady in the video, but I am not paying $100 for Pitch App. It isn't free anymore. Maybe it used to be, but it isn't anymore, and I just can't see forking over that kind of money for an app. I have other things I can use $100 on. 

 

The Forums do not endorse any App of that nature although they can be discussed here.

 

With the $100 dollars mentioned above you can probably get a couple hours with a speech therapist, or even a singing coach.  I actually have a small pitch analyzer for around $25 from my local music store. 

 

A suggestion I will make is if you live in an area where there is an LGBT Chorus, go and join it and get coaching from your fellow chorus folks. 

 

@gina-nicole-t there are three that I know of in your state, and they are doing on-line rehearsals just now, but taking new members just the same.  My chorus here in Los Angeles is working with them on a special Transgender Day Of Remembrance program on-line!!

 

Getting out IRL and meeting directly with people is the best way to both find your voice and use it.

 

===================

 

While I have this open, another thing you can do that is free and easy, is go to the Public Library and check out some theatrical production scripts that have prominent female characters in them.  Read the parts aloud to your recorder and you can find one way to read it that will make you sound good.  After several readings you will hear the rhythmn and pattern.  One play I read years ago was I Remember Mama which has good female dialogue in it.  Watch out for the dialect lines at first though since they are not universal and if you are not from the dialect region sound phony.

Link to comment
  • Forum Moderator

That is weird I have pitch app for a few months and it cost nothing. I would never pay for an app and I wonder if you looked at wrong one . if it indeed costs anything that would reason enough not to get it. I agree. Do not pay for any apps. 

Link to comment

I wonder how much confidence has to do with pitch and tone. I got an app called voice tools and when I sing I can maintain female pitch for a whole song if I know it well. If I try to read the paragraph it gives to analyze voice, I cant get in range even 20%of the time. Is that happening for anyone else?

 

Link to comment
  • Forum Moderator

@gina-nicole-t the VOICE TOOLS app has a pitch section in it so you don't need the PITCH app. And it also gives you tones you can use.

Link to comment

@gina-nicole-t There are two free apps that I have used to practice my voice that do the same thing of recording you and analysing your pitcht tone etc. Both available on Apple or android (other apps are available the screen shot is to help you out) and they are definitely free. You still have to do the work, I started with the top one, and only drop down into androgynous sometimes, but the bottom one is newer and seems to have a few more features, like a playback option so you can hear what you sound like. I have not explored it fully, but it is honsetly all about practice and confidence. Hope it helps! 

20201014_084757.thumb.jpg.eb61f5613c0e6ae3419ead0954f663ed.jpg

Link to comment
  • Forum Moderator

Yes yes yes those are the 2 apps that are excellent. Sometimes my voice tools doesn't work but that is only temporary.

I like that voice analyzer records and charts your progress. Best of luck in your voice workouts.

Link to comment
18 hours ago, Abi said:

when I sing I can maintain female pitch for a whole song if I know it well. If I try to read the paragraph it gives to analyze voice, I cant get in range even 20%of the time. Is that happening for anyone else?

 

I haven't really tried much yet myself, but that doesn't sound too surprising. It's pretty well established, as I understand it, that speaking and singing use entirely different parts of the brain. There's people who can sing in a particular accent but not speak in the same accent.

Link to comment
  • Forum Moderator

I actual have maintained 90+ % female and 3-5% male when reading the Voice Tools long paragraph about rainbows. 

I do it every day and work with Voice Analyzer and consistantly can get in the 210-260 range based on my chart over time - I haven't practice in usual conversation but am slowly easing it into conversation with my wife to see if she notices and more so at band practice to start getting them used to it.

 

My bonus is that I am now singing more and more high harmonies in full voice instead of falsetto and that IS being noticed - all for the good - yay!

Link to comment
  • Forum Moderator

@gina-nicole-t another wonderful voice coach your is probably closer to your age and who is very good is transvoice lessons - 

 

https://youtu.be/1PNnBRBfOVY

 

 

 

 

 

Link to comment

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Who's Online   1 Member, 0 Anonymous, 130 Guests (See full list)

    • Karen Carey
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
  • Forum Statistics

    • Total Topics
      80.5k
    • Total Posts
      767.2k
  • Member Statistics

    • Total Members
      11,942
    • Most Online
      8,356

    taxicab
    Newest Member
    taxicab
    Joined
  • Today's Birthdays

    1. Amyjay
      Amyjay
      (58 years old)
    2. bettyjean
      bettyjean
    3. Breanna
      Breanna
      (52 years old)
    4. Emily Ayla
      Emily Ayla
    5. JET182
      JET182
  • Posts

    • Susan R
      Love it! This is great news. We need more of this to combat the excessive hate-filled rhetoric and misinformation. 👍
    • Susan R
      The experience was the same for me @April Marie. I slept much deeper and I woke up each morning feeling so much more restful sleeping with forms solidly in place. For me, wearing breast forms at night started when before I was a teenager. I had no access up to modern breast forms and certainly no way to buy mastectomy bras back then. I wore a basic bra my mom had put in a donation box and two pairs of soft cotton socks. I have some crazy memories of things I did in my youth to combat my GD but regardless, these makeshift concoctions helped me work through it all.   All My Best, Susan R🌷
    • awkward-yet-sweet
      Colorado isn't exactly a Republican place, and won't become one anytime soon.  I think those folks might be better off not spending their time playing Don Quixote.    We certainly have our share of California "refugees" moving into where I live, so I wouldn't be surprised to start seeing Coloradans too.  I suspect the trend over the next few years will see the blue areas getting more blue and the red areas getting more red as anybody who can relocate tries to find a place where they fit better.   
    • awkward-yet-sweet
      Well, at least it'll be a place some folks could choose.  Options are a good thing.
    • awkward-yet-sweet
      My family would have gobbled that jar up in a minute or two.  When we do have pickled herring, its usually for Christmas.  I didn't grow up with that particular dish, but I grew up in a Greek family so I like just about any kind of fish if I can get it.  However, ocean fish and freshwater fish taste so different.  We usually have more catfish and tilapia to eat than anything else.    What I can't quite get used to is the tons of cabbage my GF insists on eating.  When you live with a Russian, there is always cabbage soup.  Always.  When I first moved in with her, breakfast was "shchi" for soup and either bread or "kasha" which is a bowl of boiled buckwheat with butter and salt.  Those dishes can be made in any number of ways, some are better than others.  In the winter, it can even be salty and sour like kraut.  Not exactly sauerkraut, but packed in tubs with vinegar and salt so it keeps partially for the winter.  But I drew the line when the cabbage soup included pieces of fried snake one day.  😆
    • Ashley0616
      Good evening to you as well @Mmindy   That is awesome that you have support from her side. My dad has communicated with me once and that was because he was forced to. His new wife wanted to spend time with my kids. He hated me so much he was in the process of taking my rights away as a parent to my two boys. He was talking to a lawyer and I called him out on it. I don't love him at all. I'll respect him because I wouldn't be here without him but I wished I had another father. My uncles don't talk to me and unfriended me on Facebook. Almost all cousins except for two are still Facebook friends but they don't give me any support. My mom said she won't support me with that but she has said that she loves me. I have nieces and nephews that are still Facebook friends but they have yet to talk to me. I have one sister that supports me out of three. The other's disrespect me by deadnaming me. They have never called me their sister. I think for them they think it's still a phase. They don't ask questions about me being trans. I have to bring it up and on the look of their faces they don't look comfortable about it. 
    • Mmindy
      Good evening @Ashley0616,   I just got offline with HP tech support trying to get my printer tool box icon locked to my tool bar. This is one of the most important features of my printer that I like because it keeps track of ink, paper, and scanned documents. I'm diffidently not a computer geek.   I'll catch up with the other bookmarks next week. We leave to go home for the Easter Holiday with our families. Saturday with her side, and Sunday with my side. What's odd about that is I'm out to more of her side and they're reluctantly supportive. My side on the other hand are less supportive, and my sister just under me in age will not acknowledge my being there. She will be constantly moving to keep from dealing with me. I'm dead to her.   Hugs,   Mindy🌈🐛🏳️‍⚧️🦋  
    • Ashley0616
      I used to follow baseball and the team I would cheer for is Boston Red Sox. My favorite player was Papi. He was an awesome guy and even held a child during the National Anthem. I haven't watched baseball for a long time. It just died off to me. 
    • Ashley0616
      That stinks that nothing transferred, and no bookmarks were saved! 
    • Ashley0616
      I'm doing patches for now but I think soon I'll go to shots because it's hard to alternate when you are doing two xx patches at once. Unless she gives me Estradiol and progesterone
    • Sally Stone
      Go Cleveland Guardians!  I love baseball and I loved playing it when I was younger.  
    • Sally Stone
      My view is we are "dependent" on government, because as a society, we are too lazy to stay actively involved. So, we let politicians do our bidding for us.  I think we'd be in a better place government wise if we policed the actions of our politicians.  We elected them; they work for us.  Sadly, we are allowing them to run amok.  We are where we are because we have chosen to let politicians make all decisions without us.  Remember "by the people, for the people?" That was the intent of our democracy.  Today, however, it is "by the politicians, for the politicians," the people be damned. 
    • Mmindy
      "Play Ball! Batter Up!" is the closing line of the National Anthem as far as I'm concerned. It's the call of the Home Plate Umpire and signals the start of the game. I grew up in the TV and Radio broadcast of the St. Louis Cardinals. Harry Caray, Jack Buck, Tim McCarver, and Mike Shannon, were the voices on my transistor radio. KMOX 1120 AM pushing 50,000 watts of Class A clear-channel non-directional signal. It could be picked up all across MO, IL, IN to the East. KS, OK, CO to the West. IA, MN to the North, and KY, TN, AR to the South. There has always been a rivalry against the Chicago Cubs, in the National League. As for the American League, I have to pull for the Kansas City Royals. I've also been a Little League Umpire, and fan of everything the Little League stands for. Going to Williamsport, PA and seeing the Little League World Series is in my top 10 things to do on my bucket list.   Mindy🌈🐛🏳️‍⚧️🦋
    • Mmindy
      Good evening everyone,   I don't think my mother ever cooked a meal that I didn't like. We also had a kitchen where mom fixed the food, dad filled your plate, and you eat it. It wasn't until our baby brother was born that we could have Pop-Tarts for snacks. Before that all snacks had to meet mom's approval, and in her opinion wouldn't prevent you from eating supper.   Well my day started off on a good note, but has become frustrating because my IT person didn't transfer my saved videos I use for teaching. Then I found out that they didn't save any of my book marks for websites I use frequently.   Best wishes, stay motivated,   Mindy🌈🐛🏳️‍⚧️🦋
    • MaeBe
      The number is relative to method of deliver, the time of the dose, and when the blood is drawn. However, I do want to keep away from DVT and other potential issues. I assume I may be getting backed down from my current dose, but my doc told me to stick with the higher dose, so? I also wonder if this has anything to do the my breast growth and mental changes that have been happening over the past few years, like I have some estrogen sensitivity so a little goes a long way or something? I don't have enough data to postulate, but who knows!   With weekly, subcutaneous, shots you expect to see big swings of serum level estradiol from shot to peak to trough. My doctor is interested in mid-week testing (for E and T levels only), which would be post-peak blood serum levels but they will be higher than trough. Most, if not all, resources I've seen online is to measure at trough (which I might do just to do it next time) along with a SHBG, LH, and other metrics.   This is from transfemscience.org for Estradiol valerate in oil, which is very spiky compared to some other estradiol combinations. It's also for intramuscular, which will have a slower uptake and is usually dosed in higher volume due to the slower absorption rate from muscles. They don't have subcutaneous numbers, which I would expect to see similar spikes but higher levels at similar doses due to the relatively higher absorption rate direct from fat.   Are you doing pills, shots, or patches? And when you do get your levels checked are you getting that done when your levels are lowest or some other time?
  • Upcoming Events

Contact TransPulse

TransPulse can be contacted in the following ways:

Email: Click Here.

To report an error on this page.

Legal

Your use of this site is subject to the following rules and policies, whether you have read them or not.

Terms of Use
Privacy Policy
DMCA Policy
Community Rules

Hosting

Upstream hosting for TransPulse provided by QnEZ.

Sponsorship

Special consideration for TransPulse is kindly provided by The Breast Form Store.
×
×
  • Create New...