Found my voice and am excited!

[rebekkadg]

Ok I just had to share! I have been practicing a lot with my voice trying to make it sound definitely like a woman's. Today I finally managed it, the perfect pitch, the perfect tone, and no possible way you could mistake it for anything but a woman's voice and nothing that would come out of a man and I am soo happy:). It isn't completely perfect yet. I can't maintain it without a lot of concentration at this point, and my volume level while in it ranges from whisper to quiet conversation so I can't really raise it up high at this point and after talking in it for just a few minutes it actually make my throat hurt from swallowing. So it is going to still be some time in development as my vocal cords get used to making it. But it is the voice I want, not just something that sounds feminine enough that I have to settle for :heehee:.

Going to be hard being careful not too overdue it and hurt myself so wish me some patience.

Rebecca

[Cynthia Anne]

I'm happy for you! I have to watch myself when I'm out! I tend to let my fem voice fade when talking to someone!! Hugs!

[Tina B.]

Keep it up so you don't lose it again, but don't over do and hurt your vocal cords until you get used to it.
Tina B.
P.S. But mostly enjoy it!

[Sarah Doepner]

Did you use any particutlar method or just tried a lot of different things until something finally clicked?

[LeaP]

Technique, give us technique! Also, how long did it take?

Lea

[thechic]

Thats cool, I did the same about a year and a half ago,but i ditched the male voice compleatly.

[rebekkadg]

OK this is what I have been doing. I relax back in my seat get a drink of some juice and gargle a bit of it on and off before swallowing since it seems to help keep my voice from breaking as much. I start with the highest pitch voice I can manageand bring it down little by little. I actually keep one hand on my throat and one hand on my upper chest so I can feel how much everything is vibrating. I don't worry too much at first about how I am sounding I am looking to stop my chest from having vibrations and limiting how much my throat is vibrating. Once I have it down to where I am able to keep talking in falsetto without a lot of vibration in the throat and nothing in the chest I start playing with pitch and tone more (with some corrections on and off as I tend to slip back into accidently talking with my chest on and off on certain tones and pitches). With a somewhat higher pitch I try to move where my throat is vibrating (hard to really explain this process) and get it down to the lowest part of my throat that is the only part vibrating at that higher pitch while still talking through my head rather than chest (which takes some work since area is getting down close to the chest). I repeat a few different phrases repeatedly as I am moving being voices--things like introducing myself or asking for a cup of coffee. Eventually I am able to settle into the voice where I am using only this lower part of the vocal cords while the rest are at perfect rest.

As I said I can only maintain this for a few minutes at a time right now before having to bring myself back to male voice. I have noticed with my male voice that I actually vibrate with this area far less than I do with a feminine voice with the majority of the vibration happening over the larger part of the adam's apple so these parts of my vocal cords I am really not used to working this much in addition to making the rest of my vocal cord take it easy so it is going to take some time to get them "up to snuff". Ennunciation seems to be another thing that is going to take some work and I am actually now trying to say some of the tongue twisters I remember from elementry school speech classes to get my word forming straight.

[Kaitlyn Michele]

Rebacca I think that is great ...

I think if you feel good about your own voice, that is a wonderful accomplishment... I practiced alot and even tried lessons...with 2 different doctors, that gave me two TOTALLY DIFFERENT SETS OF ADVICE!!! LOL...

in the end, i learned some good tips from them...but I feel that only by going out and actually FORCING myself to talk to people as a female got me there...

do you go out at all?? if you do, i would recommend you go some distance from your house and go talk to people at a mall, or grocery store... You will likely have an awkward moment, but I bet you would find an even more natural voice. the secret to learning a voice is to do it with people..if you can be yourself, you can get away with a little bit lower voice... IT HAS to be practiced with people simply because YOU will talk to people differently compared to practicing alone...you won't even notice it...you get to a point where you blurt out words differently and that's your female voice!!!....the downside is that if you practice this, you will start to talk that way ....I'm not kidding, its pretty cool if you think about it...i have seen this over and over..

other tips are ..use just one word... say THNX!!! really sweetly to every cashier!! ....and it can very easily sound feminine... and also if answering the phone (obviously only if you want the person to know...telemarketers??LOL)

[Jorja]

Yes, do not over do it at first. The only way to maintain the voice and to get better at it is to practice. However, be warned, the guys at the gym might be shocked when you are talking to them in the shower room in your femme voice ;)

[Nicole Erin]

Yeah initially "finding" it is not too hard, but being able to keep it up and get comfy with it takes longer. Once you "find" it though you are home free.
I know with mine, I use it every day like at work but the thing is, I still think it sounds bad, however, I guess we never like the sound of our own voice regardless.
With those voice training videos, they are good it is just that in most cases you have to wade thru a bunch of BS to get to the good parts.
I think getting a convincing female voice is the single most important thing one can do to pass or blend in. The best part of that - it doesn't cost any money. Well unless you REALLY want to invest in fancy computer voice analyzers (which are not needed)

But yeah just remember daily practice. Also, contrary to belief, you don't just "lose" your male voice. Voice is one aspect of transition where you can have your cake and eat it too (being able to sound male OR female at will)

EDIT - also yes there is a lot of advice about voice and how to do it, and as always, just try different things to see what works best for you. Like me, at first I closed off my lower part of my voice but it was too "old lady'ish" so I learned to relax the lower part just a bit and things sounded great.