Voice Practice

[jessikasummerfox]

So, I know that there are a few places on the net selling products about how to achieve a more feminine voice. They're great and all, but I figure there's a lot practical expertise here, so I was wondering if any of you had tips and tricks about how to get your voice sounding more feminine.

Here is what I have heard in the past:

1) Speak a bit more softly
2) Try to speak with a resonance coming more from the head than chest
3) Speak with an accent (US Southern, Valley Girl, etc)
4) Practice Singing every day
5) Try to speak 'behind' your own voice (I'm not even too sure what this one means)

I'd like for my voice to sound more like a soft, silvery mountain stream and less like a million bullfrogs. LOL. Okay, I'm exaggerating a smidge; but seriously, I truly would appreciate any advice you can give. :)

[GinaVegas]

I found these sites that may be helpful.....

http://www.looking-glass.greenend.org.uk/voice.htm
http://exceptionalvoice.com/transgender.html
http://heartcorps.com/journeys/voice.htm

Hope that helps!

[MJ]

you got thr right idea, also try raiseing your pitch, that is a little harder but it can be done the problem is practice , practice , practice. it applys to everything we do ..
lets hope there is a good response as i know i need all the help i can get
hugs marissa

[ToyGirl]

Those are good suggestions. I get a little dissapointed in the TS community when people seemingly do not put any effort into there voices.

One of my friends in school used to call me Gravel because my voice was so bad :( wich gave me a complex and made mumble aswell ! i ended going through life avoiding speech at all costs.

Through alot of talking and singing in the car i moved on to speaking to close friends on skype & ventrillo. Finally getting enough confidence to talk to strangers on voice chats.

These days i actually enjoy talking and using my voice , and very happy that i persisted in trying.

The only thing i can really add to the suggestions is be very expressive and playfull with your voice

------------------- man

-_/\--/\/--^^_^-\ woman !

[marie354]

I was told to try to talk in that high pitched cartoon voice, it has fewer harmonics than normal, and then lower the pitch to a more comfortable level while trying to maintain it pure sounding with out extra harmonics.
It's by far not easy, but it does help. I'm still trying to perfect it myself.
:hugs:
P.S. I have hit it perfectly once in a while... It's hard to get it there, but once it's there, it's easy.

[uknowhoo]

I have a small handheld voice recorder which I sometimes use for meetings, etc, which I also have also used for femme voice practice. It has helped a little. Also, I had heard a recommendation a while back, which did seem to work, to introduce a bit of a sing-songy quality to your femme voice. Women seem to have more variability in intonation than do men. Good luck.

[ToyGirl]

I was told to try to talk in that high pitched cartoon voice, it has fewer harmonics than normal, and then lower the pitch to a more comfortable level while trying to maintain it pure sounding with out extra harmonics.
It's by far not easy, but it does help. I'm still trying to perfect it myself.
:hugs:
P.S. I have hit it perfectly once in a while... It's hard to get it there, but once it's there, it's easy.

Yes the sweet spot is between your normal voice and mickey mouse.

Once you have gotten that far you can use mental triggers to sort of bookmark it. (like memorize a song line or movie line that you can successfully emulate , then run that through you head to sync yourself and get in the zone before you open your mouth) that had helped me anyway.

[marie354]

I have a small handheld voice recorder which I sometimes use for meetings, etc, which I also have also used for femme voice practice. It has helped a little. Also, I had heard a recommendation a while back, which did seem to work, to introduce a bit of a sing-songy quality to your femme voice. Women seem to have more variability in intonation than do men. Good luck.

Now that you say that, I've noticed it too.
Men tend to get louder or softer while women tend to raise or lower the pitch when they speak.... Unless they are angery, then they can get very loud with that ear-piercing pitch.
:hugs:

[Sally24]

The "speak softer" part really should be "soften" the voice or make it more breathy.

My voice is not female yet by any means, but it is getting better. I am considering going to a speech therapist but so far have been using only the Andrea James Deep Stealth voice CD/DVD. If you go thru step by step you will be able to feel where you need to place your voice and what parts of your mouth and throat you need to affect. The tricky part is actually perfecting the pitch, resonance and for me the hardest is the female inflection. That does take practice,practice,practice,practice,practice...... ..

I am surprised at the number of knock-out gorgeous T-girls that have spent little or no time on their voices! I personally know several and would be so happy if they went that extra step.

Sally

[Kristen Kelly]

Yes the sweet spot is between your normal voice and mickey mouse.


So I should sound like half way between Micky and Goofy

[Nigella]

I have never considered voice therapy, and TBH I have never had a problem.

It all depends on who you are trying to fool, to put it bluntly, I am a bloke in a frock, and nothing I do will change that.

IMHO the only TG who needs voice therapy is a TS, unless of course it is for vanity.

[Megan_Girl]

I've found this site most helpful...

http://www.mindspring.com/~karen.anne.taylor/voice.html

And I try the others listed as well.

XXX
Megan

[PaulaJaneThomas]

I tried voice training some years ago. Didn't like the result. Somehow it wasn't me. So now i don't bother. Anybody who's close enough to speak to will have read me anyway so they're not going to be shell-shocked when I speak. I find a bit of self-confidence and smile go a long way.

[Tasha Meredith]

This is an excellent topic. I always hear passing associated with only the aesthetic changes or maybe mannerisms but rarely the voice. It would be awesome to hear from a few girls who "made it" as far as retraining their voice. Recently I tried contacting some female illusionists about it and for whatever reason, I got no replies. * Scoffs. Lot of help they were. :rolleyes:

[Karren H]

I just talk quieter... and no one has said a thing or really cares.... lots of women have deper voices!!! And "I'd like a frosty" probably sounds the same over their headset no matter who says it!!! hehehe

Love Karren

[Sherlyn]

Like Karren ..I just talk softer and more from my throat ..this works well ..you just need to work on projecting it and volume ..seems the volume control dont work as good from the throat ...lol

[Sally24]

the only TG who needs voice therapy is a TS, unless of course it is for vanity.
A CD trying to pass needs it as much if not more than a TS. Being female includes being treated as a female and that is much easier with a female voice.

Sally

[Missy Anne]

I just finished listening to Melanie Ann Phillips dvd on developing a more female voice and am trying to follow her suggestions.

It was a very good lesson with the only problem being that when she recorded it she left quite a bit of hum on the audio track. But the suggestions seem very attainable.

Now Mrs. Missy is helping me practice when we are in the car. It sure sounds funny when you start and gives us quite a few laughs.

Missy Anne

[susie evans]

i just talk a little softer and try not to get exited and has worked so far

susie

[Nigella]

A CD trying to pass needs it as much if not more than a TS. Being female includes being treated as a female and that is much easier with a female voice.

Sally

That depends upon the CD, and the individuals interpretation of what a CDer is. In my book, and I hasten to add this is my opinion a CDer or TV if you like is "someone who prefers to wear the clothing of the oposite gender to their natural gender". It has nothing to do with trying to represent the opposite gender, that is where again, I hasten to add this is my opinion a person becomes less of a CDer and more of a TS. :2c:

[Kate Simmons]

Hmmm-My opinion also Nigella, so that makes two of us, I guess.

[Sally24]

I guess that is where we differ. I treat CD like Transgendered. It is an all encompassing title that we all fall under, I mean that is the name of the site! Transexual, for me, is someone who is in some form, phyically altering their body to switch from one sex to another. It would be nice if someday we could agree on what each term meant so that everyone could understand each other.

Love,
Sally

[jessikasummerfox]

Wow, there are a lot of good suggestions here that I hadn't considered. Thank you all for sharing them. Personally, I don't consider myself a TS, but as an individual, I think that developing a more feminine voice while dressed is just something that I'd like to explore. Some people like pink and some don't, and it's no big deal, right? Anyhow, from the bottom of my heart, thanks again for all the responses. Proving once again how much you all rock out loud!

[ToyGirl]

I guess that is where we differ. I treat CD like Transgendered. It is an all encompassing title that we all fall under, I mean that is the name of the site! Transexual, for me, is someone who is in some form, phyically altering their body to switch from one sex to another. It would be nice if someday we could agree on what each term meant so that everyone could understand each other.

Love,
Sally

The logical difference is a TS is not crossdressing (though they may or may not have in the past)

I agree with you that when trying to pass *voice* is essential regardless of label.

[NatalieGirl]

Like some of the others have said, it is more a matter of resonance rather than pitch. There are some very beautiful, feminine women such as Lauren Bacall, who had very low-pitched voices.

When I am practicing my femme voice, I think of the song "Two of Hearts" sung by the one-hit wonder, Stacey Q. She had the most delicate, feminine voice I have ever heard in my life.

[Robin Leigh]

Like some of the others have said, it is more a matter of resonance rather than pitch. There are some very beautiful, feminine women such as Lauren Bacall, who had very low-pitched voices.
Her voice is still pretty low. :) While a guest on Michael Parkinson's show, Kathleen Turner told an amusing anecdote about working with her. Lauren would greet Kathleen with "Good morning, Miss Turner!" in a very deep pitch. Kathleen would respond with "Good morning, Miss Bacall!" in an even deeper pitch. Lauren would then reply at an even deeper pitch, and so forth. :)

My :2c: worth on voice training: practice your feminine tones whispering. This lets you concentrate on getting the right resonances in your head, allowing you to (temporarily) ignore the chest reverberations & the tone produced by the vocal chords.

Singing is good, too. Singing high notes is (usually) easier than speaking at a higher pitch, and is less likely to cause wear & tear on your vocal chords. But it's not really about producing high notes, it's about allowing the higher notes to resonate while not allowing the deeper notes to do so. That's why the whispering technique can be so helpful.

FWIW, I was a boy soprano before my voice broke, but I've still got a fairly wide range.

Robin

[Sugar01]

Whenever I try to speak in a normal women's voice, I end up sounding like Mrs Doubtfire. It doesn't help that I use an english accent as well. :p

So I usually just try to talk as softly as I can.

[JoAnnDallas]

At HEF2006 last year, we had a professer from one of the local colleges that help TS's with their voices. He said that one way to judge how well you have a fem voice is if you are reconized as a female over a telephone. Even if your voice sounds fem in person, the same voice may not sound fem over a telephone.

They also showed some software programs that helps train your fem voice. I will have to dig around and get the software titles and post them here.

[Tess Myers]

I tried to speak quietly and ended up not being heard ever! So I tried an accent, and I ended up Irish. Which is fine because I am Irish, but the only wig I have right now is blond. :p

:hugs:
Tess

[Wendi {LI NY}]

Personal ,I think your voice is as important as dressing properly when we go out and try to pass . I think making your voice as femmeine as you can ,as not to scare little children !:devil:

[Svetlana]

I'm a little worried. My voice is really deep, and I've recorded myself when I tried to sound like a woman, but it hasn't sounded very ladylike so far. Maybe it's just because I know I'm a guy, so when I play back the recording I know the sex of the person speaking, but it's more likely that I just sound like a guy trying (in vain) to sound like a woman. :P Rats.

[Kitty Sue]

This is an interesting topic. I have female friend who is speech therapist and who is also a wonderful woman. She knows I am a CD. I wonder if she would be interested in helping the TG community with female voice lessons. She does accent reduction with foreigners now living in the USA. I must speak to her about this. Seems there is a certainly a calling for trained and understanding professionals in this area.