Voice!

[mykell]

hi lana,
ive shared this before and i think it helps, its a little long but she is on the road alone.....as far as softer or a whisper.....i dont like the sound on me, when alone i like loud and proud but rarely use it when out, some day i would like to record it and hear the results....i used it with someone i had just met at one of my support meet-ups and was told it passes but im afraid to use it out in the "wild" for fear of my male voice would end up defaulting back. here is a link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsIGRWOTxRw

[BrendaPDX]

I use a softer slightly higher voice when enfemme. I don't think I fool anyone, so I try to avoid those situations. But I have heard a lot of good advice here as always. Brenda

[Michelle (Oz)]

Natural voice with only concession that I might thank someone for opening a door with a very soft 'thank you'.

Feedback has been that folk I talk to already knew I was a male and were quite prepared to engage in conversation. So, no surprises. There is an honesty about my voice too. CDing can be lonely without engaging others so it is empowering to speak freely with your natural voice. Takes a while to build up confidence but it you will.

[jennifer0918]

When I want to sound femme I drink coffee,then bring my voice to high pitch to sound like Mickey mouse. Once I accomplished a high pitch then I bring it down a bit soften out my voice. Sit back relax and pick up an issue of glamour magazine and read out loud to practice. Always read a femme magazine.

[Peggy Gardiner]

Is that Andrea James's YT videos you were watching, Ceera? I find those fascinating, and inspiring, too - she had a quite deep voice before transitioning, which she demonstrates at one point, too, in hilarious fashion. It's impossible to tell she was male once, including sonically; but getting the voice - and mannerisms - down takes a lot of practice, they say.

[Alice B]

Use my own voice. Unable to effect a female voice

[Helen_Highwater]

I know I've posted this a few times but since the question has been asked it's worth another outing.

I once met a speech therapist at a social group and we got taking about the big mistakes that CD'ers make when trying to alter their voice. Top of the list, talking like the Bee Gees sing, full on falsetto. Wrong on soo many levels. Her advice was to soften the voice which in reality means not speaking from the chest which in part gives the deeper resonance that we have as males. This is I suppose what you'd call a head voice. You're trying to make the sound from higher up in the voice box. To aid this either start from the deepest note you can make with doh and go up the scale to fah or soh and no higher. Alternatively, and this is easier and quicker to use, start at your most natural note with doh and go up one to ray. Definitely no higher.

Being such a small step it's easier to maintain. Coupled to softer speaking this will take you part way to a more realistic, natural femme voice. One of the other parts of this equation is inflection. Women place the points of emphasis differently. This comes with observation and of course practice. Two more things, make eye contact. GG's engage each other by being interested in the other person and also gestures, hand, head and facial gestures all play their part in creating the convincing whole.

Me I try to talk that bit softer but it's a work in progress.

One more thing though. I get using your normal voice but there's the danger IMHO that the onlooker will then see the man in a dress. Make the effort to at least talk something like your presented persona and the onlooker is more likely to think Trans. A bit like going abroad on holiday and having a stab at speaking the lingo gets people on your side and more likely to work with you.

[Ceera]

Peggy, the You Tube tutorials I referenced were by a person who called herself CandyFLA. She vanished from the web shortly after completing her SRS, and her You Tube site is now empty.

The voice training courses I got on-line were:

Fundamentals of Your Feminine Voice - Kathe Perez
Transsexual Voice Lessons - Melanie Anne Phillips

[Teresa]

Lana,
It comes back to the question do we pass or not ? As we all know we can't 100% so trying to put on a female voice is only going to make people react oddly and not accept you for what you are.

A kind partner at the last meeting when we were having breakfast said I looked totally convincing the only telltale was my voice , it was nice to hear that but just to know the appearance works was more than satisfying to me .

Keeping up a false voice in normal conversation is almost impossible, it's not an act to me so a false voice isn't important .

[Peggy Gardiner]

Peggy, the You Tube tutorials I referenced were by a person who called herself CandyFLA. She vanished from the web shortly after completing her SRS, and her You Tube site is now empty.

The voice training courses I got on-line were:

Fundamentals of Your Feminine Voice - Kathe Perez
Transsexual Voice Lessons - Melanie Anne Phillips

Thanks Ceera. I looked up the 2nd one and found that Smithsonian Mag did an entire article on using apps for transgender voice lessons: How Transgender Women Are Training Their Voices to Sound More Feminine | Innovation | Smithsonian

Deleting your YT account is really going stealth, I guess. Someone could see their face, but couldn't they have done that earlier on and made the connection too? Perhaps this sort of thing is archived somewhere. They say nothing gets deleted from the web.

[Pat]

Interesting thread.

Keeping up a false voice in normal conversation is almost impossible, it's not an act to me so a false voice isn't important .

I think a key is the concept of "false voice." People who are trying to achieve a voice they can put on and take off with their high heels are probably in for a long and fruitless struggle. The people for whom voice training is really intended are those seeking an "authentic voice" to go with the rest of the presentation of their authentic selves. As it happens, I recently finished a seminar with a voice therapist that was conducted over the course of six weeks which was entitled "Finding your authentic voice." In the seminar one thing repeatedly mentioned was that pitch is only one small component to a female voice and one that isn't really all that important -- think Bee Arthur (if you're old enough): she had a voice as low as many males, but nobody speaking to her on the phone would be confused as to whether she was male or female.

There are so many things to be aware of. The women leading the group made a comparison to driving a car -- there are so many things you have to think about, all at the same time. But with practice it will all eventually become natural. That's why I'm thinking developing a false voice is a futile exercise. A person needs to be developing the new voice that is going to be their natural voice for the rest of their life.