Right. You've come out to everyone, you've got a half-decent wardrobe together, you just started hormones, and you've been out in public as yourself a few times. But still, it feels like you don't belong, people get nervous, and it's clear you're not quite ready for prime-time just yet. The reason is clear, and it's something you've dreaded ever since beginning your transition.
It's VOICE! Dun-dun-dunnnn.
FtMs, you guys are sooo lucky in this regard.
At first, the idea of using my poor testosterone-damaged vocal cords to emit an acceptably female tone was extremely intimidating. But I think I managed pretty well on my own without expensive DVDs or special training, merely by keeping a few pointers in mind and practicing non-stop. Depending on one's "natural" voice, it can be easier or more difficult to accomplish this, but the vast majority of MtF girls are capable of sounding quite convincing with enough practice. (If you can do the Monty Python old lady voice, you can do it.)
As is oft-repeated, the most important aspect of a female voice isn't pitch, or even the "singing" changes in pitch, it's resonance. The male voice sounds deep and rich largely because males are taught to reverberate their voices in their chest cavity, adding lots of harmonics. Barry White, I'm looking at you. (Mmmm-hmm.) So to project a female voice, one must find her "head voice", speaking from the head and not the chest. Talking "through the nose" can also help sometimes. All this helps produce a clearer, more feminine-sounding base tone and is the basis of most MtF voice methods.
Pitch is also important but average male and female voices really only vary about five whole steps in pitch, and getting everything else "right" will forgive a low pitch, except in extreme cases. More importantly, one should change pitch almost as if singing, and use high pitches to emphasize words while keeping a steady volume. Punching the volume of the voice and using a monotone sounds male. It's also helpful here to use the lowest falsetto you can manage.
Vowels. If you listen carefully to female speech, vowels and certain words are often pronounced differently. It's almost like a sub-accent. This has helped me out lots.
Even your choice of words can affect the perceptions of others. Although it's an aspect of society I'm none too fond of, as a lady you're expected to be less commanding, less confident, softer-spoken, gentler, and more refined. Cisgendered women can get away with "mannish" language and behavior better, but it can out a transwoman.
Female HRT won't change the voice very much. The little it does do is a result of changed muscle and skin tone, as well as the new shape of the face, neck, and chest. But it did seem easier and easier to do my new voice through continued disuse of the old one. I don't even have to think about it anymore. Surgery is available to raise the lowest pitch one can make, but problematic and risky (one could lose her voice entirely!) The method I've outlined actually sounds better, so MtF vocal surgery is very much a risky, costly last resort with current techniques.
I'd totally give MP3 examples here of the voice I used to use and the one I'm using now, or even make this a spoken-word entry, but I don't have my microphone with me here in Wisconsin. Ah well, maybe someday.
Fascinating! This has led to me thinking about my own voice. I definitely project a bit more than most women, but my family is full of loud and deeper voiced women. Putting on a polite business tone, the sound is all out of my head. I'd never noticed that before!
I'd heard about different markers in male and female speech, and different communication tendencies. You are right about the lower tones being forgiven if everything else is right (except perhaps on the phone, due to the lack of other cues).
I'm curious to hear the change in voice, especially how one can talk through the nose without sounding like Fran Drescher! ;)
The women on Mom's side of the family are much the same. Maybe it's a locality thing? I was usually quiet and very soft-spoken, so the adjustment wasn't that difficult.
Glad you brought up the phone; I forgot to! It's a very sore, sticky point with transwomen. I pass 99% in person but only about 50% on the phone. It can wreck your day to get sirred by a telemarketer first thing in the morning.
And yes, the nasal thing should be done mildly, but doing it a bit heavier could help one pass here in the northern Midwest. ;)
It could be a locality thing, true. Or we just have loud families!
Don't let the phone thing get you down--I knew an amazing older woman who grew up in a refinery town and smoked a pack of Camels a day for 50 years. Her voice was wrecked! She would bite the head of anyone who called her "sir" on the phone (while smashing her cigarette into the ashtray in disgust). Keep that image in your head and don't let them bug you!
Head Voice - 07/03/06 04:21 PM
Right. You've come out to everyone, you've got a half-decent wardrobe together, you just started hormones, and you've been out in public as yourself a few times. But still, it feels like you don't belong, people get nervous, and it's clear you're not quite ready for prime-time just yet. The reason is clear, and it's something you've dreaded ever since beginning your transition.
It's VOICE! Dun-dun-dunnnn.
FtMs, you guys are sooo lucky in this regard.
At first, the idea of using my poor testosterone-damaged vocal cords to emit an acceptably female tone was extremely intimidating. But I think I managed pretty well on my own without expensive DVDs or special training, merely by keeping a few pointers in mind and practicing non-stop. Depending on one's "natural" voice, it can be easier or more difficult to accomplish this, but the vast majority of MtF girls are capable of sounding quite convincing with enough practice. (If you can do the Monty Python old lady voice, you can do it.)
As is oft-repeated, the most important aspect of a female voice isn't pitch, or even the "singing" changes in pitch, it's resonance. The male voice sounds deep and rich largely because males are taught to reverberate their voices in their chest cavity, adding lots of harmonics. Barry White, I'm looking at you. (Mmmm-hmm.) So to project a female voice, one must find her "head voice", speaking from the head and not the chest. Talking "through the nose" can also help sometimes. All this helps produce a clearer, more feminine-sounding base tone and is the basis of most MtF voice methods.
Pitch is also important but average male and female voices really only vary about five whole steps in pitch, and getting everything else "right" will forgive a low pitch, except in extreme cases. More importantly, one should change pitch almost as if singing, and use high pitches to emphasize words while keeping a steady volume. Punching the volume of the voice and using a monotone sounds male. It's also helpful here to use the lowest falsetto you can manage.
Vowels. If you listen carefully to female speech, vowels and certain words are often pronounced differently. It's almost like a sub-accent. This has helped me out lots.
Even your choice of words can affect the perceptions of others. Although it's an aspect of society I'm none too fond of, as a lady you're expected to be less commanding, less confident, softer-spoken, gentler, and more refined. Cisgendered women can get away with "mannish" language and behavior better, but it can out a transwoman.
Female HRT won't change the voice very much. The little it does do is a result of changed muscle and skin tone, as well as the new shape of the face, neck, and chest. But it did seem easier and easier to do my new voice through continued disuse of the old one. I don't even have to think about it anymore. Surgery is available to raise the lowest pitch one can make, but problematic and risky (one could lose her voice entirely!) The method I've outlined actually sounds better, so MtF vocal surgery is very much a risky, costly last resort with current techniques.
I'd totally give MP3 examples here of the voice I used to use and the one I'm using now, or even make this a spoken-word entry, but I don't have my microphone with me here in Wisconsin. Ah well, maybe someday.
Posted in transition by Milla | Comments (3)
Fascinating! This has led to me thinking about my own voice. I definitely project a bit more than most women, but my family is full of loud and deeper voiced women. Putting on a polite business tone, the sound is all out of my head. I'd never noticed that before!
I'd heard about different markers in male and female speech, and different communication tendencies. You are right about the lower tones being forgiven if everything else is right (except perhaps on the phone, due to the lack of other cues).
I'm curious to hear the change in voice, especially how one can talk through the nose without sounding like Fran Drescher! ;)
Posted by patita at July 11, 2006 12:44 PM
The women on Mom's side of the family are much the same. Maybe it's a locality thing? I was usually quiet and very soft-spoken, so the adjustment wasn't that difficult.
Glad you brought up the phone; I forgot to! It's a very sore, sticky point with transwomen. I pass 99% in person but only about 50% on the phone. It can wreck your day to get sirred by a telemarketer first thing in the morning.
And yes, the nasal thing should be done mildly, but doing it a bit heavier could help one pass here in the northern Midwest. ;)
Posted by Milla at July 11, 2006 02:01 PM
It could be a locality thing, true. Or we just have loud families!
Don't let the phone thing get you down--I knew an amazing older woman who grew up in a refinery town and smoked a pack of Camels a day for 50 years. Her voice was wrecked! She would bite the head of anyone who called her "sir" on the phone (while smashing her cigarette into the ashtray in disgust). Keep that image in your head and don't let them bug you!
Posted by patita at July 12, 2006 06:25 PM