Voice
Someone wrote…
I’m starting to become jealous of male voices. I don’t have an incredibly high female voice, in fact I’m quite proud of my alto range. But I have many male-people around me who have these low booming voices and I really want one.
I’m not too keen on testosterone and I don’t know if I will ever be. Do you think it’s possible to at least fake a low voice through training myself?
What’s your experience?
Posted by Freiya on June 11th, 2013 at 08:00 am
Category: your voice 3 comments »
June 11th, 2013 at 2:11 pm |
Quite a detailed article/video by Nat Titman:
http://practicalandrogyny.com/2011/10/31/vocal-androgyny-in-speech-and-singing/
I don’t currently present very androgynously in my appearance (working on getting back to it though), so it’s always a good day when I pass for male on the phone.
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June 11th, 2013 at 3:20 pm |
“I should note at this point that I have been on hormones for the past couple of months, without MASSIVE effect on my voice, but prior to that….ever since I was a child I played with my voice and got to know what I could do with it; having someone teach you singing is also very useful, because it helps you to adjust pitch effectively. For example, a female lowering their pitch will often still try to use the head voice and forget diction, and so end up sounding muffly and mumbly, and very much like a girl trying to sound like a boy. Don’t push the voice down from the head; draw it down into the chest with the diaphragm. Know how to breathe and project like a singer, and then the lowering of the pitch becomes less effort. Sing a lot. High and low stuff. Practise that chest voice. Find a low note and sigh it out without stressing the throat, add power to it, then add DICTION DICTION DICTION. People always used to comment on how loud and travelling my voice was. the only thing T seems to have done is to make all this easier, and made my voice richer. I can still sing as high as I used to at present.
Part 2 of this is study someone, and a low voice won’t be convincing without the mannerisms: the tilt of the head, the use of the eyes, even the movement of the lips. For ‘learning’ to be a man, I would recommend watching and listening to Oliver Reed (SOBER, not so much drunk until you’ve got a handle on him sober). He has an almost husky timbre yet precision in his voice that makes it very unique. He has a very precise, definite masculine manner which he uses to dramatic effect constantly. The best video is of him on Johnny Carson with Shelley Winters, though it seems to have disappeared from youtube, however, I have a downloaded copy :) Remember that most mannerisms etc are learned by mimicking. Its how children learn. Most of us subconsciusly learn to mimick subtley our ‘natural’ innate gender from an early age. Some don’t, there are always exceptions. you will always find a girl who walks like a man, or a boy who swings his hips. There is no right or wrong.
I would like to add one thing if this ‘advice’ is to apply not just to actors, but transfolk. One has to always be oneself. If you’re having to try too hard to be something and its making you miserable, then I suggest stepping back and having a good look at yourself from the inside, ignoring all mirrors, becasue you’ve got something to sort out on the inside first. You still might have to try hard, but it should be fun and explorative. Some trans folk are militant about being the opposite gender and really overdo it, and thats really not what its about. Dressing like a boy, cutting your hair and forcing your voice low will only make you look a bit conspicuous at trying to mimick stereotypical masculinity. Almost every other trans guy I know does this. Yet I am the only one who seems to be flamboyant, and like pink, high heels and long hair, and am one of the only ones I know to manage to convince the world consistently and without difficulty that I am gendered male (even without a beard etc). Be elegant, be natural, and do what suits you. Above all, carry it with confidence. Thats the thing about Oliver Reed; that man has buckets of confidence, even sober (he was a famous drunk but thats not relevant) and its subtle, not forced. I can go out in 4 inch heels with flames up them and still not be called a woman. I will have guys come up to me and go ‘epic boots mate’. A transmale has to accept an element of androgeny; if you do so, and don’t go all stereotypically out to be ‘a man’, its surprising how much people will focus on the masculinities and give you the benefit of the doubt. I’ve been there and done that. A female trying too hard to be male stands out a mile off. relax and mix it up a bit, and the contrast is less stark. Its very easy if you have and androgynous figure. If not, you can still do it, but the manner and confidence is even more important. At the end of the day, the world is very stupid, and it will believe anything if phrased correctly. But as I said, don’t try too hard, it shouldn’t be a matter of trying to convince anyone of anything. Its a matter of being yourself, thats what this whole trans thing is about – and not conforming to a stereotype. The crux of it is thinking logically and accepting (ironically) who and what you are. Then you can relax and suddenly, everything seems much easier. Go figure that one out.
Some trans guys get quite angry at my bluntness sometimes, and obviously everyone is different. Just as I get annoyed with a lot of transguys for being unconvincingly stereotypical and bring their psycological problems into it too, giving quite a poor image of transfolk as very fucked up people. STOP DOING IT NOW. yes i have my problems and have done exactly the same. I tell myself to stop doing it too on a regular basis :) best thing is to learn not to give a fuck. Again, like ‘learning’ to be a man, DON’T TRY TOO HARD!! omg. I can see now folks going out thinking ‘I’ve got not to give a fuck. I’ve got not to give a fuck’ and then actually doing the opposite. Confidence, self respect, independence. Take responsibility of/for yourself.
Watch Oliver Reed. But don’t become an alcoholic.
I just felt like a rant, directed at no-one in particular! have fun.”
(Without attribution by request of the original author.)
[Reply]
June 16th, 2013 at 2:59 pm |
I do vocal training at the speech and hearing clinic at my school. They’re teaching me to be able to talk in a lower voice. They do it for MTFs because they can’t take a hormone to change their voice. They also do it for people who don’t want to take T but want to have a lower voice.
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