Changing voice

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Okay, this is a bit awkward.

Have any male-to-females transitoning here succesfully managed to develop a natural sounding, passable voice?

I've been practicing on and off for months, but each time I do I get anxiety attacks and become really self-conscious as to how silly I sound and I can't get anywhere. Any tips on how to get over it?

This is something I need to work on myself. I've found some resources, but a lot of what's said, just goes over my head. I've found that with some things in life, it won't click till later. Do you have sites or whatnot that you've used for instructions for voice work?

In general, the only two things I can think of to get over anxiety and stress is to start small and get bigger in how much you do it, and also to just do it regardless of the consequences.

I also play the game in my head of what's the worst that someone will think or do? Look at me funny. People look at me funny already whether I'm in guy or girl mode, whether I open my mouth or keep it shut, so I do it anyway.

There's a few.

Andrea James' Finding Your Female Voice and CandiFLA on Youtube are good places to start. The problem I have with the former is that she uses so many different tasks and compartmentalises everything so much that it can be a little difficult connecting everything to the bigger picture. CandiFLA's problem is that while she's offers some really good advice, she recommends going into falsetto and working down from there until you find an acceptable pitch range to strengthen your throat resonance from. While that might work for some people, going into falsetto too soon too often whilst changing your voice can risk permanently damaging it.

Susans.org is a good place to find practical tips on voice modification. There's a sub-forum here:

http://www.susans.org/forums/index.php?board=346.0

Bur I still suck. I often feel as though I'm looking at myself from the outside which means that I'm very self-aware. It puts a lock on me when I change it too much because I inwardly cringe, become embarassed and then start having a small anxiety attack. The advice you mention... I need to enter into that headspace.

I know what you mean.

You sound female to yourself when you talk, however, when you play your voice, then it sounds male to you. It is like seeing a picture of your old self, and being disgusted by it.

See video link below, her technique of practicing for months reading books outloud into my iphone recorder a falsetto Minnie mouse voice has worked for me. I have changed my voice from a deep voice to a gender-neutral voice. I am not "passable", but I am gender-neutral. I work from home, so I rarely speak, so gender-neutral is OK for me now. I still practice.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbaj4tIX1kw


To talk like Minnie mouse is hard on your vocal parts ; so I do ten to thirty minutes per practice session. After months of Minnie-mouse, then you can drop it down into the female/gender-neutral range. I found that it happened automatically since my Minnie mouse sessions were pretty much most of the talking I did in a week. I was training my voice every few days.

I pushed the female pitch as far as I could so it was very an exaggerated Minnie mouse.

Yes, I sound absolutely ridiculous in Minnie mouse voice

I've noticed on the phone, I've gotten ma'amed a lot; it seems to be the case most of the time. I haven't really specifically worked on my voice lately, though. And of course, with the current bout of bronchitis, my voice probably doesn't sound too well right now.