Lowering your voice is a pretty debated topic, in fact, people argue its not even possible. Even after being on T, you can still train your voice. Some guys see these things a nit picky and unnecessary but to each their own. Yes, a man can speak however he wants, but the way you speak can really make or break passing at times. Pre T, I talked from my head/upper neck, I had a lot of vocal inflections, used my hands, and all around, vocalized as a did pre-transition.
Even effeminate gay men still speak in a masculine way. I feel like the best example of having difference vocal habits due to our upbringing is Chris Colfer. He is a man with a high voice, that over the phone, he sounds like a woman, but when you watch videos with him, he still sounds like a man. This is because of his vocal patterns. A short conversation on the phone may get him gendered as a woman, but after having a longer conversation, and given the way he dresses… you would read him as male.
I also love his perspective because he is very casual about it and jokes around. This is honestly one of the best things you can do as a transman. Own up to your short comings and play it off. I’ll elaborate on that in another section.
To contrast Colfer, watch this video of Emma Watson and notice the differences in the way they speak. You can even contrast his voice from Ellen who dresses fairly butch.
The best way to speak like a guy, regardless of the pitch of your voice, is to project your voice and try to keep your inflections to a minimum. Another thing to take note of is the hand movements. Colfer speaks with animated movements, but he uses his whole arm/forearm when doing a movement, whereas Watson uses only her wrists and hands. I personally use a lot of movement when I speak, the men in my family do this as well, and we all use our whole arm when speaking. It is something so small but so significant when socializing, and if you’re a straight transman, it’ll help you actually read as a straight transman.
All of middle school through high school, I participated in theatre. Now as a transman, this was incredibly helpful, not only in finding a nice group of friends, but also in learning how to speak properly. In theatre, a high pitch voice is less than ideal. A lot of girls would get critiqued on their voices and letting them get too high, guys were occasionally also susceptible to this as well. To combat this, we learned to speak from our diaphragm.
In order to breathe from the diaphragm, you have to breathe from what feels like your belly and stand straight, feet shoulder-width apart. When you breathe, it should feel like your stomach is expanding. If your shoulders raise, you are not breathing from our diaphragm. Next, learn to make noise from your diaphragm. You can start by producing a simple “huh.” You should feel your stomach tense up with each “huh.” Finally, say a sentence. For the sake of simplicity, we will do an introduction. Place your hand on your stomach to feel the tension, and say:
“Hello, my name is [first and last name] and I am [age] years old. Today, I will use my proper voice.”
This is only to help you work on projection. Your pitch may naturally drop, or you may have to play around with it, but don’t force it down.
To learn how to drop your pitch, watch these videos. The first video his about creating a deeper, richer tone of voice. She teaches you the bare and essential techniques for developing and training a lower voice. This is highly important.
This next video touches on some of the same concepts, but also resonance and confidence.
Finally, this video pretty much is a reminder than vocal training works. I watched this guy a while back when I was pre-T and while I didn’t stretch my neck every morning, his message about consistency and awareness stuck with me.
The first two videos can also be applicable after being on T as well, just a heads up. I am currently 2 years on T and tried out the techniques used in both and my pitch did change.
From the beginning of my freshman year to the end, I was not on T, yet interestingly enough, my voice dropped. The reason for this was simply the fact I used my knowledge of voice to my advantage. I began to practice projecting, and maintaining a deeper pitch. I was aware of my voice and tried to control my inflections. And good Lord did I learn to slow my speech down. You can’t speed through your lines on stage, so don’t speed through your “lines” in real life. Slow your words down and really take a second to process each word and how you say it.
In one of my video journals to myself, I mentioned that I spoke more masculine:
“Obviously, I’m not talking like some big football player, but I am talking like the guys I’m socializing with. Theatre guys are a lot more expressive, but they’re guys nonetheless, and that’s enough for me.”
As you surround yourself with more men, you will notice your vocal patterns beginning to match theirs. That is a good thing for you, because like I said, even feminine men sound like men.
Now for guys who have been on T for quite some time but still feel weird about their voice, or maybe want to just train their voices a bit more, these are some tips that may help you. When my voice began to drop, I kept this woman’s tips in mind and it prevented me from gaining an almost cartoony voice that transmen tend to get.
Consistency is the key when training your voice. If you don’t consistently train your voice, you won’t reach your goals, just like if you don’t workout consistently, you won’t see progress. This isn’t only evident in transmen but cis people as well. The best example of this is Ariana Grande. Depending on your age, you may know she starred in the TV shows Victorious and Sam & Cat as the character Cat Valentine. Her character wasn’t the brightest, and as the series continued, someone producing the show had the bright idea to make her voice more airy and higher to really portray the airiness of her character. Speaking like this consistently for the show actually changed her voice temporarily outside of the studio. You don’t have to watch the full interviews, just skip through and listen to how her voice changes based off of what she was doing/training.
This first interview is when she first started the show. Her voice was at its natural pitch and has a smoother sound.
This next interview is from 2012, prior to her producing music, but during the shoot of Victorious. You can hear it is more airy and softer. Even though she isn’t having to speak in that higher register for the character, it still reflects in her voice. The pitch may not be much higher, but it’s the sound of her voice that is different.
This final interview is from 2020, her most recent interview. She has not been playing Cat Valentine for 6 years now and instead has been performing music. Her voice has a smoother tone again, she speaks from her natural place, and there isn’t much air if any in her voice.
Essentially…
Your voice is an important factor in passing. Even if your voice is high, you still can train it to be masculine. Don’t be discouraged because you sound like Minnie Mouse, because with enough training, you can sound like Mickey. Still may be high, but at least you won’t sound like a girl.
Next we will tackle the nitty, gritty, and picky: How to socialize and behave like a man.
Handbook for the Self Made 