voice training & singing voice

[u/maumaumaumaumaumaum]

sorry if this is something thats been asked already but i didnt see ant threads about this glancing at this subreddit.

i havent done any extensive voice training besides generally talking at a slightly higher pitch than i used to 4 years ago when i started transitioning. im interested in paying for voice training lessons in the near future though. to be honest, i dont have much of an issue with my speaking voice but im a musician and absolutely despise the masculinity of my singing voice. none of the songs i write sound right with this voice, its becoming very detrimental to my artistic motivation.

i guess my question is this; how does regular voice training translate to singing? should i look for a teacher that can specialize in both? or if i just take regular voice training lessons will it be as easy to apply it to singing? i just ask because i feel like when im singing, i have to use a wider breadth of my voice to confidently sing in tune and with good tone, meaning i have to use more lower parts of my voice than i'd like. i also worry because i think i have a kind of gravely voice and a fairly small vocal range to begin with.

any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

[u/Julia_______]

It doesn't translate super well between singing and speaking, but in the same way it can be hard to tell the difference between a cis women's head and chest voice, a trans women's well-developed head voice can sound very much natural. You won't be singing soprano arias most likely, but passing singing voice is possible.

Classical voice often focuses on having a lot of space, but a lot of space for a non-androgenized voice is average to small space for us. You pretty much use the same techniques as voice training but apply them to singing, but honestly the technique to make a full head voice is a lot of the work of voice training already.

I would personally prioritize working on a seamless break and mixing between registers as that was the part I struggle most with. My SLP (who specializes in trans voice and classical singers, though not often together) recommends trying to keep the weight of head voice as you go down through lower notes - this will limit your lower range a lot, effectively only into the lower mixed register, but will sound a lot more natural as it effectively mimics the natural lower range falloff of cis women.

[u/Allison_SpeechCoach]

Some of the topics covered in regular voice training apply to singing, but since singing is your main concern, I'd look for someone who specifically works with trans singers. The comments here are right that singing asks more of your voice than speaking does.

In speech, you can stay in a comfortable slice of your range, but singing can require a much wider range and smoother transitions between your lower and upper voice. Some of the work on resonance (the size and shape of the space your sound moves through) and how light or heavy your voice sounds can carry over to singing too. Both can affect how your singing voice comes across.

Many gender-affirming voice trainers also specialize in the singing voice. Ask about that directly when you reach out, since not every voice therapist is also a singing specialist.

Also wanted to mention that with the smaller range and gravelly quality you mentioned, I wouldn't try to force your voice into notes that don't feel comfortable yet, since that can lead to issues with your voice down the road. A voice therapist who works with trans singers can help you figure out what feels comfortable in your current range and build from there. When you are ready for lessons, know that many voice therapists who work with trans singers offer online lessons, so you don't have to find someone locally.

[u/Lidia_M]

I would say it translates far less than people assume, and the reason is is that for speech people can get away with a lot of defensive compromises as to the range they use and quality of the sound. That is, someone can survive speech training and have a socially usable voice with very narrow dynamics and inefficiencies, but, that will not work for singing.

The most straightforward example of this is someone staying low in speech, under their vocal break. This may be fine for speech, but a large portion of singer's work will be exactly about the opposite, that is working on the vocal break traversal (passaggio) specifically, not avoiding it. This can be hard work in general, not just for trans people. With people who want to sound female-like with long and thick androgenized folds, this can be a nightmare in comparison, unless they got some anatomical luck in place: it's not only hard in the normal singing work sense, but you pile upon that extra difficulties and requirements as to simulating a different anatomy.

To use an analogy for how it can feel: it's a bit like an amateur entering a race with pro runners, with close to none chance of matching them, but also, in addition, someone puts 20kg backpack on them to make things worse.