We are taking a little break from our surgery blog series- Nora, our awesome team member, is taking some time for themself! I am filling in as our writer this week which means their will be a lot of typos! Hi, Crystal Beal, MD here. I wanted to share what I know about testosterone and singing. To be clear, I do NOT sing well, I am not a trained singer, nor have I taken testosterone. I do get the great privillege of spending a lot of time with folx who are trans or some flavor of gender diverse and singers. Being part of the community has added much to my ability to support patients who sing and are considering tesosterone.
Unfortunately, we all want more information about testosterone and singing. Most of the information I have been able to find is the lived experience of some of our awesome community members. The tally in my head seems to be about even on the split of people who quit singing after testosterone and who found a new more affirming voice to sing with.
Here is a complilation of resources I share with patients who sing and are considering testosterone therapy.
More sciencey/researchy articles
- “Types of Testosterone Therapy and their Effects on the Voices of Transgender Singers” Tessa Romano
- “The Singing Voice During the First Two Years of Testosterone Therapy: Working with the Trans or Gender Queer Voice” Tessa Romano
- “The Changing Female-To-Male (FTM) Voice” Alexandros N. Constansis
- “LEGITIMATE VOICES: A MULTI-CASE STUDY OF TRANS AND NON-BINARY SINGERS IN THE APPLIED VOICE STUDIO” William R. Sauerland
- Exogenous Testosterone and the Transgender Singing Voice: A 30-Month Case Study Ari Agha and Laura Hynes
Some written accounts of lived experience:
- Short Article
- A Whole Website!!!
- Testosterone and Singing- Some Advice (from a trans singer and voice coach)
My YouTube favorites of trans singers:
- A pre/post T duet
- A brief documentary about a voice in transition of a singer
- A brief of a musicians journey in transition
Not to be missed the from the Berlin Opera: Trans Voices Masterclass
Vocal transition coaches with a background in singing who specializes in working with singers:
- Peter Fullerton– trans singer and vocal coach
- Eli Conly– trans singer and vocal coach
- Ari Agha– trans singer and vocal coach
- Soren Austenfeld– trans singer and vocal coach
- Seattle Voice Lab
- Trans Vocal Training
At QueerDoc we strive to be the most knowledgable clinicians about all things gender care related. If you are finding your prescriber can’t have a detailed conversation about your voice and testosterone, feel free to book with us. We offer video visits for folx in AK, CA, FL, HI, ID, MT, OR, UT, WA, and WY. We also teach other prescribers at our nibling organization, QueerCME. Send your clincian there to learn from us!