Our current blog focus is on Transgender Voice Training and Voice Therapy. We started with Jordan Jakomin teaching us about pitch and some exercises to safely find and modify pitch. Next week, Nicole Gress of Undead Voice will talk about Undead Voice Lab. This week, my job is to gather up some online resources for voice training. As I started researching, I quickly found that there is a lot out there–and I had only minimal ideas on how to determine who or what programs would be worth my time and money. A note: QueerDoc believes that there is no one way to be trans. We work hard to remove binary classifications in our language use. When referring to voice training, we use “light and bright” to describe voices with a higher pitch and “dark and deep” to describe voices with a lower pitch.
What Is Transgender Voice Training?
Kevin Dorman is a non-binary speech-language pathologist, voice actor, singer, voice disorder specialist, and specialist in transgender vocal training. They give a fantastic 18-minute talk on transgender voice training. If you have questions about the basics of voice training, their TEDx talk is a great place to start.
SLP or a Coach?
SLPs (speech-language pathologists) have clinical expertise in medical issues that can affect communication, including verbal and non-verbal communications.
But of course, many excellent voice trainers aren’t SLPs. They may have music, education, acting, or audio engineering backgrounds (among others!)
What’s the difference? Here’s a quick explanation from Renée Yoxon.
So Much More Than Pitch
There are a lot of vocal qualities beyond pitch, which is the number of vibrations per second in a sound. You may also read about vocal weight, resonance, and clarity, and false vocal folds, breathiness, onsets, creak, and nasality. Larynx and tonsils and breath control, oh, my!
Sumi’s Wiki has some easy-to-understand descriptions of what these terms mean. Sumi’s Wiki also has an entry listing voice communities where you can access lessons, workshops, and information.
Programs and Professionals Vetted By QueerDoc:
I’ll start with the professionals we’ve vetted for inclusivity and experience working with and within our communities:
Online Vocal Transition Resources (includes apps!)
Vocal Transition Resources By States We Work In
When In Doubt, Ask Reddit!
Here at QueerDoc, we’re a little late to Reddit, but we have dipped our toes in the waters!
Many tales have been told about reddits too raucous to enter, but Reddit can also be an invaluable source of information.
Two reddits stood out in my research:
r/transvoice and r/scinguistics
r/transvoice is a community dedicated to voice – trans voices. Members can share voice recordings for constructive criticism, but a vast array of knowledge and resources are shared here, too. Check out the sidebar on the main page for links to the wiki, the partner discord, voice recording apps, and starter tips for *both* lighter and brighter and deeper and darker voices.
Multiple other reddits pointed out the following threads in r/transvoice as excellent examples of voice training advice:
Introductory training resources
Light and bright
Deep and dark
Deep and Dark 2
r/scinguistics is a discussion forum for voice through the merged lenses of linguistics and clinical science: it’s a place to get geeky!
We love gettin’ geeky.
r/scinguistics also has a paired discord and offers free anonymous analysis of your singing and speaking voice.
On To The Tubes!
There are heaps of voice training lessons available on YouTube. Here are a few of the most frequently referenced highly regarded channels:
New York Vocal Coaching (singing focused)
We’d love to hear about your favorite SLPs and voice trainers/coaches. Who has helped you find and build your authentic voice?
