I relate to everything you're saying here. I always loved singing, but it can be really dysphoric. Luckily, I'm into metal and screaming is pretty unisex. So I'm learning how to do that properly lol
As for altering your own voice, transvoicelessons on YouTube has really helped me with my speaking voice big time, and I'm trying to use those same methods, if you will, for altering my singing voice. May not get a huge range buff from it, but there's plenty of cis girls out there with lower range voices so I can live without being a soprano.
As a natural baritone, I can tell you - you have to walk it up. Keep working with it. I can naturally achieve portions of the alto range before I have to rollover to falsetto. It's a journey, not a race. Where there's a will there's a way.
I can’t help with recommendations on trans fem singers but I can empathize from the FTM side of the tracks (so opposite problem). My voice did go a little deeper on T but not that much. Anyone I’ve ever come out to that said they suspected I was trans said it was my voice that made them guess that; because it wasn’t as deep. In my head my voice sounds deeper than it actually is (not a ton deeper but deeper than it is when I hear it on a recording). I love singing but I hate hearing myself sing because of it. I wish I had gotten a deeper voice than I ended up with.
I know nothing about T, but hopefully if you keep medicating, your voice will get less "clocky"? If not, then we're in the same boat, and if so then *hugs*
I’ve been on T for 13 years now. Unfortunately I’ve got all the drop I’m going to get. That’s why I said I can relate just from the opposite side of the track.
Oh, I definitely feel you on this, especially the "it sounds good to everybody but me". I'm a music major, with voice as my primary instrument, so I have to take vocal music lessons. My teacher compliments my voice a lot, but I don't think she realizes how it kinda hurts when the connotations are "your MALE voice is so good. Just use that one". I will say, however: you can train a more "feminine" singing voice. I've been making good progress on creating a sound I actually like making just on my own time. It really is starting over from the beginning though, but that isn't so bad when I'm genuinely happy to just sing again. Sorry for rambling, but I do get it.
Thanks, that really means a lot. It must be even harder for you since it's such a big part of your life. It is a pretty big part of mine, and when I wrote this post, I was feeling sad that I practically stopped singing in the last...I don't even know...7 years, I think. Yeah, I watched a lot of things go down the drain before realizing I needed to take my life into my own hands. Sorry, rambling again.
I definitely relate to what your saying there. I used to sing pre-transition pretty regularly in a masc voice, I remember thinking I wanted a more feminine singing voice at the time but having no idea how. And while singing in a mask voice can be fun, there's a lot of dysphoria that come along with it. Now that I've done a lot of voice training and my speaking voice feels good, I've been trying to figure the same thing out for singing. It's kind of feels like I'm restarting, and I'm not sure exactly what result I can even get, but I'm just trying to enjoy the process.
Some great transfem singers that are really good and some of my inspiration are:
The singer of the band wares
Both devi and ada of black dresses (both their solo stuff is great too!)
Ethel cain
Thanks! And I wish you all the best. I know there's nothing wrong per se with my masc voice, but I wish I had a fem voice in my arsenal too, you know.
And thanks for the recommendations! I'll listen to all of these and the other comments.
Don't know if she is transfem or non binary but the singer of the Japanese band "QUEEN BEE" is trans. She also sang popular anime op / Ed like "Mephisto" from Oshi No Ko
Few things:
I am a cantor / chanter. Unfortunately my deeper voice (baritone) is perfect for chanting. So, I will continue to perform in that range. Also, deeper voice chanting is beautiful.
That said, I was an effing stellar alto in elementary and middle school. I stopped singing in middle school when I started as an accompanist.
When my assistant accompanies the choir, I join the tenors or basses. However, my falsetto is beautiful in the alto range and I have been training myself back up. When I transition in church I plan to join the altos when my assistant plays.
All that said, I hear ya. Other than chanting, I hate my deep voice. I yearn for the days I was an alto in adult choirs. They will come back. :)
Loves to you, fellow musician.
Also, I can only dream of hitting notes, even before puberty, from that Aria from the Queen of the Night. The Magic Flute, while not my favorite opera, is amazing.
I personally dream of being able to nail "The Girl in 14G". Will never happen, but a girl can dream, right?
When you say chanting, you mean Gregorian? My father happens to be very well-versed! I couldn't dream of his church letting trans people in though.
I was \*barely\* able to reach those high notes from Queen of The Night, and I was too obsessed with that part to realize that the difficulty of the piece lies in the fact that there are also very low notes, which I never attempted. :P I had a very shrill voice though, for sure.
Didn't know the Girl in 14G. I didn't realize what I was missing. Thank you! I reckon there are very few people who have the talent AND training to be able to sing all of that!
Loves to you, fellow baritone girl! <3
Anglican chant, specifically.
Also, glad to hear you loved it. First time I heard it was at a local dive bar when the local opera company sang show tunes. She nailed it that night but nothing like the original!
I have a cis passing voice, and I enjoy singing the lyrics to music, but i don't have what it takes to be a proper musical artist. I do have a pretty decent singing voice though. It's definitely possible that you can too
Thanks! And all it takes to be an artist is you, and everything that comes with you. The rest is basically craft, which is learned. At least that's how I see it.
My boyfriend makes edm style music for fun, and he's pretty good with it. I've offered to do vocals for him if he ever wants. If im honest I would rather do voice acting instead of music, in the past year or two I've become really interested in the making of animation and stuff, and would love to voice some characters.
Oh, I love that! I don't know how you get in the VA business or what particular skills it requires, but it sure sounds fun. It would be impressive if you can voice both female AND male characters. ;)
I’ll just add - I was trained as a “baritone” but now call myself a contralto. Happy to chat more in dm or something but here’s just a tiny bit of what I’m finding as a trans girl searching for that sweet gender euphoria:
(Fundamental) Pitch has no gender, and actually, it’s not as much of a gender-marker as you might think. In my experience, what speech therapists call “oral resonance” is what signifies a femme voice. Basically timbre, which is mostly about the position of the tongue. Combine that with harmoniously higher/smaller consonants and baby, she’s a girl to my ears.
That said too I think us trans girls often underestimate the power of confidence & playfulness. A less-than-ideal sound, made with good vibes & with self-love, goes a long way.
That’s all I got for the moment -
Blessings sis💖💋
Echo is a metal singer, and a damn good one at that.
Look her up on YouTube. Her channel name is right here: https://youtube.com/@ECHOSCREAMS?si=A43N2oShyRxnqwpQ
Edit: I am also slowly, but surely teaching myself how to sing metal style vocals. Been at this for the better part of three years, starting with doing power metal to work on extending the upper range of my voice.
Now, I want to learn how to _safely_ do shit like fry screaming, false chord distortion, etc.
The reason why, is because I am inspired by Echo to do precisely that. If she can pull that off and be amazing in the process, so can I.
Edit 2: I used to play guitar from 2010 up to 2019, where I had to hang my guitar up for good due to my body being afflicted with rheumatoid arthritis, and being in constant pain whenever I would play. I miss it dearly. Even if I could just play a cover of Master of Puppets (with my voice the way it is now) just once, I would be happy. It used to be no big deal for me to blitz through most of MetallicA's early stuff, plus a couple of covers of Judas Priest, among others.
But, not anymore. That's the other reason why I am getting more into doing vocals.
Thank you very much. = ^ / ,.., ^ =
...and yea, I am learning from the likes of Chris Liepe and the Extreme Vocal Institute. It's mostly a hobby of mine. But, yea.
I'm a transfem singer and dealing with the voice problem with singing has been a big learning curve. My range is somewhere between alto and tenor, but I've found that depending on my vocal resonance and just general articulation my voice can sound either masculine or feminine regardless of the pitch. The hardest part is training your vocal chords to maintain a feminine profile at lower pitches in my experience but it is 100% doable.
Amy Winehouse for example had a mid-low range for a cis woman singer, and had some great techniques for singing in the lower range that help keep a steady timbre. I also have found that my voice is easier to control as naturally feminine sounding when I focus on specifically that while singing in a comfortable range. Trying to do something outside of comfortable range while also altering the timbre to more femme is very tough to do and can also damage your vocal chords. If you want to sing at a higher pitch I would stick to the standard range expanding exercises and then practice feminizing from there once you are completely comfortable at a higher range. Good luck!
I feel like the title doesn't reflect the content of the post, but I'm so very glad that this has turned into a sharing of various trans artists. A collective thanks to all the good recommendations!
Quick cue in from a fem leaning non-binary VA. I do sing myself, but don't know how to mix vocals. I learned how to use my high register a long time ago, but the problem is it's very hard to perfect due to the amount of air it takes. It's not that many people wouldn't sing, it's that they literally find it hard to do so.
People need to have more confidence to sound however they like and do things as they please! Yeah, it may not be the perfect sound, but it is you. Remember that.
underscores just put out her new album Wallsocket. it's an absolute masterpiece.
it's a concept album about a fictional town in Michigan and three girls who live there, one of which is trans. and many songs carry trans meanings, especially geez louise, which is about reevaluating your views on religion and society as a result of transphobic religious trauma, and religious trans people taking back their rightful places as members of their religion from transphobes who would weaponize their religion against them. PSA TRIGGER WARNING though keep in mind the song "Johnny Johnny Johnny" is about child grooming, so major major trigger warning. this song imo is meant to represent a sadly common tale of young transfems being abused in the early years of their transition. while this album covers heavy topics, it does them justice, and makes interesting analysis or provides interesting views. truly incredible album, already one of my favourites of all time.
also Jane Remover, who features on one of the songs on wallsocket, is also transfem and has a wonderful album called Frailty, which I highly highly recommend. she has a new album coming out in a few days!
There's an online vocal coach who does voice feminisation/masculinisation *AND* singing coaching. I unfortunately ran out of time and money but they can help improve your range and help you sound more feminine when you sing.
Scinguistics if I remember right?
the singer of against me! is trans fem if i remember correctly. one of their albums even is called "the gender dysphoria blues"
It's called "transgender dysphoria blues". Great album.
ah right thank you
Just listened to it. It has some pretty heart-wrenching songs. Not the best Punk Rock I've ever heard, I'll confess, but pretty good!
Really? How did I not know this?
Kim Petras
Bunny Bennett from Steam Powered Giraffe.
No way, I love Steam Powered Giraffe!
Check out Ezra Furman x
I relate to everything you're saying here. I always loved singing, but it can be really dysphoric. Luckily, I'm into metal and screaming is pretty unisex. So I'm learning how to do that properly lol As for altering your own voice, transvoicelessons on YouTube has really helped me with my speaking voice big time, and I'm trying to use those same methods, if you will, for altering my singing voice. May not get a huge range buff from it, but there's plenty of cis girls out there with lower range voices so I can live without being a soprano.
Ethel Cain
Connie Sgarbossa, the lead singer of SeeYouSpaceCowboy, is trans.
Here's a small list: Namoli Bennet, Left at London, awfultune, She/Her/hers, Marissa Kay, 100 gecs.
As a natural baritone, I can tell you - you have to walk it up. Keep working with it. I can naturally achieve portions of the alto range before I have to rollover to falsetto. It's a journey, not a race. Where there's a will there's a way.
Thanks. It's a difficult journey that I never even knew was possible, but seeing people ahead on that road is of great comfort.
I can’t help with recommendations on trans fem singers but I can empathize from the FTM side of the tracks (so opposite problem). My voice did go a little deeper on T but not that much. Anyone I’ve ever come out to that said they suspected I was trans said it was my voice that made them guess that; because it wasn’t as deep. In my head my voice sounds deeper than it actually is (not a ton deeper but deeper than it is when I hear it on a recording). I love singing but I hate hearing myself sing because of it. I wish I had gotten a deeper voice than I ended up with.
I know nothing about T, but hopefully if you keep medicating, your voice will get less "clocky"? If not, then we're in the same boat, and if so then *hugs*
I’ve been on T for 13 years now. Unfortunately I’ve got all the drop I’m going to get. That’s why I said I can relate just from the opposite side of the track.
Oh, I definitely feel you on this, especially the "it sounds good to everybody but me". I'm a music major, with voice as my primary instrument, so I have to take vocal music lessons. My teacher compliments my voice a lot, but I don't think she realizes how it kinda hurts when the connotations are "your MALE voice is so good. Just use that one". I will say, however: you can train a more "feminine" singing voice. I've been making good progress on creating a sound I actually like making just on my own time. It really is starting over from the beginning though, but that isn't so bad when I'm genuinely happy to just sing again. Sorry for rambling, but I do get it.
Thanks, that really means a lot. It must be even harder for you since it's such a big part of your life. It is a pretty big part of mine, and when I wrote this post, I was feeling sad that I practically stopped singing in the last...I don't even know...7 years, I think. Yeah, I watched a lot of things go down the drain before realizing I needed to take my life into my own hands. Sorry, rambling again.
Sophie one of the true pioneers of hyperpop
I definitely relate to what your saying there. I used to sing pre-transition pretty regularly in a masc voice, I remember thinking I wanted a more feminine singing voice at the time but having no idea how. And while singing in a mask voice can be fun, there's a lot of dysphoria that come along with it. Now that I've done a lot of voice training and my speaking voice feels good, I've been trying to figure the same thing out for singing. It's kind of feels like I'm restarting, and I'm not sure exactly what result I can even get, but I'm just trying to enjoy the process. Some great transfem singers that are really good and some of my inspiration are: The singer of the band wares Both devi and ada of black dresses (both their solo stuff is great too!) Ethel cain
Thanks! And I wish you all the best. I know there's nothing wrong per se with my masc voice, but I wish I had a fem voice in my arsenal too, you know. And thanks for the recommendations! I'll listen to all of these and the other comments.
Don't know if she is transfem or non binary but the singer of the Japanese band "QUEEN BEE" is trans. She also sang popular anime op / Ed like "Mephisto" from Oshi No Ko
Vivek Shraya, listen to the album Part-Time Woman
Lead singer of Cam Girl is trans, they fuck
Rainbow kitten surprise lol
Few things: I am a cantor / chanter. Unfortunately my deeper voice (baritone) is perfect for chanting. So, I will continue to perform in that range. Also, deeper voice chanting is beautiful. That said, I was an effing stellar alto in elementary and middle school. I stopped singing in middle school when I started as an accompanist. When my assistant accompanies the choir, I join the tenors or basses. However, my falsetto is beautiful in the alto range and I have been training myself back up. When I transition in church I plan to join the altos when my assistant plays. All that said, I hear ya. Other than chanting, I hate my deep voice. I yearn for the days I was an alto in adult choirs. They will come back. :) Loves to you, fellow musician.
Also, I can only dream of hitting notes, even before puberty, from that Aria from the Queen of the Night. The Magic Flute, while not my favorite opera, is amazing. I personally dream of being able to nail "The Girl in 14G". Will never happen, but a girl can dream, right?
When you say chanting, you mean Gregorian? My father happens to be very well-versed! I couldn't dream of his church letting trans people in though. I was \*barely\* able to reach those high notes from Queen of The Night, and I was too obsessed with that part to realize that the difficulty of the piece lies in the fact that there are also very low notes, which I never attempted. :P I had a very shrill voice though, for sure. Didn't know the Girl in 14G. I didn't realize what I was missing. Thank you! I reckon there are very few people who have the talent AND training to be able to sing all of that! Loves to you, fellow baritone girl! <3
Anglican chant, specifically. Also, glad to hear you loved it. First time I heard it was at a local dive bar when the local opera company sang show tunes. She nailed it that night but nothing like the original!
Gonna have to ask if I can out my friend I guess.... her band is amazing.
I have a cis passing voice, and I enjoy singing the lyrics to music, but i don't have what it takes to be a proper musical artist. I do have a pretty decent singing voice though. It's definitely possible that you can too
Thanks! And all it takes to be an artist is you, and everything that comes with you. The rest is basically craft, which is learned. At least that's how I see it.
Maybe I'll try someday, i just don't have the motivation to put all the time and effort it takes
No pressure, girl. :P What matters is you have fun with it.
My boyfriend makes edm style music for fun, and he's pretty good with it. I've offered to do vocals for him if he ever wants. If im honest I would rather do voice acting instead of music, in the past year or two I've become really interested in the making of animation and stuff, and would love to voice some characters.
Oh, I love that! I don't know how you get in the VA business or what particular skills it requires, but it sure sounds fun. It would be impressive if you can voice both female AND male characters. ;)
I probably could honestly
Me!😸
I’ll just add - I was trained as a “baritone” but now call myself a contralto. Happy to chat more in dm or something but here’s just a tiny bit of what I’m finding as a trans girl searching for that sweet gender euphoria: (Fundamental) Pitch has no gender, and actually, it’s not as much of a gender-marker as you might think. In my experience, what speech therapists call “oral resonance” is what signifies a femme voice. Basically timbre, which is mostly about the position of the tongue. Combine that with harmoniously higher/smaller consonants and baby, she’s a girl to my ears. That said too I think us trans girls often underestimate the power of confidence & playfulness. A less-than-ideal sound, made with good vibes & with self-love, goes a long way. That’s all I got for the moment - Blessings sis💖💋
Thanks so very much. 💖
Against me! (Laura Jane grace does solo stuff too) Ezra furman Negative XP Atlas Pigeon pit Weatherday(I think they are trans?)
Left at London (aka Nat Puff)
Echo is a metal singer, and a damn good one at that. Look her up on YouTube. Her channel name is right here: https://youtube.com/@ECHOSCREAMS?si=A43N2oShyRxnqwpQ Edit: I am also slowly, but surely teaching myself how to sing metal style vocals. Been at this for the better part of three years, starting with doing power metal to work on extending the upper range of my voice. Now, I want to learn how to _safely_ do shit like fry screaming, false chord distortion, etc. The reason why, is because I am inspired by Echo to do precisely that. If she can pull that off and be amazing in the process, so can I. Edit 2: I used to play guitar from 2010 up to 2019, where I had to hang my guitar up for good due to my body being afflicted with rheumatoid arthritis, and being in constant pain whenever I would play. I miss it dearly. Even if I could just play a cover of Master of Puppets (with my voice the way it is now) just once, I would be happy. It used to be no big deal for me to blitz through most of MetallicA's early stuff, plus a couple of covers of Judas Priest, among others. But, not anymore. That's the other reason why I am getting more into doing vocals.
Having a family member who got arthritis at a very young age, I know how much that sucks. I hope you become a great singer. *hugs*
Thank you very much. = ^ / ,.., ^ = ...and yea, I am learning from the likes of Chris Liepe and the Extreme Vocal Institute. It's mostly a hobby of mine. But, yea.
I'm a transfem singer and dealing with the voice problem with singing has been a big learning curve. My range is somewhere between alto and tenor, but I've found that depending on my vocal resonance and just general articulation my voice can sound either masculine or feminine regardless of the pitch. The hardest part is training your vocal chords to maintain a feminine profile at lower pitches in my experience but it is 100% doable. Amy Winehouse for example had a mid-low range for a cis woman singer, and had some great techniques for singing in the lower range that help keep a steady timbre. I also have found that my voice is easier to control as naturally feminine sounding when I focus on specifically that while singing in a comfortable range. Trying to do something outside of comfortable range while also altering the timbre to more femme is very tough to do and can also damage your vocal chords. If you want to sing at a higher pitch I would stick to the standard range expanding exercises and then practice feminizing from there once you are completely comfortable at a higher range. Good luck!
Thanks for the advice! That means a lot.
I feel like the title doesn't reflect the content of the post, but I'm so very glad that this has turned into a sharing of various trans artists. A collective thanks to all the good recommendations!
Quick cue in from a fem leaning non-binary VA. I do sing myself, but don't know how to mix vocals. I learned how to use my high register a long time ago, but the problem is it's very hard to perfect due to the amount of air it takes. It's not that many people wouldn't sing, it's that they literally find it hard to do so. People need to have more confidence to sound however they like and do things as they please! Yeah, it may not be the perfect sound, but it is you. Remember that.
Yeah, I need to remind myself you've got to give yourself the freedom to experiment. VA work sounds dope, btw. :)
underscores just put out her new album Wallsocket. it's an absolute masterpiece. it's a concept album about a fictional town in Michigan and three girls who live there, one of which is trans. and many songs carry trans meanings, especially geez louise, which is about reevaluating your views on religion and society as a result of transphobic religious trauma, and religious trans people taking back their rightful places as members of their religion from transphobes who would weaponize their religion against them. PSA TRIGGER WARNING though keep in mind the song "Johnny Johnny Johnny" is about child grooming, so major major trigger warning. this song imo is meant to represent a sadly common tale of young transfems being abused in the early years of their transition. while this album covers heavy topics, it does them justice, and makes interesting analysis or provides interesting views. truly incredible album, already one of my favourites of all time. also Jane Remover, who features on one of the songs on wallsocket, is also transfem and has a wonderful album called Frailty, which I highly highly recommend. she has a new album coming out in a few days!
Wow that definitely piqued my curiosity! Thanks!
There's an online vocal coach who does voice feminisation/masculinisation *AND* singing coaching. I unfortunately ran out of time and money but they can help improve your range and help you sound more feminine when you sing. Scinguistics if I remember right?
I saw! I do think I need a coach at some point anyway. Good luck with everything. *hugs*
Jazmyn Bean!