Time to get serious about my voice training.
I really did not have overpowering dysphoria about my male voice before. I tried voice coaching at Seattle Voice Lab and completed about four sessions. I did not see any progress, and after losing my job, I stopped voice training. On top of that, I was very discouraged.
Any time I stumbled upon a voice training video on YouTube, I would save it to a playlist. I never had the motivation to actually watch them or practice. Or rather, I did not want to feel disappointed with myself, remembering my previous experience. I also paid for a couple of voice training apps, and even the full course from Jasmine Vine.
I also began following a lot of transgender content creators, and many of them are trans women who still use their "male" voice and have stated that they are not pursuing voice training at all. I thought that maybe I could take that path too. Voice training is not a requirement for being a trans woman, so I stopped looking for ways to resume/start again from scratch.
Ten days ago, Seattle Voice Lab published a video about one of their former coaches, who was fired after several complaints from students, low performance, and questionable behavior. That was the very same coach who was assigned to me back then, and learning about the types of complaints this person got (which line up with my own experience) made me wonder if voice training itself might not be as bad as the experience I had with that particular coach.
Yesterday’s experience was my first time having really bad dysphoria about my voice. Today I am a lot calmer. I think that as long as I do not hear my own voice through a recording, I will be mostly OK, but now I have renewed motivation to move forward with training.
I have had the pleasure of talking with Jasmine, and she has been really sweet every time, so I am going to give her coaching a serious try. I might even return to Seattle Voice Lab once I can afford it, of course.
Getting SRS within the next year is a possibility, but it is not entirely under my control. Engaging in voice training IS under my control, so I am making the commitment to it, with the goal of having a female-passing voice by this time next year.
My wife really encouraged me today, and she mentioned that sometimes, especially when I say "Thank you," I sound totally cis.
So this fight begins. Wish me luck.
#TransVoice #VoiceTraining #TransWomenAreWomen #TransitionJourney