Trans Voice: How To Change Your Resonance

You’ve probably heard that resonance is one of the most important parts of feminizing or masculinizing your voice. And it is! Resonance can change the perception of your sound, sometimes even more than pitch. But explanations can feel vague around what exactly you’re supposed to hear in your voice or feel in your body.

So let’s dive in and figure out how to change your resonance!

What is resonance?

Resonance is the sound quality or color of the voice. The exact same fundamental pitch can sound brighter or darker. Musical instruments are a good example of this. A tuba and a clarinet can play the exact same note, but you can easily recognize the difference between them. 

Think about how different they are in size, shape, and the materials they’re made of. A tuba is larger, made of metal, and has a long winding tube with a big opening at the end. A clarinet is a shorter, straight tube made of wood. So we’re going to get a different sound quality.

Our voices work the same way. By changing the size and shape of your vocal tract, or the space that the sound moves through, you can change the resonance, and the perception of your voice, without changing the pitch. For this reason, resonance is arguably more important than pitch when you’re feminizing or masculinizing your voice. 

Learn more here!

Resonance for Vocal Feminization

Feminine perceived voices tend to sound brighter, and in order to get that sound quality, we want a shorter, smaller vocal tract. One way to do this is by lifting your larynx. So how do we do that? Let’s start by playing around with our voices. I want you to say the days of the week as though you’re a little kid!

Childrens’ voices are bright and forward in the mouth. To achieve this sound, I moved my larynx higher. If you’re having success playing around with the little kid voice, pay attention to how you’re getting that sound. If not, let’s figure out how to lift the larynx.

It’s helpful to look in the mirror and place a hand on your larynx as we practice. 

Resonance for Vocal Feminization Exercises

First I want you to yawn, feeling your larynx lower, then swallow to feel the larynx lift. Let’s now add an “ah” to lower the larynx, and an “ee” to lift it. When you feel comfortable lifting the larynx with that “ee” sound, try saying the days of the week. 

Resonance for Vocal Masculinization

Masculine perceived voices tend to have a darker sound quality. To achieve that sound, we need to lower the larynx and ground our voices in our body. 

Resonance for Vocal Masculinization Exercises

Try yawning and feeling the larynx lower. I want you to imagine that the back of your mouth and throat are all opening up. This will give you more space in the vocal tract, which is what we want. Then try saying the days of the week with your larynx lowered.

Try these techniques to start working on your resonance! You got this!

Ready to jump into trans voice lesson? Click below!