Moving beyond shame in trans voice practice

Some people resist starting a trans voice practice because they're adverse to silliness. It's too silly of a practice and it makes them feel shame or embarrassment. This is something I hear all the time. People start practicing and right away their practice is connected to feelings of self-worth, like 'I'm not good enough' or 'my voice isn't feminine or masculine or neutral enough'.

What I usually advise to students in this position is to just start with judgment-free warming up. These exercises have nothing to do with altering the perceived gender of your voice. They're just meant to give you a sense of control over your voice and give your voice a little more freedom and flexibility. This can help to separate the judgment from the practice. That's it.

If you can manage to do this every day or a couple times a week, it can help tell your brain "I am a voice practitioner. I work on my voice." Then, when you move into more specifically trans voice alteration exercises, it's not quite so jarring for your brain because you're already used to being a voice practitioner and training in this way.

I hope this helps!