Gender Affirming Voice
Speaking & Singing Voice Training & Therapy
Gender Affirming & Transgender Voice may be right for you if you are Transgender, Non-Binary, Gender Diverse, Gender Queer, Gender Non-Conforming... and
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You are looking for a safe and healthy way to explore, develop, train or style a feel-good voice that sounds like you, and/or
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You are looking to rehabilitate the voice following voice injury or voice surgery, and/or
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You are looking to rebalance and/or rediscover your singing voice in a healthy and supportive way
An Overview of Affirming Voice Training
Foundation and Health
Develop a healthy, strong voice foundation with advanced and therapeutic voice exercises for long-lasting voice use and flexibility. Foundations in Voice Health will be integrated throughout our program, but some voices may benefit from some extra TLC before beginning with our athletic vocal explorations!
Play and Blend
Build vocal control and flexibility while exploring a variety of vocal qualities, shapes and colours. You will learn about and demonstrate variations of the primary voice pillars like pitch, resonance, mass/weight, pocket boundaries and quality. We begin playing with combinations until we start to find a blend that starts aligning with your style!
Build with Control
Build stamina with your blend in controlled situations with conscious attention, for example, in reading or in-session conversations. We will continue to finesse along the way!
Extend
We'll begin extending practice and in-session targets slowly into real-life situations in an intentional way. We'll make a plan for carry-over and we'll consider not only the duration of time in our target blend, but also additional variables such as the context (phone, in-person, work-related, social), your general feeling of safety with your listener, familiarity with the content you're speaking to, emotional charge (ordering a coffee, navigating conflict), pressure to perform (ordering a coffee alone, giving your pitch at an interview).
Optional Tune-Ups and Beyond
Many folks like to check back in for a tune-up, to refresh training, continue advancing unconscious carry-over, to re-optimize voice health, or to advance to complex goals, such as preparing for presentations, podcasts or to work on affirming singing voice!
What Does It Look Like?
HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE?
I bet you already know what I'm about to say: It's different for everyone. There are so many factors that play a role in determining how long, such as one's ultimate goals, having a safe practice space, voice health, voice skill and flexibility, time resources, financial or insurance limitations, previous experience with voice training, comfort exploring voice variations, the number of opportunities you have to actually carry voice out into the world, and more. When starting with a healthy voice, building a usable base typically ranges anywhere from 6 to 16 session hours. You will realistically still need to have some conscious and purposeful attention to voice at this stage, but should be feeling much more confident in shaping and styling your sound!
WILL THERE BE GUIDED EXERCISES?
Yes, you'll receive home practice exercises, handouts and sometimes recordings after each session to guide your practice and play!
HOW OFTEN WILL WE MEET?
It is ultimately your choice and depends on your learning style and the level of support needed. Generally, I see the best progress with regular bi-weekly meetings in the beginning stages, and as we begin to build stamina and consistency, we reduce the meeting frequency and sometimes also the session duration. Some people really excel with half hour sessions in these phases. As you become more independent in using voice in real life situations, you'll need me less!
WHEN WILL VOICE BECOME UNCONSCIOUS?
Unconscious voice carry-over is possible and attainable! But it takes time and application across many different scenarios and contexts. You'll continue working on this even after we've finished our structured work together. In our "extend phase", we'll work on making sure you have a good amount of access to usable voice, even if still requiring some conscious attention in high focus settings. Troubleshooting and check-ins can be helpful at this point, but most people don't require as much support from me during the unconscious carry-over stage as it simply requires time living in voice.
SCHEDULING?
Booking in advance is recommended to secure a meeting time, but there is no requirement to book in advance, and we can always change our meeting schedule as long as there's at least 24 hours notice. We can pause any time - in fact, sometimes planning for a pause between phases makes for the best progress! After each session, we'll chat and decide together when we should meet next based on our progress.
​I want my voice to be higher but my voice is really low right now. Is this a problem?
If the voice is healthy, and you have some ability (with support) to modify pitch, low starting pitch is usually not a problem! Most people have success with pitch training, and it helps to remember that pitch is not the entire picture. We'll focus on other voice pillars, like resonance, weight, quality and intonation too!
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Will HRT alter the pitch of my voice?
Testosterone lowers the pitch of the voice. Estrogen, Estradiol, Spironolactone, etc. does not change the pitch of the voice.
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What about Voice Feminization Surgery?
Most often, it's recommended to try voice training first before surgery, but it is not necessary. For those who undergo voice feminization surgery, I can help with post-op voice rehabilitation, and working on shaping resonance, inflection, and other speech characteristics to help you achieve the voice you're looking for. As a voice therapist, I help to get the voice in optimal shape before surgery to improve outcomes, and after the surgery to recover quickly and safely. Since surgery impacts pitch only, post-surgical voice training is often useful for additional training around resonance and other features.
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I'm taking Testosterone, how could training help?
While Testosterone impacts pitch, some folks on or following T aren't satisfied with the timbre, tone, or stamina of the voice. Common goal areas include developing rich and resonant voice, working on projection and stability, or smoothing out the breaks in the voice, as well as building vocal endurance. ​
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Will insurance cover this?
Since I am registered Speech-Language Pathologist, our sessions will be eligible for Ontario residents to claim. Check with your insurance provider if you are unsure of budgets, as there's no way for me to know your plan's specifics. You must be an Ontario resident.
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Are you Trans? What is your background?
No, I am a cis-gendered woman! My journey in supporting gender diverse voices began 10 years ago in Nova Scotia and has continued in Toronto over the last 8 years, and prior to that, my undergraduate studies were in music, vocal performance and vocal pedagogy (the science of singing voice). I then became a voice-focused registered Speech-Language Pathologist so that I could continue to work with voices in a rehabilitative way, and have worked almost exclusively in voice since. I spent several years working in a voice lab in Toronto supporting ENTs in the evaluation and treatment of voice disorders for professional singers, professional voice users, and gender diverse folks. I continue to centre learning from Trans and gender diverse professionals, and most importantly, I learn from the people I work with! All this to say I have lots of professional and artsy tools in my tool box and a lifetime of loving voice. My passion is voice play, and I enjoy taking a coaching role.
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When can I start?
You can start whenever you feel ready. I do not require a referral. I am occasionally asked if various transition-related items must be completed to begin - the answer is absolutely not! All I ask is that you, to the best of your ability, arrive with a flexible and creative mind, and patience. Please note that you must be an Ontario resident! If you under the age of 18, guardian consent is required, but guardians will not participate or attend.
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How do I start?
The first step is to jump in with an Online Intake Session! If you'd like to meet first, you can send me an email or book a Free Online Meet-and-Greet. During our intake session, I'll get to learn about you, your current voice, and together we'll set some voice goals. We'll snap some recordings and complete some questionnaires for our baseline analysis. Please meet via a device (laptop, desktop, tablet) and "bring" your smartphone to the session to take recordings from your end.
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