More than 15 years ago I began to wonder if a voice could be modified in its purest essence, that voice that identifies us and represents us as men or women before society. As time went by, I came to understand, both professionally and personally, that a vocal identity is not only modified at the level of gender (a term I want to stop using) but that the key lies in the search for a voice in perfect harmony and coherence with our personality and identity.
We cannot differentiate between the voice of our deep self and that of our identity in terms of unique and exclusive representation, nor that of our personality, the same one that allows us to express ourselves and discern the world in our own way. Therefore, my methodology called “Astudillo method”, has proliferated and developed over the last 16 years to achieve today an effectiveness that fits all types of patients and trainees, regardless of their anatomical conditions, their demand, their age, their ethnicity…
My method makes it possible to reach objectives that are not only directed towards feminine vocal and sonorous characteristics, but that allow us to reach a real and stable balance between our identity, personality and expressiveness.
During all these years of work, of reflection, of experience, of studies, I have been able to observe repetitive behaviors, generalized, based most of the time on clichés about what a feminine voice is, and that, unfortunately, go against the development and entertainment of the vocal peculiarities proper to a person.
For all these reasons, here is a list of vocal behaviors regularly manifested in people who come to me with the aim of achieving vocal harmony. Some behaviors that I think it is very important to describe in order to understand them and, of course, to avoid them.
1. The obsession with the treble
One of the major concerns of people who wish to feminize their speech is certainly the conquest of the treble. Indeed, for many years, the phantom of a too narrow binary acoustic separation distinguishing the female voice from the male voice has caused damage to the worship of the treble.
For this reason, many people think that in order to accentuate the feminine characteristics of a voice, the treble must necessarily be developed. This idea is not entirely false, but it is not entirely true either. It should be noted that the most important thing is not the treble, but the melody, and indeed, in order to achieve a feminine vocal melody, it is necessary to develop the vocal extension, but not only towards the treble. Working on the low notes and the chest voice register is indispensable for the development and enrichment of the female voice.
Thus, for those who wish to feminize their speech, it is essential to work on the high notes but also to enhance the low sonorities of their voice in order to extend a vocal range adapted to a natural melody. Many women dialogue with low notes but there is no masculinity in their speech. That is where all the magic of femininity lies: knowing exactly what are the influencing elements at the acoustic level in the perception of a voice.
Therefore, all voice professionals such as speech therapists, speech therapists, specialized vocal coaches and other specialists are needed to guide people who wish to feminize their speech in order to progress in a structured and organized way towards real objectives set according to demand but also according to the capabilities and potential of each person.
2. The voice of the head
There are also many prejudices concerning the head voice, known as the falsetto voice. It corresponds to a rather caricatural voice, with little naturalness, with an acoustic consonance more childish than feminine. Some people do not understand the purpose of working on this vocal register during sessions that seek to emphasize spoken femininity.
However, what we do is to train a voice using accentuation exercises and exaggeration of vocal parameters in order to achieve a naturalness previously explored in a much wider sphere. Thus, the head voice is for me one of the most important elements within vocal training. And I do not consider it this way because the person will end up speaking using only the head voice, but because the work on this voice will allow us to extend the vocal extension and guarantee stability and constancy during the production of the sound.
This stability and constancy will be linked not only to the head voice, but also to the chest voice. All this is essential to achieve a natural, dynamic and elastic speech, which will allow a natural expression but also an expression of your emotions, whatever they may be, and all this, according to your own personality. The voice is a malleable component that has as many colors as an infinite rainbow in a world where perception and the individual are at the center of the equation.
We routinely use the head voice on a daily basis, especially in expressions of surprise or joy, but also when we bring sadness and anger into play. Many people who start vocal training do not like the head voice as they find it caricatural or artificial, however, it is very important to achieve our goals in terms of acquiring more feminine characteristics during speech.
In short, we should not look for the head voice to stagnate in it, but we should look for it to be able to associate it with a chest voice that will allow us to reach a natural voice.
3. The airy voice
Airy voices are often associated with seduction or other elements linked to intention, but it is important to understand that if the voice is too airy, vocal quality is lost, an essential element for the perception of feminine characteristics during speech. Clearly speaking, the more air there is, the less sound there will be. The more sound there is, the clearer the resonance will be, and if, in addition, the voice is well placed in the resonators, it will be much more feminine.
In other words, the more air that is allowed to pass in the voice, the more acoustically we move away from femininity. It is true that, as I mentioned earlier, vocal seduction is often allied to this type of airy voice.
However, one must be very careful with this because the vocal gesture can become pathological. When an airy voice is pathological, we are talking about the reflection of a defective vocal gesture that needs to be treated and cured. Therefore, if this excess of air becomes uncontrolled and involuntary, it is essential to be advised by an ENT specialist.
4. The whispered voice
The whispered voice should not be confused with the airy voice. From a professional point of view, whispering is a negative vocal dynamic for the larynx and should therefore be avoided. Moreover, I do not recommend whispering speech. The whispered voice is a voice without sound, a voice made only of air.
So it is usually used only assiduously and of course, it cannot be characterized as feminine or masculine.
5. The volume
The volume is one of the most altered vocal parameters when looking for the accentuation of vocal femininity. Thus, most of my trainees and patients come to my virtual practice presenting an altered speech volume, i.e., they try to speak with an almost inaudible intensity in order to eliminate the masculine characteristics of their speaking voice.
However, we must understand that every situation requires a certain volume, and that this volume does not change according to femininity or masculinity, but will be defined according to the message, the emotion and the context. In this way, we effectively work the volume directly with the treble in order to reduce any tension, even though the volume should always be adapted to the circumstances and the different situations we live in our day to day life.
6. The excess of analysis
I think that throughout my career, this has been the element that has hindered vocal training the most. When trainees or patients want to analyze everything, the more emotional and prescriptive side of the practice is often lost. Indeed, it is more difficult to achieve results quickly or effectively when one tries to over-analyze any concept or gesture.
Of course, it is important to understand certain elements and concepts in order to progress well in vocal training, but over-analysis can only bring demotivation, incomprehension, stress, and consequently, can hinder the natural reach towards the set goals. In addition, most of the movements that we train during the sessions of feminization or harmonization of the voice come from automatic processes that sooner or later end up coming out naturally and the excess of analysis can go against the natural development of these movements.
Likewise, it often happens that when a patient or trainee analyzes too much the movement she is trying to perform, she ends up blocking herself at the muscular level and prevents the movement from being performed, thus hindering the achievement of the objectives sought in the exercise.
For this reason, I always advise against excessive analysis, in order to leave room for perception and listening, before trying to understand and control the movements, which will eventually become natural automatically.
7. The cliché of the female voice
Enough trainees and patients come to my virtual practice with a mental image of the female voice that is, in my opinion, unclear and even erroneous. This image is often based on clichés or stereotypes that do not work in favor of vocal training. It should be noted that the purpose is not to imitate a voice model defined by binary rules, but rather to develop a vocal potential based on the patient or trainee at the expressive, perceptive and vocal level.
We are all different and it is essential to look for our true voice within ourselves, the one that corresponds to us but above all the one that reflects who we are, instead of basing ourselves on a copy or vocal representation (sometimes too cisgeneric) which, deep down, is too far away from the person we are.
At Femivoz and with the Astudillo method, we seek to liberate that image and help the trainee or patient to be aware of her own vocal potential with the objective of developing it to the maximum in order to reach our vocal, expressive and emotional objectives, which will be exclusive and personalized.
8. Non-constructive self-criticism and lack of objectivity
Sometimes my trainees or patients are too harsh or cruel to themselves during our sessions. Indeed, many of them practice what I call vocal self-flagellation, that is, they do not see the positive side of the evolution of their work and mistreat their achievements. In other words, it is super important to be objective and to be able to see all that we have already advanced instead of worrying about what we still have to achieve.
This is very often the case, but when the view of things changes, the patient or learner is liberated and results are achieved more quickly. Self-criticism is therefore essential, but it must be measured, coherent and positive. Excessive and unconstructive self-criticism can lead the patient to become demotivated and, consequently, to a cessation of vocal training.
In these cases, I always focus on motivating the patients or trainees by giving them the best guidelines to follow with the objective of positivizing the results obtained in order to be able to advance in the best possible way.
9. Approval of the environment
The environment is one of the most important elements and unfortunately it can be one of the most cruel and negative in the life of my patients or trainees. In fact, many times I would have loved to be present at family gatherings in order to help them accept their new voice.
Many of them suffer from negative and unconstructive comments from their family or professional environment. Sometimes, the family is the most delicate element since, for example, when there are children or a spouse, it can be very difficult for the trainee or patient to build a new role in the family nucleus. In addition, at a professional and social level, negative comments regarding the evolution of the voice can demotivate the patient.
However, we must understand that our closest environment are the people who will perceive the vocal changes more quickly, but they will also be the first to forget the previous voice.
At the beginning of the training, there may be sensitive or inappropriate comments from them, but these are usually temporary and are part of the vocal transition period. Therefore, I always encourage my patients or trainees not to keep quiet if they encounter such situations because, as I mentioned previously, the environment usually gets used to the new voice in just a few days. I also think that the most difficult element is the mother figure.
In fact, many of my patients or trainees have a block in front of their mothers, they have the impression that they are lying to them or that they are “impostors”. It is as if they feel that their mothers will not get used to the fact of speaking to them in a different voice.
It is true that some mothers have difficulty accepting the transition (although in my experience I can say that most mothers end up supporting their daughters in their vocal change). Each case is different, but for all of them, my advice is to believe and think about oneself, to move towards a defined objective and above all to estimate that our environment will eventually accept the vocal change. And if this is not the case, what we have to do is to love and take care of ourselves, we only have one life and all.a.x.s have the right to live according to our own perception of the world and according to our own values.
In conclusion, providing feminine characteristics to a speech implies not only correcting the voice at a tonal level, not even its prosody, but involves many other factors from emotion, muscular aspect, physiology, anatomy, to the understanding of certain essential concepts to achieve concrete and effective results.
For this reason, it is important to go to a professional who is qualified in this field to monitor progress but above all to respect the health of your larynx. Some mistakes may seem harmless to your voice, but over time they can cause serious damage.
Therefore, it is very important to understand that feminizing a voice or giving it more feminine characteristics depends on a specialty that, whether it is speech therapy or linked to vocal coaching, should always be associated with a professional who is not only specialized in this field, but also has many years of experience to avoid any collateral damage to the larynx or its anatomy in general. It is also important to understand that if the specialist we go to is not experienced or knowledgeable enough, he or she may have to work for a long time without getting results.
I receive daily in my virtual practice many patients who have carried out more than 30 sessions without any result. Therefore, to avoid mistakes such as all those mentioned above or others much more serious, I advise you to go to experienced and trained professionals in the field. You can try to feminize or bring feminine characteristics to your own speech without going to a professional, but you will most likely fall short of your goals and your vocal health will suffer.