When I first started taking testosterone, I was SO excited to see what kind of voice changes I would see! There are a lot of websites that talk about speaking voice changes. Some of them have general timelines that mention “voice changes between 6-9 months, and up to 2 years for it to fully settle.” But I couldn’t find a lot of detailed information about singing during vocal transition with hormones! There’s some guidance for teenagers going through testosterone-based puberty, which I relied on heavily. But there’s a lot of information for trans adults doing second puberty that’s behind paywalls. You have to subscribe to something just to learn about how the experience has been for other trans singers.
I spent hours and hours on YouTube watching voice change videos, and trying to find someone whose “before” voice sounded as high as mine. I didn’t find as much as I’d hoped, but did find some super helpful resources. Some of the sites I relied on most are at transreads.org and seattlevoicelab.com.
I’ve noticed that in the last few months, there’s been a lot more information popping up for transmasc singers! I want to contribute to that body of work, so in that light, I am sharing what my experience has been like so far!
Voice Change Timeline
Month 1 – November 2024
In the first month, I didn’t notice many changes in either my speaking voice or my singing voice. The only change I really noticed was that singing at the low end of my range felt a little easier.
Month 2 – December 2024
During the second month on testosterone, my lower singing voice range began to drop significantly. My lowest comfortable note went from an F3 to B2 (6 semitones lower, not quite a perfect fifth).
I also started to lose a significant part of my upper range head voice. I went from being able to hit a D6 to barely hitting a C5 with a lot of effort. My head voice also started to sound weaker even in the lower ranges.
Month two is when I started to have noticeable voice breaking. Especially early in the morning, or during singing warmups, reaching for a higher pitch brought with it a strong chance of cracking, creaking, or no sound at all coming out.
Month 3 – January 2025
In January, the band started practicing more often, and I really felt the instability of my passaggio. It felt like it was changing places almost every day! I could sing something confidently one day, and the next be completely unable to hit the same notes with even remotely similar tone and strength.
Because my speaking voice also kept dropping but I hadn’t gotten used to speaking in a lower register yet, my voice cracked a lot when I talked. I was really in my “do you want to get a pizza and play D&D in my mom’s basement” voice. Which, yes, I do want to do that, but now it also sounded like it.
My speaking and singing voice also became softer in tone, and I struggled a lot with feeling hoarse while talking or singing. I spent a lot of time practicing resonance exercises to try and get used to my new speaking range.
Month 4 – February 2025
In the fourth month on testosterone, my head voice continued to weaken. It also became harder to transition into head voice from chest voice. I could start off in head voice and stay there, but changing registers was a struggle. My chest voice started to feel stronger again compared to January, but my lower range shrank up from B2 to a D3.
I continued to lose a little more upper range as well. I could hardly even hit an A4 at this point. If I tried to hit any notes in my upper range with any kind of power behind it, my voice cracked in a comically prominent way. My speaking voice dropped drastically during this time, though my singing voice didn’t lower significantly.
Month 5 – March 2025
My passaggio continued to feel like it was pranking me by constantly shifting. One day my transition point between chest and head registers would be a D, and the next it would be a G. I had never been more annoyed with how my singing voice sounded.
My lower singing range dropped down to a G2, and my upper range started creeping back up above an A4, though not with any strength to it. My speaking voice started off really low in the morning, and raised in pitch over the course of the day, regardless of whatever vocal warmups I did.
Month 6 – April 2025
In month 6, the feeling of constant hoarseness and vocal fatigue returned. It felt like I could only sing full strength for maybe 45 minutes before my voice got tired. Warming up took between 30 minutes to a full hour, only to be able to sing for about the same amount of time before starting to strain my voice. Previously, I had been able to to passably warm up in about 10-15 minutes. (Check out my favorite short warmup here!)
I did start getting more head voice power up to about an A4 without too much issue, though I lacked any agility in the upper range. My lower range also started to sound stronger, and I could get more volume from lower notes.
My speaking voice also started to feel stronger and more settled, and hadn’t lowered significantly since about March.
Month 7 – May 2025
My voice in the early morning was hilariously low. I thought it was low before. No. Barry White and I had the same speaking pitch for about 2 hours after waking up. I found this time very funny and used it to write some songs that were WAY too low for me to sing and I will probably not be able to ever sing again.
Warming up started to take less time, thankfully! I did start losing some stability in my upper head voice range, though. My highest note was a C#5 which was higher than before. However, it felt weak and started breaking again.
I started to gain more control over my passaggio in month 7! Even though the passaggio range still kept moving around, my chest and mix voice continued to get stronger and I was more able to control my mix voice into head voice ranges.
Month 8 – June 2025
Just in time for Pride month, the band booked a show! It went great, despite a couple weak spots. My upper C5 and C#5 are still shaky and weak, even with a proper warmup. It’s still cracking and breaking sometimes, but pretty much only at the extreme upper end of my head voice range now.
I’m also starting to regain some agility in my upper head voice. This has been an excruciating process of practicing agility exercises and just letting my voice break constantly without trying to push through it. Exploring what my voice is capable of right now is an exercise in patience and curiosity. I’m trying not to judge my voice for not getting stronger as fast as I want it to.
My head voice is starting to gain a little more strength, but I really notice more strength in my chest and mix voice. Despite this, my passaggio is starting to prank me again, and I wonder what other changes will be coming in the next phase of second puberty. For now, most of the issues I have in the middle of my range can be managed with a good warmup.
But how does that all feel?
I love checking in with my students about how their voices are feeling. There’s no reason not to check in on myself, too!
The Positive
I LOVE my new lower speaking voice. I spent 36 years hating how I sounded. Now I can finally listen to the sound of my own voice without cringing.
I’m really enjoying singing lower harmonies. Since I spent most of my singing career in the first soprano range, I’ve pretty much always sung harmonies above the lead. Now I get to explore different sounds with harmonies below the melody, which is tons of fun.
It’s getting easier to add grit and distortion into my voice without strain. This was completely inaccessible to me previously. I can now even do a little screaming without feeling like I’m hurting myself. It’s been really interesting to play with tone quality in different ways.
The band (shoutout Mike’s Emo Band, y’all are incredible) has been super accommodating. They’ve changed keys of songs, pressed pause on some songs that will only be achievable after my voice settles down a bit more, and just have been overall wonderful. They’ve made this process a lot less frustrating than it could have been.
The Not So Positive
Speaking of being frustrated, it’s hard not to be annoyed at myself all the time! Especially when some of the songs I have been singing all my life are suddenly out of reach. I miss belting out high notes.
While it’s only been 8 months, sometimes it feels like my voice will never stabilize. I just want it to be DONE ALREADY.
I feel like I sound unfriendly now. Maybe this is a “socialized as a woman” thing, but when I want to sound extra friendly, I raise the pitch of my voice. Now my voice cracks at those ranges. I’m not used to hearing myself try to be polite or deferential at lower pitches. I feel like I sound gruff and angry when I say hello or excuse me to people.
Getting to know my voice as it changes is hard. It’s a lot of work, and then as soon as I make progress, something else changes. While I know it’s worth the effort, it is tiring to keep feeling like the rug is being pulled out from under me about every 3 weeks.
Navigating Changes
While I’ve never been a patient person, I am trying to approach the changes to my voice with curiosity and flexibility. Changes take time! And good things often take more time than you’d think. At least more time than I’d think. 🙂
I’m looking forward to publishing an updated version of this same blog in 6 months or a year. I’ll share what other changes I’ve encountered, and how I moved through them!
In the meantime, if you’re navigating voice changes of your own and want some support, send me a message. Let’s find your new voice together!
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