Sometimes I blink and I can't believe that I have the job that I have. 

Every day I write in my little gratitude journal that I'm so lucky to be using the skills I've acquired in my life as a singing teacher to spread trans joy throughout my community and beyond.

A question I get asked very frequently is how did I get here? What did I have to do to become a trans voice teacher?

Unfortunately, there aren't many straightforward ways to acquire the skills necessary to teach trans voice alteration. Some people study speech-language pathology at university, but not every SLP course covers trans voice considerations. A lot of trans voice teachers are people who have gone through voice alteration themselves and are now passing on the skills they learned through experience.

I got my start in voice pedagogy as a singing teacher!

From 2010 until 2019, all of my students were singing students. I specialized in foundational technique, meaning I spent over a decade teaching singers to understand how their voice worked anatomically and what they could do to use their instrument most efficiently.

I was first approached to teach trans voice alteration because I was an out and trans voice specialist in Montreal. An organization here asked me if I could teach a course to a group of trans people in my community because they had had a negative experience with a cis person teaching the same material.

They wanted someone with a more expansive view of gender and a more experimental and play-based approach to voice work - that was right up my alley!

I then launched into my autodidactic journey of learning everything I could about trans voice. I cobbled together my own masterclass through books, youtube videos, private lessons with other voice professionals, and teaching experience.

What I learned throughout the course of my journey is that this work - trans voice work - does not need to be as pathologized as it traditionally has been.

So many trans individuals are used to getting on waiting lists for medical voice specialists and being treated like they have a problem that needs fixing. I knew there had to be a better approach.

What I love about singing teachers is that many of us approach voice training not as a problem that needs fixing but as an opportunity for growth. Why can't trans voice work be treated the same way?

When word got out around Montreal and on TikTok that I was teaching trans voice lessons, I quickly found myself overwhelmed with student requests. I had so many that I had to take a break from teaching altogether to create the Trans Vocal Exploration e-course!

What was clear to me when I took my private teaching break was that there really aren't enough trans voice teachers out there with the affirming and playful approach that I bring to the work. There are some! But not enough to meet the demand.

All this soul searching is what led me to create my very first teacher training course, Learn to Teach Trans Voice Alteration in 5 Weeks (I know, it's not the most creative name, but it is clear.)

It may sound strange, but my goal is to create a world in which the work I do is not special. I want it to be easy for trans people to find affirming voice professionals who see them as whole and complete from the moment they walk in the studio and who leave them feeling confident that they can achieve their voice goals because they have tons of guidance, support, and resources.

I ran my teacher training course for the first time last fall and it was a complete dream come true. I met a small group of voice professionals who had the same teaching ethos as I did and all they were short on was concise trans voice information, which I was more than prepared to give them.

I want the next generation of trans voice teachers to not have to cobble together their information the way I did. I want it to be easy to find the information they need because either I handed it to them or because they could easily connect with other trans voice trained professionals.

The world of voice teaching is constantly evolving and this feels like an extremely natural evolution of that world.

I will be running Learn to Teach Trans Voice Alteration in 5 Weeks again very soon so if you're interested in registering, the doors open on January 31st!

Renée ✨