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The "Key-Oh" Exercise

trans voice Feb 16, 2022
 

Hello, trans voice practitioners!

Today I want to share with you one of my favourite trans voice exercises. I use this exercise in just about every workshop that I give because it's one of the most effective.

It's called the Key-Oh Exercise.

This exercise is designed to show you how altering your vocal tract shapes and colours the sound of your speech. Using two words that are on opposite sides of the resonance spectrum (key and oh), you can train yourself to remember the feeling of a resonance shape that will give you either a more feminine sounding voice (with key) or a more masculine sounding voice (with oh).

If you have difficulty with this exercise, here are a few things I usual check:

  1. If you're trying to feminize your "oh", are you letting your larynx drop at the end of that syllable? Try and make "oh" as short as possible so it doesn't become two syllables where the second half is much darker than the first.
  2. If you're trying to masculinize your key, are you relaxing fully into the word? See how much darker you can get your "oh" if you do some yawning or breathing through a large tube first.

I posted this video on TikTok so you're welcome to go there and leave me a comment about how this exercise went for you!

If you want to take your trans voice practice to the next level, check out my self-paced e-course, Trans Vocal Exploration. It includes exercises like this and much much more!

Good luck with your practice today!

Renée ✨

 

Hi, I'm Renée! (they/them)

I'm a queer, nonbinary, and disabled singer, songwriter and gender-affirming voice teacher. 

I've been a voice teacher for over twelve years, I have four full-length albums out, and I have degrees in physics, jazz, and songwriting.

I love creating, I love figuring things out, but most of all, I love helping people.

Learn more about me

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