Renée's Blog

Trans voice exercises and resources to help you reach your goals!

Voice Feminization Warm-Up with the Singing Straw Creator

exercise vocal weight voice feminization Jun 19, 2025

If you’ve been exploring voice feminization, you might already know that straw phonation is one of my favourite tools. It’s gentle, effective, and helps build healthy vocal habits, especially when you’re working on resonance and vocal weight. I’ve been using straw exercises for years in my own voice practice and with my students, and today I’m sharing something really special.

In this video, I’m joined by Whitney Nichole Cytryn, the vocal coach, singer/songwriter, studio owner, and creator of the Singing Straw. Whitney is not only a brilliant teacher, but she’s the reason we have high-quality reusable straws that actually work for this kind of voice work.

Together, we talk about how the Singing Straw came to be, how straw phonation supports gender-affirming voice training, and we wrap things up with an exclusive follow-along warm-up led by Whitney herself—designed specifically for people working on voice feminization.

Watch the full video including the warm up below:

This post contains affiliate links. I only recommend tools I genuinely use and love.

Get Your Own Singing Straw

If you want to try straw phonation for yourself, I highly recommend the Singing Straw. It’s the only set I use, and it’s designed with voice science in mind. It's ideal for both beginners and advanced voice users.

Get 10% off anytime using this link: https://singingstraw.com/?ref=ReneeYoxon10

🌈 Or use code PRIDE2025 for 20% off during June 2025!

Save 30% on Trans Voice Courses (June 2025 Only)

If you’re reading this during Pride Month 2025, all of my online trans voice courses are 30% off with the code PRIDE2025. That includes my most popular course, Mindful Voice Feminization—perfect if you want to shift how your voice is perceived using safe, full-body techniques.

🌈 Get the discount here: https://www.reneeyoxon.com/pride2025

Want More from Whitney?

We continued our conversation over on Whitney’s channel, where we dive deeper into the science of straw phonation and her work with singers and voice teachers.

Watch the extended interview on the Singing Straw YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/singingstraw

How did it go?

If you’ve just finished the warm-up, I’d love to hear how it felt in your body and voice. Let me know in the comments of the video. And if you want to keep learning, check out my other video explaining the science behind straw phonation and how it fits into semi-occluded vocal tract (SOVT) exercises.

Thanks for being here, and happy voice training!

Renée 🦋

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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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I know you're here because you're striving to live your most authentic life, yet one major hurdle remains: your voice. Instead of empowering you, it brings dysphoria, misgendering, and discomfort.

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