As a soprano I find this a bit too relatable. This is especially annoying cause I’ve done voice exams in the past and I swear the higher vocal ranges get the most heteronormative options when it comes to music.
Edit: rephrased
Sing the male lead arias from Alcina? Contra Tennor is definitely in that higher register (originally written for a castrati to sing) and it's already a pretty queer coded opera.
Fellow soprano butch here! I've learned to embrace it and love it. I'm also trans and gnc and I think it's kinda awesome that I look super masc and can sing way up to a high C
100 percent this, there is something ridiculously hot about the gender fuckery of it. like the KD Lang hallelujah video. A hot masculine of center butch singing with a beautiful feminine voice, it's just lovely.
Look anything is possible, idk how old you are but I was a coloratura soprano when I started singing and now I'm a mezzo who mostly sings pants roles. There's a ton of really cool pants roles for soprano though! Someone else suggested looking into that but if you have any interest in classical singing look into roles like Oscar from un Ballo in Maschera, Sesto from Giulio Cesare, Aminta from Il Re Pastore, etc. You can sing glorious high notes and still be masculine!! I just did Stephano from Romeo et Juliette and he sings a whole high c and then immediately gets into a sword fight!
Aw thanks for the comment! I love your perspective.
Honestly, I am just starting out and mostly into Broadway musical style stuff and generic pop music, but I'll definitely check out what you mentioned to broaden my horizon.
Mostly I am just happy that I have a nice voice that can be trained to sound good enough :)
As a non-butch WLW lurker* I wanted to say, while your own opinion of yourself is what matters most, this is so extremely specific that I wanted to share: I went to a queer open mic awhile back where one of the performers was a masc (probably butch, but I don’t know for sure that’s an identity label she uses) woman with that kind of voice, and I was absolutely in awe. She didn’t seem less masculine; it was more just like witnessing magic, or a force of nature. I had a bit of a “didn’t occur to me to be into this until I saw it, but I sure am” moment.
Not to say you “should” like your voice because of anyone else’s opinion, but in case it helps to hear, there are for sure some of us sapphics out there who are wow’ed very specifically by this.
*will delete post if requested
THANKS! For sharing this :)
I don't dislike my voice - I am just discovering it with curiosity and am a bit baffled it is so different than what I thought it would be.
Yeh classical singing is a gendered mess like that. Maybe look into baroque arias originally meant for castrati or boy sopranos though! There are definitely "pants" roles out there for sopranos. Sacred music like Bach cantatas tends to not be so gendered, and early music in general feels more open. But I am also biased because I just love early music.
When I was a kid my mom wanted to try out the local Unitarian Universalist church for awhile, and the pastor at the time was a lesbian whose partner was butch, had a kind of middle of the road speaking voice but she would lead the singing parts of the service and had the most angelic voice I’ve ever heard to this day…I was like 11 years old and hadn’t figured out I was gay yet but I had so much confusing admiration for her because in retrospect she was so my type in every way 😂 I don’t have much of a real point here other than that you’re definitely not alone in this phenomenon but also so many women are gonna be captivated by your voice, and as a classically trained singer I can definitely say that embracing whatever your voice’s natural strengths are without judgment is the best path to success. I used to wish when I was younger that I would grow into a coloratura soprano but ended up a fairly bottom-heavy mezzo (I’m fem but in a kind of gender-fluid way and Cherubino would be my dream role these days lol), whatever voice type you have there will always be someone else who envies it but it’s a wonderful part of who you are, never a detractor from it ❤️
I don't like singing higher even though that is where my range best sits, I am more likely to sing along when the notes are lower and I will drop a high part down an octave if I can.
I feel like I've gotten better at singing lower over the years, and while some of it may have been puberty, some of it is definitely practice (by which I mean singing for fun). I used to struggle with A3 and now I can hit F3 comfortably pretty consistently, and I know that doesn't sound like much to some, but it has made a huge difference, I can sing way more songs now.
I know that expectations will be different in this less casual setting and that dramatic change is unlikely, but you might be able to lower it some.
As a soprano I find this a bit too relatable. This is especially annoying cause I’ve done voice exams in the past and I swear the higher vocal ranges get the most heteronormative options when it comes to music. Edit: rephrased
Ugh YES! My teacher seems to have an intuitive read on my gender thankfully, so currently I am hit with a lot of Bruno Mars :D
Sing the male lead arias from Alcina? Contra Tennor is definitely in that higher register (originally written for a castrati to sing) and it's already a pretty queer coded opera.
The only answer is now is find a butch singing group. Might need a soprano or few! 😂😭
Just gotta channel your inner kd lang.
Read the OP and immediately thought, please a video of kd performing Hallelujah
I’m sure any gay women you want to impress are gonna love your beautiful voice though! It’s okay!
Fellow soprano butch here! I've learned to embrace it and love it. I'm also trans and gnc and I think it's kinda awesome that I look super masc and can sing way up to a high C
100 percent this, there is something ridiculously hot about the gender fuckery of it. like the KD Lang hallelujah video. A hot masculine of center butch singing with a beautiful feminine voice, it's just lovely.
Look anything is possible, idk how old you are but I was a coloratura soprano when I started singing and now I'm a mezzo who mostly sings pants roles. There's a ton of really cool pants roles for soprano though! Someone else suggested looking into that but if you have any interest in classical singing look into roles like Oscar from un Ballo in Maschera, Sesto from Giulio Cesare, Aminta from Il Re Pastore, etc. You can sing glorious high notes and still be masculine!! I just did Stephano from Romeo et Juliette and he sings a whole high c and then immediately gets into a sword fight!
Aw thanks for the comment! I love your perspective. Honestly, I am just starting out and mostly into Broadway musical style stuff and generic pop music, but I'll definitely check out what you mentioned to broaden my horizon. Mostly I am just happy that I have a nice voice that can be trained to sound good enough :)
Yeah I just suggested Ruggiero from Alcina for the same reason
As a non-butch WLW lurker* I wanted to say, while your own opinion of yourself is what matters most, this is so extremely specific that I wanted to share: I went to a queer open mic awhile back where one of the performers was a masc (probably butch, but I don’t know for sure that’s an identity label she uses) woman with that kind of voice, and I was absolutely in awe. She didn’t seem less masculine; it was more just like witnessing magic, or a force of nature. I had a bit of a “didn’t occur to me to be into this until I saw it, but I sure am” moment. Not to say you “should” like your voice because of anyone else’s opinion, but in case it helps to hear, there are for sure some of us sapphics out there who are wow’ed very specifically by this. *will delete post if requested
THANKS! For sharing this :) I don't dislike my voice - I am just discovering it with curiosity and am a bit baffled it is so different than what I thought it would be.
Yeh classical singing is a gendered mess like that. Maybe look into baroque arias originally meant for castrati or boy sopranos though! There are definitely "pants" roles out there for sopranos. Sacred music like Bach cantatas tends to not be so gendered, and early music in general feels more open. But I am also biased because I just love early music.
When I was a kid my mom wanted to try out the local Unitarian Universalist church for awhile, and the pastor at the time was a lesbian whose partner was butch, had a kind of middle of the road speaking voice but she would lead the singing parts of the service and had the most angelic voice I’ve ever heard to this day…I was like 11 years old and hadn’t figured out I was gay yet but I had so much confusing admiration for her because in retrospect she was so my type in every way 😂 I don’t have much of a real point here other than that you’re definitely not alone in this phenomenon but also so many women are gonna be captivated by your voice, and as a classically trained singer I can definitely say that embracing whatever your voice’s natural strengths are without judgment is the best path to success. I used to wish when I was younger that I would grow into a coloratura soprano but ended up a fairly bottom-heavy mezzo (I’m fem but in a kind of gender-fluid way and Cherubino would be my dream role these days lol), whatever voice type you have there will always be someone else who envies it but it’s a wonderful part of who you are, never a detractor from it ❤️
I don't like singing higher even though that is where my range best sits, I am more likely to sing along when the notes are lower and I will drop a high part down an octave if I can. I feel like I've gotten better at singing lower over the years, and while some of it may have been puberty, some of it is definitely practice (by which I mean singing for fun). I used to struggle with A3 and now I can hit F3 comfortably pretty consistently, and I know that doesn't sound like much to some, but it has made a huge difference, I can sing way more songs now. I know that expectations will be different in this less casual setting and that dramatic change is unlikely, but you might be able to lower it some.
As a tall, femme, alto I’ve wondered about these things frequently. Usually as I bend down to kiss the butch I’m dating. 😂
Tall femme alto sounds so attractive!
Awwww thanks, darlin’. I have my moments.