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Hi, I'm Jamie and this video is part of a series about some of the physical
aspects of my gender transition.
The series doesn't exist yet, this is the first one.
So in this video I'm going to talk a little bit
about my goals and then I'm going to test my vocal range
and then I'm going to sing part of a song. The video series is specifically
about the changes in how I look and sound as I take testosterone.
I'm going to be taking a very low dose of
a transdermal gel kind of testosterone
and my end goal is to appear more androgynous than I do now.
I identify as genderqueer, not male, so I don't want to end up
super masculine, but
I'm going to, like I said, take a low dose
and hopefully keep my
hormone balance such that I end up sort of
in the middle. Ideally it'll be hard for people to
look at me and automatically assume I'm either male or female
just because
that will be closer to how I think myself. If people
never call me sir or ma'am again that would be awesome.
So the way I'm read right now,
sometimes I'm read as male, most often when I'm not
speaking or making eye contact with the person.
If you've seen
some of my older videos of me singing songs and things from when I presented as female
you'll notice that I
already look a lot more androgynous than I used to,
largely due to a new haircut and some weight gain and
I sorta carry myself a little differently than I did before.
Depending on the circumstances and who
I'm with I'm less likely to, you know, burst into giggles or
be overly flamboyant I guess, but
I'm hoping that when I'm read as female less often
I'll feel more free to express myself however I want without worrying about
people
assuming I'm female. So anyway
I'm calling this Day 0 of my
testosterone treatment 'cause I haven't had a dose yet. It is currently July -
What is the date? July 15th,
2013. My goals
with these videos are to track
just how, basically how my face looks and how my speaking voice sounds and how my singing voice sounds.
I'm not going to be talking a lot about
other things like other physical changes,
weight changes, sexuality, emotional changes...
If you want that kind of information there are other resources, other YouTube
video series,
that you can look at and this one is
specifically about my point of view as a genderqueer singer.
So if you're interested in that,
if you're also a singer and you want to take low dose testosterone, this might be
super helpful for you.
So I'm also going to be turning off comments on YouTube
for this video because YouTube has a history of
having really horrible people making comments, and I don't have the
emotional fortitude to deal with that.
And also I don't think I'd be a really helpful resource for questions
and like I said there are other resources, other blogs and things.
So yeah, it's just gonna be, you know,
these videos as information if you want to watch and
like them. And the next thing I'm going to do is test
what my vocal range is right now.
[wordless singing]
[wordless singing]
So more or less it's like an F.
Two Fs above middle C.
[wordless singing]
[wordless singing]
So more less also an F. One F below middle C so
Two octaves, F to F. Now I'm going to sing
just a portion of a song, a verse and a chorus.
I'm going to sing part of my own song, This is Where I Wanna Be.
I picked this song partly because I
own the copyright and partly because it's pretty positive and
happy and partly because -
I'm actually really interested to see
how I will sing it as my - if and when my voice
gets lower. So.
This is how it sounds as of right now.
[guitar]
[singing] Sometimes trouble makes me weary
and sad
and it's hard to remember how to keep
the good from the bad.
Sometimes all you
have to do is think of what
has gotten you through so far and
remember what it is that makes
you you, and say I like who I am
I like who I'm with, I like where I'm at
I like where I live, there's nowhere better right now for me.
I like my life.
This is where I wanna be.
[wordless singing]
This is where I wanna be.
[speaking] So for the record
I have that capoed to the second fret so it was in A.
I'm going to be -
with every subsequent video I'm going to talk a little bit
and test my vocal range and sing the same portion of the same song
so that it'll be really easy to see how my voice changes.
So that is it for today, Day 0,
July 15th, and I will talk to you later!
Bye!