Written by Rikki on Nov. 6, 2001

Hi everyone!

Yes, many years ago I earned my bachelor's degree in linguistics. And so, when it came time to develop a feminine voice, I had a lot of good knowledge to turn to.

One of my own personal secrets is called "talking across your falsetto break."

Everyone has a falsetto voice. That's the unnaturally high voice that starts at the pitch just above where your natural voice dies out. Many cartoon voices are falsetto--think Mickey Mouse or even Bugs Bunny, in fact.

Speaking in your falsetto voice, of course, would sound artificial, contrived, cartoonish. Not good at all.

But what do you suppose would happen if you spoke at the top end of your natural voice, breaking into falsetto momentarily for emphasis? Actually, it would sound pretty good! Many performers have used this, including women with deep voices (Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, and Barbra Streisand among others) and drag queens (John Davidson and many, many others).

How to do it:

1. Locate where your natural voice dies out and the falsetto begins.

Practice speaking and singing with slightly higher than normal pitches until you find the place where your voice breaks into falsetto. Your throat will feel tight and dry, your voice gets quiet and hoarse if you speak right at the break.

2. Take care, by the way, that you find the break into your falsetto voice, and not your second or double falsetto. The double falsetto is even higher.

For monst people (unless you use your falsetto a lot), the falsetto has a nasal quality to it (Bugs Bunny). The second falsetto has a shrill, "fake" quality (Mickey Mouse).

3. As you're listening to people speak, notice something about the way men and women emphasize key words in their speech. People emphasize a word by saying it slightly higher and louder than the other words. You might get familiar with it by repeating saying something with an obviously emphasized word in it, such as

"My right foot is slightly longer than my left."

4. Notice that men generally emphasize a word more by saying it a little louder; women generally say it a little higher. It's what gives women's speech that lilt or "sung" quality. This in itself is an excellent technique to practice, but it's not original with me. I have Melanie Philips to thank for it.

5. Now choose a femme speaking voice that is, in fact, just below your falsetto brak. (That's about as high as your femme voice can be without sounding falsetto). For occasional emphasis, let your pitch creep naturally across into the falsetto. The secret to not sounding falsetto is don't stay there. When the emphasis is done, come back down to your normal voice.

Practice this technique a bit. (You'll find it's a lot easier to do than to describe, believe me). After a little while, it will become second-nature to you. And you will have begun developing a feminine speaking voice with a lilting quality that people will find charming.

Enjoy!

Rikki