Paving the Way | Transparency For Tra

Paving the Way:

Applauding Those Advocating for Gender Diverse Singers

The Seattle Voice Lab

The Seattle Voice Lab offers leading individual and group voice therapy sessions (Seattle Voice Lab, 2025).

They offer services for male to female and female to male transgender and androgynous individuals looking to hear their gender reflected in their speaking and singing voice (Seattle Voice Lab, 2025).

All instructors are remote so their services are available online and for clients across the United States (Seattle Voice Lab, 2025).

They offer professional training and certificates for voice teachers and speech professionals who want to assure they are gender-affirming in their care (Seattle Voice Lab, 2025).

Transposing Voices

Across the United States, musicians and choral directors have formed choirs intended to make a community for transgender and gender non-conforming musicians

Transposing Voices is a choir local to Rochester, NY for transgender and gender non-conforming singers of all levels (Transposing Voices, 2025).

The choir was formed in hopes of helping trans and gender non-conforming individuals learn or relearn how to sing (Transposing Voices, 2025).

The Voice Lab, Inc.

Located in Chicago, IL, but they offer online services (The Voice Lab, Inc., 2019).

They offer individual voice lessons for queer and gender diverse singers (The Voice Lab, Inc., 2019).

They have lessons and services in voice feminization and singing through testosterone therapy (The Voice Lab, Inc., 2019).

They offer gender-affirming training for vocal coaches and speech language pathologists (The Voice Lab, Inc., 2019).

Door at the Voice Lab with writing. Image obtained from LinkedIn.

LGBTQ+ choir performing at the

Gala Choruses

Gala Choruses is an organization that funds and provides resources for LGBTQ+ choirs in North and South America (Gala Choruses, 2025, para 1).

They allow membership to all LGBTQ+ and social justice choirs (Gala Choruses, 2025, para. 10).

Members are provides networking opportunities, discussion groups, administrative support, and access to a resource library (Gala Choruses, 2025, para. 9).

Gala Choruses, Inc. hosts symposiums and choir festivals (Gala Choruses, 2025, para. 9).

Key of T

Founded by Ari Agha, a transgender singer, to understand how testosterone would affect their singing voice (Agha, 2025, para. 1).

Began as a research project, but with time, Agha morphed Key of T into a performance venture and a documentary (Agha, 2025, paras. 4-5).

Now, Agha uses Key of T to offer choir consultations and one-on-one or group voice lessons (Agha, 2025, para. 6).

Ari Agha in a performance standing under a quote. Photo retrieved from keyoft.com.

What We Can Do

Choral teachers and vocal directors should turn away from gendered terms.
- Replace “men and women” with “low and high voices” or “basses and trebles.”
- Instead of saying that concert attire must include a full skirt for women and pants and a suit jacket for men, leave the option open. “Dress for concerts in all black with either a floor length dress or skirt, or black dress pants and shirt.”

Vocal teachers should strive to find repertoire for their students that affirms their gender.
- Have open conversations about what themes and character types a student would feel comfortable singing about.
- Consider transposing songs or suggesting different similar songs that are in the student’s range that align with the student’s gender.
- Cast theater and opera roles based on gender identity, unless the student confirms that they are okay with playing a character outside of their gender identity or they specifically auditioned for that role.

Never stop researching ways to help your trans and gender non-conforming students and clients.
- Safety comes first in singing. Refer to medical professionals or trans singing specialists if you are concerned about vocal modifications or range extensions your student is trying to make.
- Know the warning signs for vocal fatigue and injury.