Finding Their Voice

The halls of the LSU School of Music might be eerily quiet these days, but Loraine Sims, the Edith Killgore Kirkpatrick Professor of Voice, continues her work, which includes teaching transgender and non-binary students. Sims was one of the first voice teachers in the world to do research on the effects of hormone therapy on the human singing voice and vocal folds. Since then, she’s been an advocate for transgender and non-binary singers, working to create change in a sometimes this-or-that world where “classical” shouldn’t have to mean conformist and categorical, or some high-brow version of “boys will be boys” (and girls girls).

  

 

BATON ROUGE [June is Pride Month] —

“Voice is a challenging thing to teach and learn,” Sims said. “You have to bring your whole person. Passion, and patience.”
 
Sims joined the faculty at LSU in 2001 and had her first transgender student soon after, “a beautiful baritone.” Together, they worked on feminizing an already deep voice, but the challenge for Sims was mostly in finding songs that would resonate with her student on all levels.
 
“She hated all of the baritone repertoire,” Sims recalls. “‘This isn’t pretty’ was her major comment. ‘I want pretty songs.’ I needed to find baritone songs that spoke to her that were different than, ‘Give a man a horse he can ride,’ for lack of a better description.”
 
“I am so proud of this former student,” she continued. “She is now a music educator herself and recently created a website, blurringthebinary.com, which is designed to help music teachers understand how to work with transgender students in the classroom.”

 

“If I would see myself as totally different from how other people see me, how hard would that be? How annoying would it be to keep trying to correct people? It would be exhausting.”—Loraine Sims

Sims’ next transgender student, Lucas, posed an altogether different challenge. Lucas began as a soprano and then, through testosterone therapy, transitioned to a tenor voice. Realizing how Lucas’ voice would change, Sims began documenting the progression with audio and video recordings, including of the vocal folds. Since then, Sims has presented her research at conferences and workshops in the U.S. as well as Europe. Last January, she also gave a talk, “Teaching Lucas: A Transgender Student’s Vocal Journey from Soprano to Tenor,” at LSU Science Café at the Varsity Theatre where she described what initially drove her to get started on her research.
 
“For me, it was, ‘I need help, and nobody’s here to help me,’” Sims said on initially feeling lost in her role as a voice teacher. “So, by golly, the next person who needs help will now have some resources! Also, you have students that you get close to and when you realize what they need, you want to tell other people; ‘This is what you can do to help.’”
 
At first, Lucas’ new tenor voice was restricted, so they worked on expanding his range. Today, many years later, they sing in the same church choir. Lucas, who is now using another name and they/them pronouns, self-defines as non-binary. They mostly sing mezzo soprano, but “will help in the tenor section, if it needs help.” They are now also teaching voice lessons.

“It is thrilling to see my students finding their way in the field of music,” Sims shared. “But some of the people at church don’t get it. They don’t understand non-binary and they don’t understand they/them pronouns. But you can’t change the world. You just have to keep doing what you do and try not to be sad all the time.”
 
One of the reasons testosterone therapy was important to Lucas was his being misgendered on a daily basis, despite a masculine appearance.
 
“Telephones and drive-ins, that’s what Lucas would always say,” Sims recalled. “’Man, I got ma’amed at the drive-through again…’ That was the biggest thing in the world. And it’s so much about the voice. The testosterone really helped with that for Lucas. It’s a big deal.”
 
Sims is a ciswoman, meaning she was born female and identifies as such. Meanwhile, she feels that she has an idea of what transgender people experience, since she’s also a member of the LGBTQ+ community and lives with her female partner. Sims explains:
 
“When we go out to eat, I can’t tell you how many times we get, ‘Oh, are y’all sisters?’ And I’m like, ‘Really…?’ We look nothing alike and she’s 10 years younger than me, so I’ve resorted to saying, ‘She’s my mother.’ [laughs] But if I would see myself as totally different from how other people see me, how hard would that be? How annoying would it be to keep trying to correct people? It would be exhausting.”

 

Sims encounters voice teachers from all over the globe who are starting to gain some experience working with transgender singers. And those who haven’t had a transgender student yet, Sims assures them they will.

Through her work as vocal studies division chair and vocal area coordinator at LSU and as chair of the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) advocacy committee, Sims has spent many years working toward inclusivity. She particularly remembers an LSU vocal student many years ago who auditioned as a mezzo soprano, presenting in a feminine way. Then, when the student showed up for freshmen year, they had transitioned in the summer, had a new name, and were presenting in a masculine way.
 
“And… got put in the women’s choir,” Sims said, cringing at the thought. “A horrible story. The one bonus of that experience is that we have since changed the names of our choirs. So now, we have the chorale, which is any gender; soprano and alto. And then we have Tiger Glee, which is any gender; tenor and baritone. It’s a way for us to be inclusive. We’re still missing a gender-neutral bathroom in this building, however. That’s my next campaign.”
 
Another thing Sims is proud of is that NATS recently took the gender designation out of their competitions—something she’s helped work toward for years. What used to be “freshmen women, 1-2 semesters of study, under age 20” is now “freshmen treble, 1-2 semesters of study, under age 20,” and so on. Any gender who sings soprano, mezzo soprano, or countertenor will compete together and any gender who sings tenor, baritone, or bass will compete together. The singers may present however they wish and sing in whichever category suits their voices.
 
“This is a huge step in the right direction,” Sims remarked. “It avoids things like students who present in a feminine way but sing baritone not having to choose between being the only low voice among women, or the only one among men in a dress.”

Attending conferences and speaking about her work over the last few years, Sims encounters voice teachers from all over the globe who are starting to gain some experience working with transgender singers. And those who haven’t had a transgender student yet, Sims assures them they will.
 
“That’s what I tell everybody,” Sims said. “The fact that I’ve had three in Louisiana, which is not the friendliest place in the world for LGBTQ-anything, that’s remarkable. If you’re in Chicago, you’ve had hundreds by now! Those teachers are like, ‘Three? You’ve only had three?! Why are you the expert? I’ve had 20!’ And I’m, like, ‘I know! I just wrote about it first—sorry!’” [laughs]
 
Transgender men and transgender women have different challenges in singing. Some can be dysphoric about their voice, feeling like it doesn’t match who they are, but their options for how to deal with it are different. Transgender women (assigned male at birth) who went through puberty before their transition can feminize their tone and learn to sing falsetto, but once testosterone runs its course, their voice is permanently changed. Female hormones cannot change that. Transgender men (assigned female at birth), meanwhile, can choose testosterone therapy to alter their voices, like Lucas did.
 
“That’s another thing,” Sims noted. “When I’m going around the country talking about my research on this; not every trans person does surgeries of any kind, and not every trans person does hormones of any kind, but some do. It’s none of your business, really! But as a voice teacher, it’s important to know if the hormones might be changing—if the student will be taking testosterone.”

 

“At recitals, we expect all of the tenors and baritones to wear tuxedos or suits and walk out and be ‘like they are.’ Even the music, texts, and poetry can be very gender specific. It’s only in opera, where we have what we call ‘pants roles’—where mezzo sopranos dress as boys or men to sing a role—where it’s actually easier to be a trans singer.”—Loraine Sims

Sims current transgender student, Rowan, has a light soprano voice and identifies as non-binary, using they/them pronouns.
 
“Their voice doesn’t match their exterior, and they’re gender expansive in a way I’ve not experienced before—nothing gives them a defined gender,” Sims said. “I think I’m going to learn some things.”
 
While all three of Sims’ transgender students at LSU have identified as such, her first one lived very much in the binary. Lucas lived in the binary for a while, using he/him pronouns, but now identifies as non-binary and uses another name. Rowan lives outside the binary and uses they/them pronouns. But being non-binary can pose yet another challenge in the world of classical music and song.

“Classical music is very binary,” Sims explained. “At recitals, we expect all of the tenors and baritones to wear tuxedos or suits and walk out and be ‘like they are.’ Even the music, texts, and poetry can be very gender specific. It’s only in opera, where we have what we call ‘pants roles’—where mezzo sopranos dress as boys or men to sing a role—where it’s actually easier to be a trans singer. You can be any gender and put on a costume of the opposite gender and be fine as long as your voice is right for the part.”
 
Sims recently interviewed a world-renowned German baritone named Lucia Lucas, who made the news last year by being the first openly trans singer to have a leading role in the regional opera company in Tulsa, Oklahoma, singing Don Giovanni—the title role.
 
“Lucia has transitioned in every way you can—surgery, all the hormones. She’s a very beautiful woman—a tall, big beautiful woman who sings baritone and speaks in a low range,” Sims noted. “I asked her, ‘Do you think of yourself as living in the binary?’ And she said, ‘Absolutely! Everything about my life is binary, except for my singing.’ The part that is amazing is that Lucia was married to a woman before and is still married to the same woman, so has gone from designated heterosexual to homosexual, but a woman and singing baritone. But to her, she’s living life in the binary. ‘I’m very much a woman.’”
 
“Non-binary, that’s different to me,” Sims continued. “That’s a whole new animal. It’s hard to conceive of someone not having an idea of their gender if you yourself have a defined gender, ‘I’m this, or I’m that.’ What do you mean, you’re both? What do you mean, you’re neither? It’s a whole different thing. Same umbrella; whole different thing.”
 
In this regard, Sims is learning a lot from her student Rowan.
 
“Rowan is on their own terms,” Sims remarked. “They’re not trying to fit into a box. In fact, they don’t like labels or boxes. They like ‘they.’ And I work with the soprano voice they have right now and they’re not uncomfortable with it. And what’s so amazing is that other kids will go to the mat for them if someone misgenders them or tries to put them in the wrong group. It’s cool to see that switch. The students here at the School of Music are incredibly supportive.”
 
Her advice to other voice teachers who might have their first transgender student this year is simple.
 
“You have to be kind,” Sims said. “You have to start there. As a teacher, you just need an open mind.”

 

 

Elsa Hahne
LSU Office of Research & Economic Development
225-578-4774
ehahne@lsu.edu