There is no such thing as good or bad singing, only more free or less free.

Our collective liberation needs ALL of our voices, and especially those who have been most often silenced or shushed or told we "should" sound a certain way.

The wildness and wisdom in your blood and your bones is connected to the wildness and wisdom in your breath and your voice.

This could be a great match for you if:

  • You yearn to feel more free when singing.

  • You have formal singing training but sometimes feel disconnected from your heart and body when you sing with those formal tools.

  • You don’t have formal singing training but love to sing and would like to feel more free and connected to your heart and body when you sing.

  • You are transgender and are exploring new ways of singing and honoring your voice (with or without HRT) that feel like home to you.

  • You have have been told that you “can’t sing” and/or have experienced trauma connected to your voice, and you are looking for a gentle, trauma-informed way to ease back into singing.

  • You are longing for singing contexts that don’t rely on gendered expectations of voices or ideas of what anybody’s voice “should” sound like.

Hello from Orion

About the Facilitator: Orion Johnstone

My name is Orion (they/he), and I am a non-binary transgender faggot witch and community minister, living and loving on Lenape land (in Philly + NYC). I have been singing on stages for over thirty years but I really found my voice when singing with others in the streets. I’ve taught private + group voice lessons off and on for over 15 years, and everything I offer is rooted in our collective healing and liberation. I am also a composer, theater director, and sex+relationships coach. You can learn more about me and my other offerings at: www.orionjohnstone.com

  • 10 Sessions

    This is a pre-recorded 10 session video workshop, Each video is approximately one hour long, although each session takes approximately 2 hours to complete (including pauses for reflection, sharing, and practice). Sessions Include: vocal exercises and explorations, written reflection, opportunities for discussion and community connection, singing together, and a framework for collective voice lessons.

  • Best When Experienced With Others

    This workshop is designed to be experienced in relationship with others, in real time! It works in person, or over Zoom (or any combination of in person and over Zoom). An ideal size of a practice group is 2-5 people, but this can also work for larger groups. And yes, you can totally do this on your own if you don't have others to do it with, you can adapt the sharing invitations to be solo reflection invitations.

  • Accessibility Info:

    There are many body/voice invitations in this workshop, and everything is explicitly invitation (not request). You are encouraged to skip things and/or adapt as is right for you, and a range of specific adaptations are offered with each exercise. Captions are not provided because much of what is offered is through sounds that are not possible to transcribe, and also there are clear slides for all core concepts and reflection questions.

Testimonials:

more pleasure, less fear

“Freeing my voice in this container has been a wonderful experience as a trans person, trauma survivor and artist. My voice in the world feels more connected with personal pleasure and is no longer a trigger of shame or fear since working with Orion in this dynamic and care-full way.”

found my voice again after transitioning

“The most heart felt course ever! The course met my needs to find my voice again after transitioning!”

grace + gentle consistency

"Orion challenges you to eschew judgement, seek truth, joy and embodied presence in everything you do, to articulate goals and stay accountable to them through the inevitable setbacks, and to cultivate an attitude of grace and gentle consistency.”
Orion called to me from across a cavern of fear and helped me know my voice was enough without needing to do anything or effort to make it "bettter"- my voice just gets to be. That gift is tremendous- to know however I develop my voice is not from any place of lack but from a place of growing what it already does. Everytime I sing, lessons from Orion's class emerge. They are foundational now. The more I show up, the more I let it in- this truth Orion holds: you don't have to push, you don't have to go in front of yourself when you sing, what's coming is what's coming and it's perfect. Perfect because it is of you. -Jules Pashall
"This course taught me to turn off the spigot of nastiness from every teacher or mentor (from my extensive Musical Theater and Opera training) who had disparaged me running on a loop in my brain. After studying music my entire life, I had been surprised to know how many more textures and sounds the world could hold. I cried a lot the first time I realized I was allowing my voice to pour from me, rather than spray, project, or filter it. I hadn't really ever heard me. Not in over 30 years of study. I had no idea until I took this course what my voice could be or who I was, and I often wonder what my natural voice could have done if I'd found this course as a child. I find such vitality in knowing that I now have the rest of my life to hear myself as I am." -Holly Hurley Feather
"I struggled with the decision to start hormones because I didn't want to lose the singing voice I learned to really love. I chose gender euphoria, and as my vocal cords thickened on testosterone, I grew in love with my talking voice and wary of my new singing voice. Sure, I had the technical skills from my 4 years of high school choir, but I lacked the confidence and had no idea how to tune into what my new voice was doing. In Orion's Vocal Freedom Workshop, I wasn't being asked to push myself beyond my limits- instead, I was challenged to learn what they were and understand that it would change daily. I was shown how to tend to the instrument I had grown angry with and meet it with curiosity and appreciation. I might still have moments of judgement and frustration, but I learned to love singing again! Shortly after taking the workshop, I came across Forefront Church in Brooklyn. An LGBT affirming, anti-racist, nondenominational church, I finally found the place for my soul's renewal. Once I started attending, I knew that I wanted to join the worship team. I was bringing it all together and bringing it back to where it first started when I was a wee kiddo: using my voice to connect with my God. I even lead worship sometimes! I honestly would have never gotten to this point of comfort and appreciation for my new (and beautifully deep) trans voice if it wasn't for the Vocal Freedom Workshop." -Daniel-José S. Cyan
"The Vocal Freedom Workshop helped me find my voice again after transitioning and feeling disconnected from my voice for 3 years. My mom’s voice is very high and I was able to find a falsetto voice to sing freely with her and also use my low voice to sing with her at a different octave. I was very delighted. Other voices joined in and we were able to weave in and out in harmony. I had missed this so much when my voice first changed." -Keath Silva

Purchase Includes:

  • Access to over 20 hours of class time (10 hours of video) for 365 days

  • Access to the WHOLE VOICE Community Commons, where you can connect with other participants, share reflections, and ask each other advice/questions

  • Extra resources for Trans singers

Flexible Pricing

Generating and Sustaining rates are for 1-2 people. This workshop is a labor of love developed over the course of offering mostly free workshops for over ten years, and this work is my sustenance / my bread and butter. I am able to offer a limited number of scholarships per year to those for whom this would otherwise be financially inaccessible. If the scholarship option is right for you, please email me at [email protected] for a coupon code (BIPOC to the front). If you are in a position to, please consider sponsoring a scholarship by choosing the Generating Rate tier.

Course curriculum

    1. WELCOME!

    1. CONNECTION

    1. TRUST

    1. BREATH

    1. POWER

    1. FLOW

About this course

  • $160.00
  • 11 lessons
  • 10.5 hours of video content

Frequently Asked Questions

  • Do you plan on offering this course as a real time cohort, as you have in the past?

    Yes! I usually offer a real time cohort version of this same workshop once a year (including a cohort from Oct-Dec 2023). For more info, head over to: www.orionjohnstone.com and check out the Community Coaching and Workshops tab.

  • Does this course work for large groups?

    Yes, definitely! Although for groups of larger than 5, it works best if someone is facilitating in addition to me and/or if you have consistent breakout groups of 2-5 determined ahead of time.

  • Can I do this course as an individual without a practice group?

    Yes absolutely! Although some of the deepest fruits of this workshop can be from sharing reflections with others and singing in community, individuals will still benefit from the reflection invitations and the singing tools.

  • I want to do this workshop with others, but I don’t know anyone who is available to do this with me. What are my options?

    I am going to experiment with supporting folx in finding each other. You are welcome to reach out to me at [email protected] and let me what is most important to you in practice partners (identities, experiences, plus time zone and available times to practice). I may not be able to sustain this offer in the longterm, but I want to try and see what I have capacity for here.

  • What are the Extra Resources for Trans folx?

    Direct sharing about my experience on T, resources (articles, etc) about voice change on hormones, links to other workshops for Trans singers, and reflection questions about gender and voices.

  • Does this workshop offer tools for vocal feminization and vocal masculinization?

    Not directly, no. While I celebrate that those tools are right for some folx, and I honor that those skills can sometimes be directly linked to survival, the main focus of this particular workshop is the "You-ification" of your voice. Many trans participants (on Estrogen, on Testosterone, and without hormone therapy) in the past have reflected back to me that the tools and perspectives have been supportive of their masculinization and feminization goals, even if indirectly. For those who are seeking more direct tools for feminization and masculinization, I recommend checking out The Voice Lab (especially the voice support groups for trans women and trans femmes) and Renee Yoxon's resources (for everybody).