Hi :)
I'm Merryn and at three years of age realised I was different.
These days I would have been labelled 'gender dysphoric' but
back then I was just considered weird!
Thankfully, these are much better times to come out as 'T' but
its still really the last great taboo to be addressed and understood
within the LGBT spectrum.
I've been in 'transition' (an awful word but one I feel obliged
to use for the sake of convention) since autumn 2013 and have so far
taken several steps along the pathway at my own expense including the
commencement of hormone therapy and major specialist facial surgery.
This has all gone well and allowed the successful alignment of
my inner self with my outer appearance and which has an enormous
positive bearing on my interaction with others on an everyday basis
and for the first time my life has allowed me to be the person I
always perceived myself to be.
The shadow that followed me around everyday has now gone and I
can think more clearly about both the present and the future.
Giving a new voice to my music
I'm a musician and songwriter and after giving a lot of thought
to my position triggered by various discussions and exchanges with
friends and others in the 'T' community, I've pretty much decided that
rather than live my life in 'stealth' mode, I'm willing to use my
musical abilities to try and help promote a more positive image of
many 'T' people who are actually really just 'regular' folk living
standard everyday lives without being weird, flamboyant or dangerous.
Yes, there are plenty who are weird but for the same reasons
that many non-T people are also similarly weird and which has nothing
to do with the ‘T’ aspect as such.
The rather novel approach I wish to take is this:
'Broken Down Angel' is the last song I wrote and recorded with
my band in summer 2013 just before I had my final crisis and commenced transition.
It's remained locked away ever since but my objective and
personal challenge is to re-record the vocal following specialist
voice surgery in October 2014 and then release the updated song with a
view to using to help promote greater knowledge and understanding of
the 'T' condition (and which in genuine cases is now classified as a
physiological rather than mental condition).
The choice of voice surgery technique is especially important to
singers and the only surgeon currently considered to practice the best
approach is Dr Kim of the Yeson Voice Clinic in Seoul, Korea.
His technique is no-risk and non-invasive and the results after
several months are very impressive both in terms of authentic speech
and vocal abilities.
Improving the 'T' community image
I'm hoping that at some point in the first half of 2015 I will
be able to re-record the vocal for 'Broken Down Angel' in my new
female voice and then release and promote it with the key message
related to improving the image of trans people (whatever their
location on the T spectrum).
Personally, I'm tired of seeing the seedier, sensationalist,
sex-driven examples that constantly dominate the media and usually
feature the very worst of OTT, attention-seeking individuals.
Please, let us have some 'regular' examples to help redress the
balance and improve overall public perception of what it really means
to be 'T'.
Lend me your ears
Using entertainment as a vehicle is typically non-threatening or
as contentious and tends to polarize opinions and views far less
than some other approaches.
I want to ally my funding request to a decent related cause as
otherwise I would not be asking for the purpose of purely selfish gain.
Any contributions will be very gratefully received and any
ultimate surplus will be used to help with PR and marketing and live shows.
The video
As well as me providing an overall
talkthrough of the proposal, the video also includes snippets from the
exsting studio audio recording of 'Broken Down Angel' and a live
acoustic version played by me.
Many thanks for your time.
Merryn
