About Transcend

Our Mission Statement:

TCCMF is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to building and promoting the transgender and gender-expansive community through singing.

We are building that community through a multi-pronged approach, addressing trans visibility, trans advocacy, trans community outreach, academic research and other forms of support.

Visibility & Equity

We are dedicated to increasing trans visibility and equity in the performing arts and the broader community. This is accomplished through artistic collaborations (both with trans and cis artists), public performances by the TRANScend Ambassadors (a semi-professional performance ensemble), participating in public-facing conversations about issues in the performing arts, as well as promoting and performing at Trans Day of Remembrance/Resilience and Pride events.

Academic Research & Advocacy

We support trans academic work and publish original research in support of trans inclusion in music ed, advocacy for trans-identified educators and resources for music educators for teaching trans musicians.

Community outreach and support

We are committed to created a community of trans and gender-expansive singers — through the TRANScend Community Chorale, attending and performing for community events, and creating partnerships with other, local queer and trans-oriented community organizations.

Our Vision | Equity in Expression:

Singing together -- whether informally with friends at karaoke or in a structured environment, like a choir -- is one of the core elements of the human experience. Research finds that singers of all levels benefit in myriad ways from choral singing: physically (blood pressure! heart rate!), emotionally (lower anxiety! stronger sense of personal identity!) and socially (group identity! sense of belonging! sense of personal and group achievement!).

It's hard to find any downsides to being in a choir…unless, of course, there's no choral home where a singer feels welcome because they don't really 'fit' into the traditional vocal paradigms on which western choral music is built. This is clearly an obstacle for trans singers pursuing medical transition, whose voices are changeable and uncertain, but it's also an issue for any singer whose voices doesn’t clearly adhere to gendered norms. That's why TCCMF exists: We believe that there's a place in the choir for everyone, regardless of voice type, gender identity or background.

Everyone deserves to have a voice. Everyone deserves to have their voice heard. Everyone deserves a welcoming place where they can express themselves and communicate with others musically. Singing together is a human right, and our purpose lies in extending that right to everyone in the trans and gender-expansive community.

History

TRANScend began as a choral project during director Felix Graham’s doctoral studies. Concerned at the lack in representation of gender-diverse singers in choral music and the broader field of music education, he became involved in scholarship and experimentation with gender-nonconforming voices in choral spaces. One such project was a semester-long treble ensemble project, wherein he recruited, rehearsed and conductor a concert with a treble ensemble where male and female-identified singers performed in a less hierarchical choral format. Realizing that taking the gendered structure out of choir made for more inclusive choral experiences, Dr. Graham started advocating for alternate choral structures. 

When COVID-19 disrupted his work with the treble ensemble (which had continued past his graduation), Dr. Graham realized that the time was right to create a more professional space for trans/gender-expansive singers, and in this, TRANScend was formed. The first concert (in 2021) featured eight tentative singers and a surprisingly robust audience. The most recent concert (2023) has expanded to two separate ensembles (a community chorale, and a semi-professional chamber ensemble) with an audience that has tripled. 

In the period of two years, we’ve commissioned multiple new works, created a large-scale choral work for Trans Day of Remembrance, sung at a night club, a festival, and multiple other non-traditional spaces — not to mention singing the national anthem for a Major League Soccer game. We’re the first trans ensemble to sing the liturgy in an Episcopalian mass, and we’ve been putting trans voices and trans perspectives in musical spaces all over New York City and its surrounds.