Bridget Sweet-Manternach is Professor of Music Education at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Illinois.
She wrote the books Growing Musicians: Teaching Music in Middle School and Beyond (2016) and Thinking Outside the Voice Box: Adolescent Voice Change in Music Education (2019); she co-edited the book Motherhood in the Music Education Academy (2025).
Her research interests include middle level choral music education, [assigned at birth] female and male adolescent voice change, musician health and wellness, intersections of LGBTQ+ topics and the music classroom, as well as intersections of motherhood and academia. She is a Licensed Body Mapping Educator through the Association for Body Mapping Education.
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After The Session
After The Session: Thinking Outside the Voice Box: Adolescent Female Voice Change with Dr Bridget Sweet-Manternach
Voice Study Centre
Thursday 15th October 2026In our recent short course, Thinking Outside the Voice Box: Adolescent Female Voice Change, Dr Bridget Sweet-Manternach explored how voice teachers can better understand and support singers experiencing the changes of adolescence. Adolescence is a period of significant physical, psychological and emotional development. However, voice change is not always straightforward, and the experiences of singers whose voices are often overlooked in traditional discussions of puberty deserve greater attention.
Read More...Past Short Courses
Wednesday 14th October 2026
3:00 PM - 5:00 PM
(London Time)
Thinking Outside the Voice Box: Adolescent Female Voice Change
Dr Bridget Sweet-Manternach
Join Dr Bridget Sweet for this 2 hour session as she unpacks this fascinating topic. The purpose of this course is to bring attention to adolescents who experience an estrogen-dominant voice change and to encourage new and holistic ways of thinking about [assigned at birth] female voices. While considering physical changes during adolescence, we will unpack basic vocal anatomy and physiology and then discuss what happens to the vocal mechanism during voice change for females vs. [assigned at birth] males.
Monday 6th October 2025
2:00 PM - 4:00 PM
(London Time)
Thinking Outside the Voice Box: Adolescent Female Voice Change
Dr Bridget Sweet-Manternach
The purpose of this course is to bring attention to adolescents who experience an estrogen-dominant voice change and to encourage new and holistic ways of thinking about [assigned at birth] female voices.
Wednesday 15th January 2025
2:00 PM - 4:00 PM
(London Time)
Thinking Outside the Voice Box: Adolescent Female Voice Change
Dr Bridget Sweet-Manternach
The purpose of this course is to bring attention to the adolescent [assigned at birth] female changing voice and to encourage new and holistic ways of thinking about female voices.