Thinking Outside The Voice Box: Adolescent Voice Change In Music Education
Thursday 5th May 2022, 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM (London Time)
The goal of this workshop is to encourage new and holistic ways of thinking about the [assigned at birth] female and [assigned at birth] male adolescent changing voice.
We will step away from typical considerations of voice change and explore the experience within the bigger picture of adolescence.
Conversation will include topics of physical development during adolescence, including the body, brain, and auditory system; vocal anatomy and physiology in general, as well as during male and female voice change; the impact of hormones on the adolescent voice, especially for female singers; ideas of resolve and perseverance that are essential to adolescent navigation of voice change; and the influence of a voice change simulacrum that influences societal thinking about the voice change phenomenon.
A brief examination of voice classification systems and other foundational ideas in choral music education, as well as emerging considerations of adolescent voice change beyond classification systems, provide new food for thought about working with the adolescent changing voice.
Dr Bridget Sweet
Bridget Sweet 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).
Sorry, this is an archived short course...
We have plenty of upcoming short courses coming soon. See details of some of them below or look at the full list of short courses.
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Thursday 22nd January 2026
5:00 PM - 7:00 PM
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5:00 PM - 7:00 PM
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5:00 PM - 7:00 PM
Thursday 12th February 2026
5:00 PM - 7:00 PM
(London Time)
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Friday 23rd January 2026
12:00 PM - 2:00 PM
(London Time)
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Claire Martin OBE
Jazz pedagogy, when viewed through the lens of the vocalist, offers a unique and vital perspective on the development of both technical skills and musical expression. In this context, the vocalist’s ability to "speak" through their voice, mimicking the improvisational language of the jazz ensemble, is crucial. This short course will focus on the voice in speech quality phrasing in a very conversational way.