The body map is one’s self-representation in one’s own brain. If the body map is accurate, movement is likely to be good. If the body map is inaccurate or inadequate, movement may be inefficient and potentially injury-producing. This injury-prevention information for musicians focuses on the body in movement and is designed to bring awareness to tension habits. During this session, we will unpack and explore human anatomy to better understand what physiologically happens when we breathe. In doing so, we will accurately map breathing structures to promote more efficient and effective breathing for ourselves and for our music students. As a result, we will be equipped to maintain healthy and sustainable breathing practices that will enrich musical production and expressiveness.
Body Mapping for Musicians: Breathing
Bridget Sweet-Manternach
Bridget Sweet-Manternach, PhD, is professor of music education and the Marilyn Pflederer Zimmerman Endowed Chair in 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.
