{"id":219771,"date":"2022-12-13T15:16:58","date_gmt":"2022-12-13T20:16:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/newscenter\/?p=219771"},"modified":"2022-12-14T09:27:34","modified_gmt":"2022-12-14T14:27:34","slug":"singing-montclairs-praises","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/newscenter\/2022\/12\/13\/singing-montclairs-praises\/","title":{"rendered":"Singing Montclair\u2019s Praises"},"content":{"rendered":"

Broadway performer and voice teacher Cathryn Traphagen noticed that her daughter Eloise wasn\u2019t talking and producing enough words for a 2-year-old. Traphagen had her tested and soon Eloise was working with a private speech therapist and with Montclair State University\u2019s Speech-Language Pathology (SLP) students.<\/p>\n

It was during Eloise\u2019s first appointment at Montclair\u2019s Center for Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology that Traphagen inquired about the SLP master\u2019s program.<\/p>\n

\u201cI found that the work that they were doing in the therapy room was similar to the understanding of the voice and voice production and how I taught my students to sing,\u201d she says. \u201cAnd, I found that this career would be a great fit.\u201d\n

When her daughters Eloise and Allegra were younger, she was able to spend time with them during the day and still perform on Broadway at night. As they grew older, however, it became more difficult to maintain her schedule as both a performer and voice teacher. Traphagen says she always knew she\u2019d pursue a master\u2019s degree but thought it would be in voice or theater performance. Speech-language pathology had also been a prior consideration but she wasn\u2019t ready to give up a successful Broadway career \u2013 she\u2019s performed in Les Mis\u00e9rables<\/em>, Mamma Mia!<\/em> and The Little Mermaid<\/em> \u2013 in exchange for full-time studies. This time, however, she was ready.<\/p><\/div>

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Cathryn Traphagen has performed in numerous Broadway shows, including Les Mis\u00e9rables<\/em>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/p><\/div>
\nAfter one final performance, this time on an episode of Law & Order<\/em>, she decided it was time to focus on family and her degree. The pandemic resulted in her first year at Montclair being virtual. She and her daughters did virtual learning and Eloise continued her speech therapy via Zoom. \u201cIt was very hectic but it worked out for us,\u201d Traphagen says.<\/p>\n

Like other students without an undergraduate degree in speech, Traphagen entered a three-year clinical master\u2019s program. Speech and audiology master\u2019s students take classes for a full calendar year, including summers. \u201cSo it’s a very demanding master’s degree program,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Rosemary DeStephan, senior clinical supervisor for Communication Sciences and Disorders, says Traphagen has risen to the occasion. \u201cCathryn is an extremely hard-working, dedicated and knowledgeable student and student clinician,\u201d she says. \u201cShe is creative and organized during therapy sessions and is engaging with both clients and caregivers.\u201d DeStephan adds that Traphagen is \u201cfully committed and does an excellent job at balancing school and family.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Montclair\u2019s Communication Sciences and Disorders Clinical Supervisor Rosemary DeStephan, foreground, says Cathryn Traphagen\u2019s singing career is an asset to her academic career.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

During her clinical work at Montclair, Traphagen has worked with a professional R&B singer (she can\u2019t disclose the singer\u2019s identity due to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act or HIPAA, which protects patients\u2019 privacy). She believes her years as a professional performer helped her help a fellow artist. The singer had a condition known as muscle tension dysphonia, which was affecting her singing and career.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe worked on relaxation methods and ways to increase air flow and releasing her voice, and because I came with that background of being a singer, I was able to understand what that meant \u2013 as opposed to somebody who wasn’t a singer, who didn’t understand what it felt like when the voice was tight, or when you weren’t able to sing those higher notes,\u201d she says. \u201cSo, it did help to have that experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

DeStephan agrees that Traphagen\u2019s background has undoubtedly been an asset to her academic career. \u201cThe experience of both a professional singer and a parent of a child with a speech delay allows her to have an excellent perspective from the client and parent’s point of view.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Cathryn Traphagen\u2019s background as a former Broadway singer and voice teacher has proved helpful in her Speech-Language Pathology master\u2019s program at Montclair.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Earlier this semester during the John J. Cali School of Music\u2019s Musicians Health Day, when DeStephan gave her annual presentation on promoting healthy vocal habits, she invited Traphagen to present alongside her, the first time she\u2019s extended such an invitation. \u201cI felt that Cathryn would be able to share her experiences as a professional voice user and stress the importance of vocal health,\u201d DeStephan says.<\/p>\n

Traphagen has also worked with clients who have had strokes, neurological or traumatic brain injuries resulting in voice, language, cognitive and even swallowing issues. \u201cWhen people think about speech-language pathology, you think of somebody who helps kids with articulation or who helps singers repair their voice,\u201d she says. \u201cI thought the same thing when I first found out about the career; I didn’t know about the extent of work that speech-language pathologists do. We work with patients who have had strokes, who have had severe nerve damage, who have aphasia.\u201d Traphagen and a fellow student were featured in Montclair Local<\/em><\/a> when they facilitated the clinic\u2019s Aphasia Book Club<\/a>.<\/p>\n

She also volunteers once a week at the Maywood Campus of the Adler Aphasia Center, a nonprofit center that provides services to seniors at no cost. There she works with a group of elderly clients. \u201cWe play games. It\u2019s fun and it’s nice to be around that population and it helps you become more comfortable with and understanding of those with aphasia,\u201d she says, \u201cand that center does wonderful things.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the spring, she will do a clinical externship at Helen Hayes Hospital, where she will work in rehabilitative inpatient care. The summer semester will be an externship at a school, where she\u2019ll work with students. Then graduation.
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Cathryn Traphagen\u2019s professional headshot from her days as a Broadway singer.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>
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Traphagen is keeping her options open for her speech-language pathology future. She says she enjoys working with both pediatric and elderly clients and will decide after her externships. \u201cI don’t know if I’m going to be specializing in voice. Ideally, that would sound great. But it just really depends on which area I think that I would excel more in and which would fit my lifestyle better,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Traphagen has received a grant from the Entertainment Community Fund (formerly the Actors Fund) and a scholarship from Montclair to help pay for tuition. She sings the praises of her professors, whom she describes as caring and supportive. \u201cThey are so knowledgeable and you really feel like you’ve become part of this family community as a part of this program. I’ve developed relationships that I hope I will keep throughout my life.\u201d
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\nMeanwhile, Eloise is a thriving kindergartner, having graduated from the Montclair program and her speech and language were deemed age-appropriate. \u201cSo far, she’s doing great,\u201d says Traphagen.<\/p>\n

Story by Staff Writer Sylvia A. Martinez<\/a>. Photos by John LaRosa<\/strong>. Other photos courtesy of Cathryn Traphagen. Headshot by Dirty Sugar Studios.<\/p>\n