<p>VT, I think your post did NOT mean this, but it CAN be read (by worried students or parents looking for a “safety plan”) to mean that you can pursue all of the jobs you mention and actively pursue MT performance also. I have had 2 voice therapy colleagues email me and ask me to clarify that this is NOT true of medical voice therapy. Voice therapy is a great fit for someone who does not want to actively pursue performance (or did and is ready to move on) but has a passion for the world of theatre and/or music and a great ear!</p>
<p>Let me start by saying that I am incredibly happy in my diverse career: currently coaching MT and working as an SLP-CCC in an NYC voice center, seeing both performers and “regular” voice patients. I have also made a living:
- performing professionally (not a passion of mine)
- directing educational theatre prograns (a stronger passion but not as good a fit for my passions as what I do now)
- teaching full-time in a high school for 7 years - and no, I did NOT teach theatre:) </p>
<p>But getting an SLP is a long and rigorous route:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>undergrad prerequisites including, Anatomy & Phys, Anatomy & Phys of Speech and Hearing, Acoustic (Physics of Sound), Statistics, Neuroscience, and Intro To Communication Sciences and Disorders</p></li>
<li><p>At least 2 years of FULL-TIME (Fall-Spring-Summer-Fall-Spring-Summer) Master’s work, including a minimum of 500 clinical contact hours in varied clinical placement settings. Also, national exams that must be passed with a certain score. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>Again, to clarify: there is ABSOLUTELY no way to do MT training or serious auditioning while in your last year of grad school, as you are doing clinical rotations during the day and class at night, for the entire year! </p>
<ol>
<li>A mandatory 9 month supervised job, called your clinical fellow year or CFY, which is required before you achieve your American Speech and Hearing Association Certificate of Clinical Competency (CCC).<br></li>
</ol>
<p>Once you do all of that, finding a job as a voice therapist is not easy, because there are many fewer voice jobs than any other field. It involves working really hard to attend workshops and conferences and meet the top researchers and clinicians in the field, so people know you and know what you have to offer as a clinician in an extremely competitive job market. It is VERY true that singers and actors make GREAT voice therapists, b/c they understand the world of their patients, but you have to put your performing CAREER on hold while you are in school. Once you are out of school, the only way to see patients and actively perform in an 8-show week is to have a private practice, but private practices thrive on referrals, so no one STARTS in a private practice; that happens after people know you as a clinician.</p>
<p>So here’s thing - SLP, music therapist, and full-time classroom teacher (as in Teach For America/get an MA or MS in Education, as VT mentions) - those are CAREERS that can only thrive given time to pursue rigorous advanced degrees. AND they require their own kind of “auditioning” - full-time mandatory supervision under a master teacher followed by building knowledge and a network in that field. In addition, all 3 REQUIRE continuing education (attendance at conferences or at least online courses).</p>
<p>So, they are not “fallbacks”. You can do MT/performance and SLP, but one has to be on hold while you pursue the other. I did NOT do SLP as a fallback, nor did any performer I know who is an SLP - we all worked in performance first, and for various life reasons decided that we wished to pursue SLP. In no cases that I know are voice therapists “failed” performers - they are truly passionate about both, and they pursue those CAREERS one at a time. </p>
<p>Am I am glad that my voice therapy job provides me with stability and excellent medical insurance? YES!!! 
But if I was primarily or even strongly driven by that, I would never have lasted and probably never been hired in the first place at a voice center. I have to have the highest level of expertise to deal with my Broadway and other professional performer patients, and that requires immersing myself in the medical side of performance. SLP is a complementary CAREER for actors, but it’s not “just a job”- at least voice therapy isn’t. </p>
<p>In case I sound like the black cloud of doom - you don’t have to have all of the life answers now! I started grad school in SLP at the age of 35. My prior experience in MT is what GOT me my first notice in a voice center, when I was just an observing grad student - I was able to talk to patients about the roles the were playing with total expertise, and it was that knowledge combined with my teaching experience that job me my first voice center job for my CFY, an offer I received a full 8 months before I graduated.</p>