Conservatory Concert Band Director

Merit School of Music seeks a director for the Concert Band in the Alice S. Pfaelzer Tuition-Free Conservatory. The Conservatory provides advanced musical training to Chicagoland's most promising and dedicated young musicians who successfully audition for the program. For 26 Saturdays during the school year, students receive instruction in classical or jazz from Chicago's finest teaching artists, with a focus on technique, music theory, chamber music, large ensembles, and more. This high-level music education experience is valued at more than $3,500; however, Merit underwrites the cost, and students only need to pay a registration fee to attend the Conservatory.

The Concert Band is Merit's entry-level wind band in the Conservatory, consisting of most middle school and early high school students with at least two years of experience on their instruments. The Concert Band Director is expected to lead all rehearsals, teach fundamental pedagogy to students, and prepare the ensemble for two performances throughout the year. All rehearsals occur on Saturday mornings at Merit's Joy Faith Knapp Music Center, located at 38 S. Peoria St., in Chicago's West Loop neighborhood.

Must-Have Characteristics
• Bachelor's degree in music or equivalent experience and training.
• Demonstrated track record of success teaching wind band literature to students and directing a band ensemble at the middle school or high school level.
• Effective classroom management and ability to cultivate student leadership skills.
• A high level of personal musicianship.
• Punctual, professional, collegial, responsive, and communicative with a flexible and adaptive disposition.
• Ability to represent Merit professionally in all settings, including counseling families and students to pursue their musical studies at the deepest levels, and acting as an ambassador for the school.
• A commitment to dignity-centered communication and the ability to connect with Merit's students across varying lines of difference.
• Ability to reliably travel to Merit.
Preferred, But Not Required
• Experience working with staff and administration to support programming.
• Bilingual or multilingual (Spanish preferred).

Teaching and Instruction – 85%
• Deliver high-quality music instruction commensurate with Merit's curricula, teaching philosophy, mission, and values.
• Teach weekly band rehearsals to students assigned to the Concert Band in the Conservatory.
• Prepare the Concert Band for at least two performances throughout the year.

Administrative Duties – 15%
• Attend Merit faculty meetings (typically once a year) and department meetings as scheduled.
• Assist in the Conservatory audition process by helping to select audition materials, sitting on the audition panel, and ensemble placements of auditioning students.
• Other projects as assigned.

Merit School of Music is a community music school located in Chicago's West Loop. Our primary goals are to help young people transform their lives and experience personal growth through music by providing access to sustained participation. For more than 40 years, we have been home to a diverse community of talented young musicians and have acted as a springboard for achieving full musical and personal potential. Our 100 passionate and experienced teaching artists provide access to high-quality music education, engaging over 3,000 students annually at our downtown location and in area schools and community centers.

Our students, who reflect Chicago's socioeconomic and ethnic diversity, have the rare opportunity to learn together, dream together, teach each other, and broaden their horizons as they build inspiring lives through music. Merit develops musicians and provides young people with the tools they need to excel in life, with nearly 100 percent of our graduates attending a conservatory or college.

Merit School of Music is committed to building a world where historically underrepresented groups can access quality music education. Simultaneously, Merit is continually working towards becoming an organization that reflects the city's demographics and the students we serve. Merit is dedicated to being an inclusive, diverse, equitable, and anti-racist organization and continually examining our efforts in this area.