Music Director (Chicago, IL)

Date Posted: 
May 6, 2022
Organization Name: 
Church of St. Paul and the Redeemer
Contact Email: 
romonda.mckinney@gmail.com
Salary Range: 
$60,000-70,000 per year, depending on experience, with benefits.
Job Description: 

Role Summary

St. Paul & the Redeemer (Episcopal) seeks to hire a full-time Director of Music who will direct two adult choirs and one children’s choir, play piano and organ in worship, and invite people of all ages to deepen their faith through participation in the musical life of the church.

 

Our Church

SPR is a progressive, diverse Episcopal church in the Hyde Park/Kenwood neighborhood of Chicago, committed to vibrant worship, formation, fellowship, and service, and to working together for racial justice. Music is central to our common life, and our worship draws on a wide variety of musical traditions, including European, gospel, and American folk, as well as music from around the global church. We prioritize inclusion of a diversity of voices in worship such as through our commitment to including words and music by women and underrepresented minorities.  Our primary instruments in worship are a two-manual tracker organ (Martin Pasi & Associates, 2004) and a late-model Yamaha grand piano (6'4"). SPR also owns a two-octave set of Whitechapel handbells and a large and varied percussion collection, and enjoys using all these instruments regularly. We are a community rich with musical talent, which offers exciting opportunities for collaboration and mentoring. In all we do, we seek to mirror the radical hospitality practiced by Jesus.

 

Responsibilities of the Director of Music

 

Worship Planning & Leadership

  • Collaborate with clergy and lay leaders to select music for worship.

  • Rehearse adult choirs and choristers (children in grades 3-8).

  • Provide organ and piano accompaniment to choirs in worship.

  • Encourage vibrant, participatory congregational singing.

  • Prepare weekly prelude and postlude (usually organ, but piano repertoire is also appreciated).

  • Hire and supervise staff singers.

  • Arrange for supply musicians when absent from worship.

  • Play or arrange for playing of various instruments in worship, including encouraging parishioner instrumentalists.

 

  • Produce weekly worship bulletin in Microsoft Word or Adobe InDesign.

 

Community-Building and Discipleship

  • Create a choir program inviting to new and returning singers, including direct recruitment and open rehearsal events.

  • Build strong community among choirs through rehearsals and additional fellowship activities.

  • Lead periodic field trips and annual weekend trip for choristers.

  • Lead periodic adult formation classes on musical topics.

 

Children’s Music

  • Supervise and support children’s music assistant in directorship of St. Nicholas Choir (grades PK-2).

  • Direct choristers (grades 3-8), including weekly rehearsals, RSCM Voice for Life training, and special events.

  • Lead music for Vacation Bible Camp (grades PK-5), held each summer during the first week of August.

  • Collaborate with Children’s Music Assistant to produce a Christmas pageant.

 

Qualifications

  • Exceptional ability as an organist and pianist.

  • Previous experience directing children’s and adult choirs.

  • Facility in a broad range of music traditions such as Anglican church music, Renaissance polyphony, or French organ repertoire. An ability to play and conduct  music with African-American roots (spirituals and gospel is particularly desired).

  • Familiarity with liturgical worship, preferably with the Episcopal Church or a similar context.

  • Commitment to collaboration with clergy and other music staff.

  • Ability to work joyfully and productively with singers of a wide range of ages and skill levels.

  • Commitment to SPR’s progressive Christian mission, vision, and values.

  • Proficiency with email and Microsoft Office.

  • Facility with professional music notation software, such as Sibelius or Finale.

 

Terms of Employment

  • Full-time exempt.

  • Compensation: $60,000-70,000 per year, depending on experience, with benefits.

  • Four weeks of paid vacation per calendar year, including four Sundays.

  • Two weeks of professional development per year.

  • Start date: August 2022.

 

To Apply

Submit a PDF cover letter, résumé, a link to a video performance sample, and contact information for three references, to Ms. Romonda McKinney, search committee chair, at musicsearch@sprchicago.org  with the subject line “Director of Music”. Application review will begin on Monday, May 16, 2022.

Link to organization website