Ravinia is both North America’s longest-running music festival and its most artistically diverse. Over 100 different events by a mix of classical, rock, pop, jazz, R&B, indie, and country performers make up a typical summer season on our two open-air and two indoor stages. Each year the Chicago Symphony Orchestra is featured in six weeks of concerts, many with Chief Conductor Marin Alsop. During the same summer months, the Ravinia Steans Music Institute provides young professional classical and jazz musicians with career-advancing training and concert settings.

Offstage and year-round, Ravinia’s Reach Teach Play education and community engagement programs engage 75,000 children and adults—in schools with little to no music curriculum, in our Chicagoland communities, and at our 36-acre park—in our mission to make music equitably accessible to all. Our portfolio of programs is designed to foster diverse audience involvement and provide access to the highest quality music education and live music experiences to those with the fewest resources. 

To remedy the loss of music in under-resourced schools, Ravinia offers music education programs through the Music Discovery Program, which enhances students’ musical skills by providing teaching artists for multi-week, interactive music residencies in Kindergarten through 3rd grade classrooms. Located in Chicago Public Schools on the South and West Sides of Chicago, the children in our program receive little to no music instruction outside of MDP. The Music Discovery Program (MDP) teaching artist will bring the joy of music to Kindergarten through 3rd-grade students, collaborating with classroom teachers to design, plan, and implement creative music residencies for their classrooms. The ideal candidate will reflect and understand the cultural backgrounds of our students. Teaching artists report to the Associate Director of Reach Teach Play and will teach basic music concepts through musical activities and songs, culminating in a presentation at the end of the residency showcasing what the students learned.

The ideal candidate will be an extraordinary teacher, artist, and mentor, ready to inspire young minds through the magic of music. They must embrace and actively support Reach Teach Play’s guiding principles of transformation, quality, equity, connection, and meaningful musical experiences.

This role is a part-time, hourly instructional employee position.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Introduce and teach basic music concepts through engaging activities and songs, integrating music into classroom curriculum in 15, 10, and 5-week residencies.

• Teach students to sing in tune and to play simple rhythm instruments.

• Work closely with classroom teachers to design and plan music lessons.

• Coordinate and lead a culminating presentation at the school and at Ravinia, where students showcase their new skills.

• Attend and participate in fully compensated, mandatory workshops and meetings: 3-day summer institute, two 90-minute workshops during the school year, and any additional teaching artist meetings, activities, and rehearsals.

• Conduct student assessments at the beginning and end of residencies.

• Create music charts and demos for classrooms to use in between teaching artist visits and for house band musicians to use during student performances.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Solid understanding of music concepts and ability to engagingly teach them.

• Organized and detail-oriented; effectively able to coordinate performances and manage lesson plans and assessments.

• Excellent interpersonal skills: Comfortable collaborating with classroom teachers, students, and other musicians to create a fun and educational music experience.

• Basic understanding of developmental levels of children aged 5-8 years.

• Creative thinker who is open to learning and incorporating new strategies.

• Reliable and punctual.

• Must have dependable transportation.

Education and Experience

• Professional performing musician (all genres welcome). Singing is a large part of MDP residencies.

• College degree or equivalent field experience in music education or performance.

• Ability to read music.

• Experience teaching music or performing for young children.

• Experience working in a public elementary school classroom is a plus.

Work Environment

• Working daily either at Ravinia or at any number of school and community locations
• Availability to work weekends and evenings for concerts and special events
• Interaction with young students, parents, and administrators where the safety of the students is paramount
• Collaborative work environment where decision-making, creativity, and initiative are appreciated at all levels

Ravinia is an Equal Opportunity Employer

As an equal-opportunity employer, Ravinia strongly believes that diversity of backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives is essential to our success and we strive to create and sustain an equitable and inclusive environment for all our employees. Ravinia does not discriminate based on any protected status under federal, state, or local law. We encourage individuals of all identities and abilities to apply.