New York, New York
Posted: 25-Apr-25
Location: New Lebanon, New York
Type: Full Time
Salary: 45,000 - 55,000
Categories:
Salary Details:
Required Education:
Music Director
If interested, please submit a resume and cover letter
Position Specifics
Darrow School is seeking an energetic and detail-oriented Music Director to oversee and further develop the School’s well-established and widely-recognized music program. The successful candidate must have the ability to understand the skills, strengths, and opportunities for growth of the student musicians in their charge and the drive to motivate all Darrow students to develop an interest in and an appreciation of the art of music. Essential responsibilities of this role include developing the knowledge, skills, and talents of students in music performance by utilizing a variety of instructional techniques appropriate to students’ interests and abilities.
Darrow’s Music Director must demonstrate strong creative intelligence, work within budgetary constraints, and build professional relationships with musicians in the Berkshires and Hudson Valley, creating opportunities for collaborative projects for Darrow students. Ideal applicants will have a history of collaborative, self-directed work as well as experience teaching in a music classroom.
The Music Director reports to and collaborates with the Performing Arts Department Chair and is a full-time, 10-month position with instrumental and choral direction responsibilities.
Specific responsibilities of this position include, but are not limited to:
- Demonstrate mastery of related subject matter, instructional skills, and resource materials for courses taught
- Plan and teach a variety of courses in music utilizing appropriate curricula in accordance with the school’s mission and the philosophy and values of Darrow’s student-centered curriculum
- Promote and direct the School’s music performance ensembles, The Darrow Music Collective (DMC) and the Jazz Ensemble, as well as Chorus
- Identify and coordinate opportunities for student musicians to collaborate with professional musicians on projects and performances in the local community and the region.
- Accompany the bands and chorus during musical performances
- Plan, rehearse, and direct students in music showcases each year
- Manage the Performing Arts Center, including materials, equipment, and the digital recording studio
- Maintain and support musical and audio equipment for the department and campus
- Support the work of Darrow’s Signature Program in Musicianship and Performance
- The Center for Musicianship and Performance offers students a deeper dive into the study of music and performing arts and creates opportunities for off-campus learning, where students will have real-world connections with professionals that will give them the time and resources to create next-level concerts, projects, and recordings
- Participants in the Center for Musicianship and Performance will begin with classroom study of music and performance studies, as well as in-depth instrumental and vocal lessons; Students will have expanded opportunities to experience a variety of off-campus concerts and workshops, honing their performance, writing, and production skills
- Multidisciplinary coursework, in which students can apply critical and creative thinking skills learned in music class to projects in math, history, English, or science class, is a core component of the Center for Musicianship and Performance
- Work closely with the admissions office to recruit and retain performing arts students.
Responsibilities of all Darrow faculty:
- Residential duty one night per week and one weekend approximately every four weeks
- Serve as an advisor to a small group students
- Facilitate approximately 7 student activities per year (dependent on other assignments and responsibilities)
- Create a student-centered learning environment and teach according to the educational needs of students
- Provide continuous student assessment, quarterly, semester, and year-end progress reports, and hold teacher-student-parent conferences
- Collaborate with the Learning Skills program to understand and respond to students’ learning needs by differentiating instruction
- Collaborate effectively with other teachers in your department and other departments
- Attend weekly faculty meetings and participate actively in discussions in an ongoing exchange of information and support with a close-knit staff
- Attend faculty in-service sessions, as well as opening and closing meetings
- Work closely with other faculty and staff to ensure cross-curricular approaches, continuity, and progression across grade levels
- Inform advisors, mentors, and other relevant support staff of notable changes in student performance in a timely fashion
- Meet deadlines for submission of grades and comments
- Promote progress, development of character, community, and well-being in all dealings with students, including enforcing school rules
- Pursue opportunities for professional growth on a regular basis.
- Other duties as assigned
Benefits of this position include:
- On-campus housing, including utilities (if employee is residential)
- Generous paid time off
- Medical and dental insurance
- 403(b) retirement plan (Darrow will match 2% of gross salary after one year of service)
- Health Savings Account
- Health Reimbursement Account
- Basic Life and AD&D coverage
About Darrow School
The Darrow School, an independent, co-ed, boarding and day school for grades 9-12, offers a comprehensive and individually focused college-preparatory curriculum that features a unique combination of classroom instruction, experiential learning, and environmental consciousness. The School is located on 365 acres in the Town of New Lebanon, located on the New York State side of the Berkshires, and comprises 26 buildings, 16 of which are Shaker-built and designated as Registered National Historic Landmark buildings.
Why Work at Darrow?
There is something indefinable and remarkable about Darrow School. Perhaps it’s our historic Shaker Heritage or our location nestled between the Berkshire Mountains and the Hudson Valley. Or maybe it's our community of individuals where everyone feels welcome and celebrated. Darrow is a place that draws people together, connects them, and stays with them forever.
Darrow offers a generous benefits package that includes retirement; health, life, and disability insurance plans; and generous paid time off. Some positions are year-round; others offer an academic-year schedule. Given the residential responsibilities of a boarding school, housing is provided for numerous positions either in a dormitory or residences on campus.
There's so much to enjoy about living and working at Darrow, and the community offers something for everyone. Our faculty and staff have said that some of the reasons they love working at Darrow include meaningful work, feeling of inclusion and acceptance, and friendly and familiar faces on campus. Darrow is a small community with a big heart.
Living, Breathing History
With just over 100 students from around the world, Darrow offers faculty, staff, and students a dynamic boarding school experience. Founded in 1932 on a beautiful 365-acre Mountainside campus, we are the only boarding school community on a National Historic Landmark. Our campus was once home to the Mount Lebanon Shaker Society, renowned for its commitment to social and racial justice, community planning, architecture, and entrepreneurship.
Mission and Values
Darrow serves diverse backgrounds and abilities, building on individuals' talents and interests to deepen thinking with specialized programs, providing opportunities to explore the creative spaces where ideas intersect and solutions emerge. Our Active Curriculum, rooted in the liberal arts and sciences, is individually focused and combines innovative classroom instruction with project-based learning to educate future generations of global citizens who understand the wider world and their place in it.
Our Guiding Values
Growth
We prioritize growth over perfection, recognizing that each individual has their own gifts, challenges, and goals to build from. Our students are safe to fail creatively, which is essential for true learning. They routinely revise and reflect on their work on their way toward mastery.
Diversity
We believe that the opportunity to learn and grow in a small, diverse community during your formative years is irreplaceable. We actively cultivate and celebrate a student body that is diverse along many dimensions, including racial and ethnic diversity, diversity of gender identity, and neurodiversity.
Community
Like the Mohicans and Shakers who inhabited this place before us, we believe in the power of an intentional community built around shared work and shared values. Darrow is deliberately small, which means that each community member is valued and influential.
Compassion
We seek to treat each other with compassion, recognizing that we may only know a small part of someone else’s story.
Authenticity
We aspire to be a place where young people become comfortable in their own skins and empowered to understand and share their authentic selves.
Campus Life
There's always something exciting and thought-provoking happening at Darrow. Enjoying a lively campus culture, faculty and staff have opportunities to regularly attend and participate in a diverse array of year-round events, including Hands-to-Work, Winterm, Tuesday Night Community Programming, fitness classes, concerts, performances, talks, lectures, live theater, and art exhibitions. Additionally, there are countless opportunities for collaboration on several campus-wide projects and initiatives for those seeking to serve their community.
World-renowned Arts and Culture
Darrow is at the center of world-renowned arts and culture. Our location at the edge of the Berkshires is home to music and performing arts venues in the summer, dozens of museums, and various historic sites. Cultural festivals and concerts speak to the region's diversity, while art colonies and craft villages offer inside views of skilled artisans at work. One of America's first art movements started in Hudson Valley. Today, Modern art is well represented with venues such as MassMoCa, Storm King Arts Center, and Dia: Beacon, all international destinations.
Darrow School is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment because of race, creed (religion), color, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, military status, age, disability, predisposing genetic characteristic, marital status or domestic violence victim status, and shall also follow the requirements of the Human Rights Law with regard to non-discrimination on the basis of prior criminal conviction and prior arrest.
Darrow School does not discriminate on the basis of race, creed, color, national or ethnic origin, gender, gender identity or expression, or sexual orientation in the administration of any of its admissions policies, scholarship and loan programs, educational, athletic, recreational, and other school-administered programs.
Required skills/qualifications:
- Bachelor’s degree in Music or a related discipline required; state teaching certification not required
- Teaching experience is strongly preferred
- Demonstrated ability to forge strong relationships with students and colleagues with a mindset of unconditional positive regard
- Ability to demonstrate a growth mindset, optimism, and belief that all students can learn
- Ability to innovate and think creatively about education
- Experience in a setting that required instructional practices to address a range of learning needs preferred
- An understanding of the developmental and emotional needs of students
- A commitment to an inclusive community
- A desire to be part of a close, diverse, and vibrant boarding school community and to make contributions to the School outside of one’s academic department, including athletics, extra-curricular programs, and residential programming
Physical Requirements:
The physical demands described here are representative of those that an employee must meet to perform the essential responsibilities of this position successfully.
- While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to talk or hear
- The employee is required to sit, stand, walk, use hands to find, handle, or feel and reach with hands and arms
- Must frequently lift and/or move objects up to 20 pounds safely and consistently; may need to lift and carry objects greater than 20 pounds
- Must be able to work in the heat and cold as well as environments with adverse conditions, including dirt, dust and pollen, odors, sun, wetness, humidity, rain, and noise
- The position requires extensive walking around campus and through buildings, climbing stairs, and driving
- Must be able to bend, reach, stoop, stand, and/or walk for extended periods of time