Open Postions

Position Opening: Music Director

 

About St. Simon’s

St. Simon’s is an Episcopal Church located in Arlington Heights, one of the northwest suburbs of Chicago. St. Simon’s is a spiritually and emotionally mature congregation that is willing to be creative and experiment with ways to be faithful to God. We exist so that everyone can experience the abundant life Jesus came to bring.  More specifically, we are here so that everyone can experience connection with God through delight and joy, have their basic needs met, and be connected to community. Our worship is grounded in the Episcopal tradition with creative and open modifications. Our theology is rooted in the progressive and liberating teachings of Jesus. St. Simon’s is exploring what it means to be “church” in this historic time, recognizing that the church of today will be something very different in the coming decades. We seek to have open eyes and hearts to those changes and to live as a faithful, discerning part of the Body of Christ.

 

About music at St. Simon’s

The music ministry of St. Simon’s is a core part of our weekly liturgy. Our congregation loves to sing hymns, considers music an essential part of our worship, and enjoys the robust music ministry.

 

We are home to an Austin organ (opus 2654), dedicated on May 26, 1981 and in excellent repair. We value musicians who can showcase its beautiful sound and myriad of features and understand it as good stewardship to use the organ fully and regularly. St. Simon’s appreciates music of many types ranging from the classical to contemporary.

 

Congregational singing is integral to our weekly liturgy. The congregation has found its voice and embraces singing, even a capella from time to time. Our hymns are selected not only from The Hymnal 1982, but also a wide range of other Christian hymn sources and we value that rich variety. Most of the service music is sung or chanted, as are the psalms. An adult choir sings roughly twice a month at our morning liturgy, as well as at special liturgical services. The choir rehearses once a week and is composed of approximately fifteen volunteers. General membership is non-audition based and continually open.

 

We also welcome the musical gifts of professional-level instrumentalists in the congregation. Viola, violin, and flute often augment choir anthems, hymn arrangements, and prelude music.

St. Simon’s also has a three-octave handbell set. We hope to re-integrate using it more fully.

 

About the open positions

Below are descriptions of the responsibilities we seek to fill. These may be performed by one person for roughly 20 hours per week or by two people at roughly 10 hours per week each. The search committee will review all applications and determine the best approach for our future. All positions, whether one part-time or two quarter-time, will report to the Rector.

 

Director of Music

• Provide/lead music for regular church services – Prepare and present keyboard music for weekly services, including preludes/postludes, hymns, service music, and chants. Prepare musical participants for each service, including soloists, ensembles, cantors, etc. Recruit and hire special musicians for Christmas and Easter services. Secure substitute in your absence.

• Provide/lead music for all special services (funerals, weddings, etc.) for additional compensation – or secure a qualified substitute to do so.

• Plan musical selections for regular church services in a timely manner – plan musical selections, both congregational and otherwise, for all regular church services; drawing on diverse sources to create a rich congregational repertoire.

• Organize and direct church choral and ensemble programs – plan yearly choir seasons, recruit singers to participate in church choir, direct weekly rehearsals and weekly choral service participation. Organize or supervise instrumental ensembles when utilized. Assess the interest and practical issues around developing a children’s choir.

• Maintain and develop church music library – maintain organization of the church musical library, keep an updated index of the library’s contents, continue to add meaningful and significant music to the library each year.

• Participate in regular staff and worship planning meetings – attend weekly staff meetings and check-ins with rector, contribute to regular worship and operations meetings where required.

• Maintain a network of supply musicians and soloists – build relationships with professional musicians from the community, maintain a list of musicians for use at St. Simon’s

• Act as staff leader for the Tech Production Team – supervise volunteer group, giving feedback and direction, coordinating for specific issues, scheduling (utilizing Ministry Scheduler Pro).

• Explore potential “outward-facing” opportunities to build relationships with the community around St. Simon’s and, in consultation with the Rector and Vestry, implement them – capitalize on our resources (sanctuary space, organ, handbells, possible community interest in children’s choir) explore and experiment in creative ways to use them, to be a blessing to our neighbors.

 

Requirements for the Job:

• Organ proficiency

• Piano ability

• Choral conducting proficiency

• Knowledge of sacred music repertoire

 

Key Competencies Needed:

• Able to work collaboratively with both staff and volunteers

• Able to work through conflict and confrontation if they arise

• Strong people skills

• Strong administrative skills

 

Compensation

St. Simon’s is committed to paying its staff at a competitive rate, commensurate with experience. The salary will depend on what role(s) the musician fills within our music ministry. The total compensation for the combined roles (roughly half-time) is approximately $35,000–40,000 per year, plus an employer contribution match to a 403(b) retirement account. If multiple musicians fill these roles, the salary will be divided accordingly. In addition, we offer three weeks of paid vacation and one week of paid time off for a personal retreat for the half-time position.  If roles are divided those benefits will be prorated accordingly.

 

Contact

Questions may be directed to the chair of the music search committee, Cleo Nykol (tshirtsbycleo638@gmail.com).

 

Application procedure

Interested candidates should email a cover letter and resume to the church office at office@saintsimons.org. Candidates should be clear in their letter which of the above roles they are interested in and qualified for. Links to representative recordings of rehearsals/performances are encouraged. Review and consideration of applications will begin in mid-April and continue until