"Choral Assistant/ Intern"

Job Details

This a full-time, exempt, one- or two-year intern, Academic year (10 months) schedule, including one week prior to the beginning of school. Salaried position with housing and benefits. The teaching intern salary for the 2025-2026 Academic year was $40,000, which is subject to review for the coming 2026-2027 Academic Year.

Position Summary

The music department seeks an energized, collaborative, and motivated choral musician to join the department as a choral assistant and teaching intern for the 2026-27 school year with a possible extension for an additional academic year. The choral intern assists the director of choirs in the successful operation of the choral and vocal chamber music programs by leading sectional rehearsals, co-teaching small ensembles, and eventually directing the non-auditioned Exeter Choral Union. The choral intern may also assist in aspects of the mainstage musical theater production as well as in an advanced, hybrid ensemble of students and adults. Additional possibilities exist to gain experience working more broadly in the department (with campus orchestras, jazz/contemporary ensembles, music theory or music appreciation courses, and/or in the music technology program).

The choral intern will participate in a multi-day campus residency with a Grammy-nominated choral ensemble and would tour in association with the Concert Choir if extended into 2027-28. Past interns have also been assigned club-advising duties with the five campus a cappella groups. The ideal candidate will bring outstanding musicianship, broad areas of repertoire interest, and a desire to work with highly motivated high school students in a diverse, mostly residential community.

Position Requirements

• Applicants must have a degree in music with demonstrated success leading choral ensembles on a foundation of healthy vocal production. Keyboard skills sufficient for supporting their own rehearsals are desirable.
• Enthusiasm for working with adolescents both inside and outside of the classroom is essential. Spending time with students giving extra help, advising, working as dormitory faculty, and leading extracurricular activities is an integral part of the job.
• A commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion and to serving the needs of a diverse community.
• Willingness to enforce all school policies and rules governing student behaviors.

Accountabilities

While individual responsibilities will vary, the major job duties of all interns include the following:

• Teaching: Interns participate as rehearsal assistant and/or chorister in ensembles and gradually assume principal leadership duties for one of the choirs and one or more vocal chamber ensembles. Mentorship is offered in developing rehearsal techniques, conducting skills, and classroom teaching.
• Cultural Competency: Interns are expected to demonstrate respect for diversity of identities and experiences, an orientation toward equity and inclusion, and cultural competency in all aspects of Academy life.
• Residential Life: Interns live in campus housing and play a critical role in cultivating Exeter’s community-centered student dormitory life. Interns are generally responsible for a minimum of one night of dormitory duty per week, and one weekend per month.
• Extracurricular Activities: Interns are expected to participate in the school’s extracurricular activities (e.g. athletics, student clubs, community service, and the arts).

Additional Requirements

• Criminal and driving background check.

Required Documents

To be considered, applications must include a resume and cover letter.

Company

Phillips Exeter Academy, co-founded by John and Elizabeth Phillips in 1781 who believed every student should have access to the very best education, embraces the ideals of both goodness and knowledge.

Phillips Exeter Academy is located in Exeter, a southern New Hampshire town settled by European colonists nearly 400 years ago.

The Academy campus, set in the town's village, is divided by the three principal streets of the community, creating a walkable atmosphere. Dormitories and dining halls are easily accessible from classrooms and other facilities like the student center, library, art gallery, theater, and athletic buildings and fields. Downtown stores and restaurants, as well as a riverside pathway, are just off campus.

Now a coeducational residential school with more than 1,000 high school students from the U.S. and 33 foreign countries, Exeter has a centuries-old tradition of academic excellence and a commitment to empowering Exonians to find their place in the world.

We are a community that celebrates curiosity and cultivates potential. With a student-to-teacher ratio of 5:1, more than 450 courses in 18 subject areas, and the opportunity to study on five continents, Exeter provides unparalleled opportunities for discovery and exploration, of both self and subject matter.

Company info

Website: http://www.exeter.edu/