Join our music team!

We are looking for passionate, energetic Musical Directors to help us bring the joy of singing to more people in more places!

Soul Song was founded in Cairns in 2010 by Jacqueline Larsen. Now based in Brisbane, Jacqueline directs all Brisbane and online choirs and runs the entire Soul Song operation with assistance from

• 3 x Musical Directors in Cairns (shared role) - Sarah Dunn, Rhiannon Williams and Claire Bossingham
• 1 x Admin and membership support and Social Media Manager based in Singapore - Nicky Marsh

Characteristics of Soul Song, our members and leaders, include:

• Fierce passion for what we do
• Strong (and often slightly but appropriately irreverent) sense of humour
• Inability to take life too seriously
• Love of performing
• 'Yes' mentality
• Commitment to drop everything and help a member out when they need it
• Genuine desire to connect with other members
• Joy of singing and commitment to continually improving the musical product

   

Characteristics that we would love to see in our new Musical Directors include:

• Fierce passion for bringing people together in song
• Strong sense of humour 
• Inability to take life too seriously
• Love of performing
• ‘Yes’ mentality
• Genuine desire to connect with choir members
• Joy of singing and commitment to continually improving the musical product
• Patience of a saint
• Boundless energy
• Ability to work in a team environment
• Sound musical ability, preferably with experience as a Choir Director
• Good vocal skills and ability to develop these in others
• Excellent people skills with ability to speak with tact and sensitivity to large groups as well as individuals and team members
• Ability to motivate and drive others
• Great organisational and time keeping ability
• Creativity
• A good feel for the delivery of choral pop music

 

  Not necessarily. While this would be great, if we think you have the right combination of people skills, performance energy and musical ability then this might be enough

 Not necessarily. While this would be great, if we think you have the right combination of people skills, performance energy and musical ability then this might be enough.

Not necessarily. We use backing tracks for all our songs (or sing a capella), so as long as you understand how to pitch the notes of the a song and teach from ear using learning tracks and video tutorials to learn the song, then that is an option

While you don't need formal time on stage, this is one of the most important areas for us. Our directors need to be able to 'hold the room' during rehearsals.  By that, we mean they need to be dynamic, entertaining, funny, able to laugh at themselves, quick thinking, creative.

At the moment, you can be anywhere in Australia but if you're overseas, this might work too so still get in touch!  If you're in a major city, we would work with you to find the best location for the new choir (based on venues, accessibility, competition with other choirs etc)

That's really up to you! We currently have three evening rehearsals and one morning rehearsal and all are well supported. We will work with you to create rehearsal times that suit your availability and your local area. There is a lot of flexibility and you could even aim your choir at specific demographics - eg hold a flexible daytime or Sunday rehearsal for parents with young children

• In terms of establishing a new choir, you would:
  • work with the Soul Song management team to find a suitable rehearsal space
  • assist with local, 'on the ground' marketing to recruit new members which might include radio or local news interviews, putting up posters in local area
  • support our paid social media advertising by commenting and sharing
  • engage actively with new members as they join, makng all efforts to learn names, ensure inclusion and join social events where possible (at least in the early stages)
• Once choir is running, on a weekly basis you would:
  • prepare for rehearsals and deliver as per weekly rehearsal plan that we will provide
  • set up PA and other required equipment for rehearsal and assist with room set up/pack down
  • teach 3-6 part harmony songs using provided resources and backing tracks
  • provide rehearsal summary report 
  • engage with members before and after rehearsal, especially those who are newly signed up
  • deliver notices as required (provided by Management Team)
  • provide intro paragraph(s) to weekly newsletters for members (TBC)
• In addition, you would
  • direct the choir at one major, professionally produced performance per year.  Soul Song Management team will produce event and provide full creative and techincal production so you can turn up and direct. Dates for these performances will be available generally at least 12 months out.
  • lead one sectional weekend each term with one 3-4 hour rehearsal per section (eg, soprano, alto and baritone), culminating in a performance or social event (organised by Management Team) 
  • direct any ad-hoc community performances that might arise throughout the year. These will be managed by the Soul Song Management team although might occasionally need some on the ground liaison. Any performance requests will be discussed with you to assess availability.

Our rehearsals all run for two hours, with rough timings of:

• 45-60 minutes prior to rehearsal - Admin team and Musical Director arrive to open up and get set up for rehearsal
• 30-15 minutes prior to rehearsal - Greet members, welcome visitors, voice testing as required
• 30-0 minutes prior to rehearsal - Members arrive
• 10 minutes at start of rehearsal - Vocal warm ups/games
• 45-50 minutes - First half of rehearsal on Song 1 (new or revision)
• 5-10 minutes - Notices and break
• 45-50 minutes - Second half of rehearsal on Song 2 (new or revision)
• 5 minutes - Revision of a song already learned
• 5 minutes - Soulster Parade - celebrating the good things that are happening in the lives of our members

From a teaching perspective, most of the time you'll be expected to teach two songs a week for around 3 weeks and then move on to another pair of songs.

As our rehearsal plans and content are synced across all choirs, all Musical Directors are expected to prioritise attendance at weekly rehearsals. Rehearsals should only be cancelled in extreme circumstances due to major illness or urgent and unforeseen personal circumstances as cancelled rehearsals will leave one choir out of sync with others. Any leave required during Soul Song term times would need to be negotiated with the Management Team.

This will be partly dependent upon experience and whether you are working solo or as part of a directing team (like our Cairns choir).  You will be engaged as a contractor and will need to have your own ABN and invoice on a monthly basis. Superannuation will also be paid

Yes, this is possible if we have interest from, or you know other interest and suitable people in your area. Sharing the role might give confidence to directors with no or less experience or for those who would like to build experience but might not be able to commit to the full teaching load.

We'd love to get some new choirs launched at the start of 2025 if we can as we have a MASSIVE year with some really exciting tour plans. If we have time, we may look at doing a  4-6 week pop up project at the end of 2024 to 'test the water' ahead of your 2025 launch.