Music and Theater Instructor

Lights, Camera, Action!

Performing Arts Instructor Description

In our Music & Theater Program, we facilitate the creativity of both campers and staff by playing instruments, writing and performing skits, and practicing improv. Instruments can include the guitar, mandolin, fiddle, piano, dulcimer, drums, and even just our voices. As a camp counselor you’ll help campers find their voices, their musical talents, and bring their characters to life!

What’s a Typical Day Like For This Position?

Male camp counselors live in a cabin with one other counselor and eight campers. In addition to their activity instruction, male counselors will have an assortment of responsibilities related to the management of their cabin. Female camp counselors also serve as activity staff, but don’t live in cabins with the campers, and are responsible instead for organizational tasks during the times that male staff are busy with their cabins.

At Falling Creek, campers are free to choose the 6 activities they want on their daily schedule. Even though you might have 8 boys in your cabin who are the same age, you’ll be instructing a variety of ages and skill levels throughout the day in your 50 minute long activity periods.

On a typical day, you might teach a camper chords on the guitar, jam out with drums and piano, come up with a funny skit to do together at Campfire, create characters and practice improvising scenes, or work on memorizing lines for a talent show play. You and your fellow theater and music instructors will have lesson plans (that you can help build!) that will be tailored for the different levels and abilities in our camper progression system.

Why Should You Be a Theater and Music Instructor

Imagine the feeling of bringing a group of campers together in an entertaining musical performance, hearing the audience laughing at the original script you helped write, or helping a young camper overcome his stage fright. Music is known to improve both cognitive and muscle memory, and knowing how to play an instrument is a great skill in social settings. Theater has a youthful energy and gives a sense of empowerment to its participants, who gain self-confidence and communication skills when performing in front of a crowd. Youth theater has been shown to be vital to the personal, social, and aesthetic development of young people. Theater art is a universal expression of human kind and helps young people to find their place and voice in society.

As a theater and music instructor, you’ll be a role model for the boys both on and off stage, and will gain valuable experience in both teaching and performing. Theater and music instructors play an important role for children learning creative expression, teamwork, quick-thinking, confidence, and inventiveness. If you’re majoring in music, theater, art, or education, being a summer camp music and theater instructor will give you helpful skills for your future career path. Even if your college major is unrelated to theater or music, you’ll still be gaining leadership skills and networking connections that will give you a competitive edge in the job market, no matter where you’re headed next.

We don’t start you at the bottom and give you busywork; you are directly involved in running camp and helping campers succeed. If you are a male counselor, you’ll be responsible for the eight campers in your cabin, as well as the campers you instruct in your activity(s). Instructing a group of campers will challenge you, but you’ll learn how to be a more engaging and encouraging teacher, better logistics manager, and help boys learn new skills that can easily lead to new passions. At the end of the summer your teaching and leadership skills will become more defined and polished.