Graduate Assistantship positions are awarded to qualified Master of Music students in order to provide both professional work experience and an additional way to earn money to put towards the cost of attendance. Duties commence the week prior to the start of classes and therefore all Assistants must be on campus in mid-August each year.
These awards include a scholarship and work stipend, the total of which is equivalent to approximately 78% of tuition. Notification of an offer of a position will be made at the time admission decisions are released. There are positions that will open up during a student's second year of attendance.
To apply, applicants must submit:
Selected applicants will be contacted for an interview/evaluation with the faculty to be held on their audition date and/or a phone interview after the audition. Students submitting a recorded audition may not be eligible for some assistantships as a live interview is necessary for some positions. Assistantships are awarded for 1 year; graduate assistants will be evaluated at the end of the first year and may be invited to return with the approval of the faculty.
Musicianship (written and aural theory) assistants are assigned to full-time members of the musicianship faculty and are expected to work an average of 8-10 hours per week. Duties include attending class, grading assignments, assisting faculty with planning and organizational activities, and assisting students during regular office hours. Duties may also include classroom teaching and proctoring exams. Musicianship assistants are expected to be present to assist with orientation week activities (assessment and classes) that occur one week prior to the beginning of classes in the fall semester. The awards are based on an in-person audition that includes: sight-singing, sight-reading at the piano, harmonic and formal analysis, and voice-leading error detection.
The Music History GA works 10-12 hours a week throughout the academic year as a teaching assistant. For graduate courses, much of the load is administrative, keeping track of assignment portals on the Blackboard. In addition to administrative work on the undergraduate classes, you also lead a weekly session for the music history survey for 2nd and 3rd-year students. In these sessions, you review the week's lectures, providing pedagogical insight with additional materials of your choice. You also work with individual students throughout the Fall and Spring terms on essays and other activities connected to the courses. You meet weekly with music history faculty to discuss course developments and share insight on delivering the courses under different circumstances and for different individuals. If you want to develop your pedagogical skills in the classroom (and through individual mentoring), this position provides ample opportunities to gain valuable experience in both areas. Graduate teaching assistants must also be available during the kick-off week before the start of Fall semester classes for training and to assist with diagnostic testing and other orientation activities. The ideal candidate is dependable and responsible, has a strong command of music history content, strong writing and analytical skills, is an aspiring pedagogue, and is an effective oral communicator.
The graduate assistants for the large ensembles report directly to the ensemble operations manager. An average of 12 hours of work per week is required, including the following responsibilities: part preparation; music inventory and library maintenance; management of rehearsal and concert set-up and tear down; preparation of assignment postings; maintenance of recording archive database. Other related duties may be assigned. Familiarity with rehearsal protocols for large instrumental ensembles is essential; experience as a librarian is desirable.
The Composition Assistant will work an average of 8-10 hours per week. Duties include recording all Composition Program performances and producing and distributing CDs for all participants; maintaining the electro-acoustic studios and assisting student users; programming, stage managing and supervising all Composition Program recitals and workshops; and assisting the Composition faculty with special and ongoing projects. The successful candidate must be familiar with Microsoft Word.
The Opera Assistant will work an average of 8-10 hours per week and reports directly to the Assistant Professor of Voice and Opera. Duties include directly assisting voice and opera professors in all opera program activities and serving as a liaison with the Performance Activities Office on each production. The successful candidate will be proficient in Microsoft Office and able to function effectively as a point of contact between student singers and faculty. An interview with Voice program faculty is required.
The Choir Assistantship is only available to current CCPA Master of Music students. The Choir Assistant reports directly to the Head of Choral Activities. An average of 8-10 hours of work per week is required, including the following responsibilities: music inventory and library maintenance; management of attendance at rehearsals and other required services; serving as a liaison with the Performance Activities Office on attendance, assignment, and production matters for all choral program events; stage management of choral performances; assisting the faculty on special and ongoing projects and functioning as an effective point of contact between student singers and faculty. An interview with the Head of Choral Activities is required
The collaborative piano assistant is assigned by the Head of the Piano Program to members of the applied faculty and will work an average of 8-10 hours per week. Duties include rehearsals, attending weekly lessons and performances both on and off campus. Duties may also include the accompanying of Choral Ensembles. Assignments will be made based upon the needs of the Music Conservatory, but will consist of both instrumental and vocal collaborative work, mostly at the graduate level. Extensive accompanying experience is required for this position. The award is based upon a review of the assistantship application and a live audition that includes sight-reading as well as prepared collaboration, to be coordinated with the formal audition for admission to the Conservatory.
CAIL is an interdisciplinary creative incubator of the Chicago College of Performing Arts. CAIL is committed to cultivating process oriented collaborative spaces for students, faculty, staff, and community partners making innovative, progressive, and profound changes in the arts across the university and within the broader Chicago community.
This Graduate Assistantship (GA) supports the activities and research of the Center for Arts Innovation and Leadership in the Interdisciplinary, Music, and Theatre conservatories. The student works alongside the Directors of the Center for Arts Innovation and Leadership, serving as a leader and ambassador to students, faculty, and staff. Responsibilities of the GA focus primarily on interdisciplinary research: (1) idea incubation, (2) gathering, coding, and analyzing data; (3) writing and editing, (4) grant development; and (5) fostering student connections to the Center. Moreover, the individual maintains and cultivates a vibrant on-campus and social media presence for the Center through regular creation and dissemination of promotional material to faculty and the student body in the form of posters, social media, CCPA and university-wide email blurbs, and information tables.
If you are interested in thinking broadly about the ways in which art intersects with society, and how those interactions affect artist pedagogy, this GA provides ample opportunities to research, develop, and act upon these ideas while also providing individual mentorship and personal professional development.