What does a choir director do?
A choir director leads and oversees the daily activities of choirs, especially during musical performances. They are responsible for coordinating rehearsals, establishing schedules and budgets, setting objectives and rules, and selecting resources, including musical pieces. They utilize their musical and leadership skills to facilitate auditions, find potential members, delegate responsibilities or parts for the performances, and direct each member to achieve every musical performance's desired sound. Additionally, a choir director empowers members to enhance their skills and reach goals.
Choir director responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real choir director resumes:
- Coordinate and lead a vibrant music ministry of both professional/volunteer musicians and singers.
- Prepare choir repertoire consisting of traditional and contemporary gospel, and anthems.
- Increase the choral repertoire to reflect contemporary, traditional gospel, and classical traditions.
- Direct the chorus during weekly rehearsals, additional rehearsals as needed, and all schedule performances.
- Prepare certain talent singers from the church choir to perform solo songs for the congregation during the morning services.
- Develop a chorus calendar and syllabus that includes weekly participation in rehearsals and performances as approved by the department of music.
- Coordinate and lead a vibrant music ministry of both professional/volunteer musicians and singers.
- Implement daily musical lesson plans and provide piano accompaniment with all performances.
Choir director skills and personality traits
We calculated that 17% of Choir Directors are proficient in Music Program, Singers, and Easter. They’re also known for soft skills such as Leadership, Musical talent, and Promotional skills.
We break down the percentage of Choir Directors that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Music Program, 17%
Developed and implemented comprehensive, liturgical music program.
- Singers, 11%
Prepare certain talented singers from the church choir to perform solo songs for the congregation during the morning services.
- Easter, 6%
Bring a good blend of Contemporary Christian and Traditional music into the service weekly and for the Easter and Christmas seasons.
- Chorus, 6%
Skilled in teaching basic musical knowledge and concepts of chorus singing to approximately 150 children from age 11 to 16.
- Fine Arts, 6%
Work cooperatively with the Fine Arts department & other academic departments.
- Choral Music, 6%
Plan and play weekly worship music including organ preludes/postludes, service music, choral music, and special music.
"music program," "singers," and "easter" are among the most common skills that choir directors use at work. You can find even more choir director responsibilities below, including:
Leadership. One of the key soft skills for a choir director to have is leadership. You can see how this relates to what choir directors do because "music directors and composers must guide musicians and singers by preparing musical arrangements and helping them achieve the best possible sound." Additionally, a choir director resume shows how choir directors use leadership: "planned and taught vacation bible school lessons and art projects for 150+ pre-school and elementary-aged children.leadership experience"
Musical talent. Another essential skill to perform choir director duties is musical talent. Choir directors responsibilities require that "to become a music director or composer, one must have musical talent." Choir directors also use musical talent in their role according to a real resume snippet: "apply elements of music theory to create musical and tonal structures, including harmonies and melodies. "
Promotional skills. Another skill that relates to the job responsibilities of choir directors is promotional skills. This skill is critical to many everyday choir director duties, as "music directors and composers need to promote their performances through local communities, word of mouth, and social media platforms." This example from a resume shows how this skill is used: "produce music programming as well as promotional strategy to aid growth of 14%. "
The three companies that hire the most choir directors are:
- Toledo Public Schools2 choir directors jobs
- district2 choir directors jobs
- Marple Newtown SD1 choir directors jobs
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Compare different choir directors
Choir director vs. Religious education coordinator
A director of training & education spearheads and oversees the training programs of an organization. They primarily set goals, manage budgets, establish timelines, coordinate with experts in developing curricula, and liaise with internal and external parties, building positive relationships along the way. They also conduct research to identify student needs and ways to meet them, perform assessments to determine the weaknesses and strengths of existing procedures, and develop strategies to optimize training services. Moreover, as a director, it is their duty to lead and manage staff while implementing company policies and standards.
There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, choir director responsibilities require skills like "music program," "singers," "chorus," and "fine arts." Meanwhile a typical religious education coordinator has skills in areas such as "class schedules," "curriculum materials," "ministry," and "pre-k." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.
The education levels that religious education coordinators earn slightly differ from choir directors. In particular, religious education coordinators are 1.8% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than a choir director. Additionally, they're 1.3% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Choir director vs. Director of teacher education
Each career also uses different skills, according to real choir director resumes. While choir director responsibilities can utilize skills like "music program," "singers," "easter," and "chorus," directors of teacher education use skills like "child care," "preschool program," "staff development," and "parent-teacher conferences."
Directors of teacher education earn similar levels of education than choir directors in general. They're 0.5% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 1.3% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Choir director vs. Director training & education
The required skills of the two careers differ considerably. For example, choir directors are more likely to have skills like "music program," "singers," "easter," and "chorus." But a director training & education is more likely to have skills like "child abuse," "staff development," "hr," and "learning management system."
Directors training & education earn the best pay in the finance industry, where they command an average salary of $104,038. Choir directors earn the highest pay from the education industry, with an average salary of $46,708.directors training & education typically earn higher educational levels compared to choir directors. Specifically, they're 5.9% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.8% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Choir director vs. Religious educator
Even though a few skill sets overlap between choir directors and religious educators, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a choir director might have more use for skills like "music program," "singers," "easter," and "chorus." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of religious educators require skills like "catholic church," "co-taught," "role model," and "ccd. "
In general, religious educators hold similar degree levels compared to choir directors. Religious educators are 2.6% less likely to earn their Master's Degree and 0.2% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Types of choir director
Updated January 8, 2025
