Volunteer Strategically to Get the Experience You Need

Vacancy: Band Director — Full-Time. Seeking recent college graduates. Candidates must have a minimum of 20 years teaching experience. Proficiency in software not yet released a bonus. Ability to manage multiple 90-student ensembles while simultaneously running a booster meeting, completing building request forms, and rehearsing for the Fall showcase. Competitive marching band experience required. Show choir background preferred. Knowledge of jazz, orchestra and color guard a plus. Commitment to faculty square dance unit non-negotiable.

I exaggerated a little with this pretend posting. Sometimes the job description isn’t really the problem. The proof is.

Job postings in music education have always asked for more than any early career teacher could reasonably have. That part isn’t new. What’s changed is how hiring works.

Administrators and search committees are not just reading resumes anymore. They’re looking for proof. Proof that you’ve been in the room. Proof that someone trusted you with their program. Proof that you can say, without hesitation, “I’ve done this.”

A degree says you learned it. A reference from a director whose program you staffed for a season says you did it. Those are not the same thing.

What Search Committees Are Actually Looking For

Nobody is saying your degree doesn’t matter. A degree gets you through the door. But consider what happens in a competitive hire. Three candidates with similar GPAs, similar student teaching experience and similar enthusiasm during the interview.

Then one of them says: “I spent last season on the staff of a competitive marching program in the area. Here’s what I learned and here’s what I contributed.”

That candidate gets discussed afterward.

Search committees aren’t just reading what you say you can do. They are calling people who watched you do it.

You Know What’s Missing

Most teachers who are getting passed over already know why. They felt it when the committee asked about marching band or show choir or working with a high school program or conducting a jazz ensemble.

They answered honestly. They said some version of “I haven’t had the opportunity yet, but I’m a fast learner.” That answer is not wrong. It’s just not enough.

The missing piece doesn’t have to stay missing. But fixing it requires naming it first — to yourself, before anyone else does.

Ask the question plainly: What is the one thing a search committee is most likely to bring up that I cannot yet answer with a specific example?

If you hope a committee doesn’t ask a certain question, or if you feel the need to overexplain a specific gap — that’s a good place to start.

Volunteering Is How You Get There

Working without pay feels like the wrong direction in a profession that is already underpaid and undervalued. But what I’m describing is not working for free indefinitely. It’s a targeted, time-limited investment in a specific area where you have no documented proof of work yet.

For the record — most directors remember being where you are. Reaching out and saying “I’m trying to build experience in this area, and I’d like to contribute and learn” is not an embarrassing ask. It is a professional one. The worst answer you get is no.

Ken Coleman calls this the “Proximity Principle” — be near the work you want and the people who are already doing it. You cannot build proof of experience from a distance. His book on the subject is worth reading if you’re trying to move into a role that feels just out of reach.

Think of volunteering as a field-specific internship. There are more opportunities than people realize:

• No competitive marching experience? Find a program in your area and ask to observe and eventually assist.
• Want to move from junior high to high school? Connect with a high school director and offer to help with sectionals.
• Interested in show choir but have never run one? Volunteer to assist with choreography logistics or day-of-event coordination.
• Want to arrange for jazz or marching band? Offer to write a piece in exchange for honest feedback. If budget allows, mention you’d welcome compensation, but make clear the experience is the priority.

Each of these builds something you can point to. A reference. A resume line. A specific story you can tell in an interview without hesitating.

The Process, Step by Step

1. Name what you can’t yet prove. Write it down. One sentence. “I have no competitive marching band experience and every high school position I want requires it.” Recognize it before a search committee does it for you.

When I was finishing my degree, I transferred schools. By graduation, I had one semester of college marching band. I knew it wasn’t enough. So, I stopped waiting for someone to hand me the experience and went looking for it.

2. Find the right program and reach out. Look for programs close by that are doing the work you need experience in. Competitive marching bands, show choir programs, strong jazz programs. You are not looking for a favor. You are looking for a place to contribute.

Then reach out directly. A simple email works. Something like: “My name is Don. I’m a music educator building experience in competitive marching band and I genuinely admire what your program does. I’d welcome the chance to observe and eventually assist if there’s ever a need. I’m happy to start wherever is most useful.”

That’s it. Make it about them. Keep it short.

I contacted two competitive programs near me. I told them exactly where I was and exactly what I was trying to learn. Both said yes.

3. Show up and commit fully. This is not a casual arrangement. Arrive on time (early). Do what you say you will do. Be useful without being in the way.

If a paid position somewhere else opens while you are mid-season in a volunteer role — finish the season. In this profession, committing to your word matters.

4. Learn and build the reference. Take notes. Ask for feedback when appropriate. Show that you are there to grow. At the end of the season, thank the director specifically. Tell them what you learned. Ask if they would be willing to serve as a reference. Most will say yes. Some will volunteer before you ask.

After one season with both programs, I was offered a small paid stipend to return the following year. Not because I was exceptional. Because I showed up consistently and made it easy for them to trust me.

Now when a search committee asks about marching band, I don’t say “I haven’t had the opportunity yet.” Now I say: “I staffed for two competitive programs over two seasons. Here’s what I did and here’s who you can call.”

5. Have the compensation conversation when the time is right. One season is an investment. Two or three seasons with no movement toward pay or a position is a different situation, and you are allowed to move on.

After a full season, it is reasonable to say: “I’ve really valued this experience. If there’s ever budget for a paid staff position, I’d love to be considered. Either way, I’d love to come back.”

No ultimatum. No pressure. Just a specific ask. Most directors respect that. And if the answer is no budget, you have still gained the experience, the reference and the network.

Return the favor later. At some point you will be the one with the program. When an early career teacher reaches out and asks to observe, say yes when you can.

You Get More Than a Resume Line

A line on your resume isn’t the only thing you walk away with.

You get better at the actual work. A season with another program teaches you things no methods course covers. How a rehearsal runs under pressure. How to communicate with a section when you have four minutes and 12 things to fix. How to manage what the score says and what a room full of teenagers is producing.

You find out what you really want. Some teachers spend a season with a high school choir program and realize it’s exactly what they have been working toward. Others realize they would rather be somewhere else. Either outcome is useful. Finding out before you take the job is better than finding out after.

You build a network that works without you asking it to. The director you staffed with mentions your name when a colleague calls looking for candidates. You didn’t apply for that position. You got a call because someone watched you work and remembered. Professional connections — people you worked alongside once, people who watched you in a room — are often the ones who open doors. Not your closest friends. Not your professors. It’s the director whose pit crew you helped load equipment for on a Friday night in October.

What May Happen

Some people will put in a season of real work, build documented experience and still not land the position they want right away. That happens. Hiring is imperfect and sometimes the timing is just wrong.

But here is what I have seen consistently:

The teachers who go fill their blind spots — who spend a season doing the work before anyone is paying them to do it — tend to be ready when something opens up. They walk into interviews with specific answers. They have references search committees can reach out to. They have already done the thing the job wants.

Preparation does not guarantee opportunity, but it puts you in position to take it when it arrives.

The first step is the hardest one. Most directors remember being exactly where you are, and most of them will respect the ask. So, make the call, find the program and show up.

The interview is easier when you already have the answer.

And if you’re a veteran reading this — you probably have a door worth opening. Someone out there is waiting for you to say yes.