Music Teacher (Volunteer)

About Mentor A Promise

Mentor A Promise (MAP) is a New York City–based nonprofit supporting children and youth ages 5–18 experiencing housing instability through mentorship, education, literacy, social-emotional learning, creative expression, career development, and community-centered opportunity. Through PromiseRooted, MAP brings consistent, relationship-centered programming directly into shelter and community settings.

About the role

Mentor A Promise is seeking an engaging, patient, dependable, and creative Music Teacher to lead weekly in-person music enrichment for children and youth participating in PromiseRooted programming at a New York City family shelter. This is not a traditional classroom music position. Students may arrive with different ages, abilities, interests, attention spans, learning styles, and levels of musical experience. Attendance and group composition may also vary. Some students may already love music. Others may be holding an instrument, writing a song, creating a rhythm, or exploring music for the first time. The Music Teacher's responsibility is to meet students where they are and help them discover where music can take them.

Responsibilities

• Music Instruction & Creative Exploration:
  • Plan and facilitate engaging weekly music sessions.
  • Introduce foundational musical concepts through accessible, hands-on activities.
  • Adapt instruction for different ages, abilities, interests, and experience levels.
  • Introduce students to areas such as rhythm, beat, melody, voice, instruments, songwriting, improvisation, musical storytelling, movement, and music appreciation.
  • Introduce different musical genres, traditions, artists, instruments, and cultural perspectives.
  • Balance instruction with creativity, experimentation, and play.
  • Create opportunities for students to progressively develop skills throughout the school year.
• Create, Not Just Observe:
  • Ensure students spend meaningful time making music through activities such as creating rhythms, learning songs, writing original lyrics, exploring percussion, singing, playing introductory instruments, creating beats and soundscapes, musical games, improvisation, collaborative songwriting, developing an original group piece, and preparing an optional performance or showcase.
  • Focus on participation, discovery, confidence, creativity, connection, and growth rather than technical perfection.
• Build Relationships & Belonging:
  • Create a welcoming environment where students feel comfortable participating.
  • Learn students' interests and incorporate them into programming where appropriate.
  • Build positive relationships gradually and consistently.
  • Encourage participation without unnecessarily putting students on the spot.
  • Celebrate effort, curiosity, improvement, collaboration, and creativity.
  • Help students create alongside one another respectfully.
  • Model patience, encouragement, reliability, and respect.
  • Recognize the particular importance of consistency when working with children experiencing housing instability.
• Full School-Year Learning Journey:
  • Commit to a full school-year position to develop relationships, skills, confidence, and creative interests over time.
  • Create an appropriate progression across the school year while maintaining flexibility for students who enter the program later or cannot attend every session.
  • Welcome students joining midway through the year without making them feel behind.
• Student Voice:
  • Provide meaningful opportunities for students to influence their music experience.
  • Learn what music students enjoy, what they would like to learn, what instruments interest them, and what they would like to create.
  • Offer opportunities for students to suggest music, choose activities, write original material, make creative decisions, collaborate with peers, introduce ideas, lead appropriate portions of activities, and share their work if they choose.
  • Help young people move from participating in music toward developing a sense of creative ownership.
• Trauma-Informed & Dignity-Centered Practice:
  • Treat every student first as a young person with their own personality, abilities, humor, interests, culture, imagination, preferences, and potential.
  • Create predictable and respectful routines.
  • Provide appropriate choices.
  • Respond calmly to challenging moments.
  • Avoid assumptions about students or their families.
  • Never pressure students to disclose housing circumstances, trauma, family experiences, mental-health information, or other personal matters.
  • Avoid activities that unnecessarily require students to reveal sensitive experiences.
  • Respect different cultures and forms of musical expression.
  • Use music as an opportunity for creative expression without presenting music activities as therapy.
  • Recognize when concerns should be brought to program leadership.
• Flexibility in a Shelter-Based Environment:
  • Prepare and adapt to changing attendance, new students, varying age groups, and different energy levels or needs.
  • Arrive prepared without becoming dependent on the lesson plan.
  • Adjust activities while preserving the learning objective and maintaining a welcoming environment.
• Group Facilitation:
  • Establish simple, developmentally appropriate expectations.
  • Create consistent routines.
  • Use positive approaches to group management.
  • Redirect behavior respectfully.
  • Provide appropriate opportunities for movement, participation, and choice.
  • Work with MAP program staff when additional behavioral or program support is needed.
  • Avoid humiliating, threatening, degrading, or unnecessarily punitive approaches to discipline.
• Program Planning & Collaboration:
  • Coordinate regularly with the PromiseRooted Program Manager.
  • Prepare lesson plans or session outlines in advance.
  • Communicate instrument, material, technology, and resource needs early.
  • Collaborate with MAP volunteers and shelter-site staff.
  • Participate in appropriate program planning and reflection.
  • Share observations regarding participation, engagement, and opportunities for program improvement.
  • Help identify students' emerging musical interests.
  • Care responsibly for instruments, equipment, materials, and organizational property.
  • Communicate anticipated absences as early as possible.
• Safeguarding & Professional Boundaries:
  • Complete all required screening, fingerprinting, health-clearance, training, onboarding, and safeguarding requirements.
  • Follow MAP and shelter-site policies at all times.
  • Maintain appropriate adult-youth boundaries.
  • Use only authorized communication channels.
  • Never independently exchange personal contact information with participating minors.
  • Never communicate privately with participating minors outside approved program structures.
  • Protect student and family confidentiality.
  • Follow all applicable photography, recording, and media-consent requirements.
  • Never photograph, record, post, or distribute information about students without appropriate authorization.
  • Promptly report safeguarding concerns through MAP's established procedures.
  • Never independently investigate a safeguarding concern.
  • Coordinate with program leadership when behavioral, safety, or other concerns arise.

Requirements

• Complete all required screening, training, health, and site-clearance requirements before beginning direct work with students, including background check, fingerprinting, PPD (tuberculosis) test, in-person training, MAP onboarding, MAP safeguarding training, and any additional documentation, screening, training, or clearance required by MAP or the shelter/program site.
• Willing and able to complete these requirements within the timeframe provided during onboarding.
• Volunteers may begin in-person service only after all required clearances, training, onboarding, and site requirements have been completed and approved.

Qualifications

• Strong candidates may be music teachers or educators, teaching artists, musicians, music education students or music majors, singers or vocal instructors, instrumental instructors, composers or songwriters, music producers, community arts educators, or professionals with meaningful music and youth-development experience.
• Formal teacher certification is not required.

Skills

• Strong musical knowledge or practical musical ability.
• Experience working with children or youth.
• Ability to make music approachable and engaging.
• Patience and adaptability.
• Creativity and enthusiasm.
• Strong communication and group-facilitation skills.
• Ability to work with mixed ages and ability levels.
• Cultural humility.
• Strong professional boundaries.
• Dependability and punctuality.
• Willingness to prepare and adapt to changing circumstances.

Commitment

• Approximately 1–2 hours per week, including preparation and instruction.
• Full school-year commitment required.