A Letter From Our New Music Education Instructor
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June 5, 2025
Dear Burley Community, My name is Erik Juhl and I have been hired to serve as your community’s new music teacher. I am thrilled for this opportunity and excited to meet all the student musicians I will be working with next school year. I wanted to take this opportunity to share a bit about myself, my teaching philosophy, and my hopes for maintaining and growing Burley’s music program. I have been a music teacher with Chicago Public Schools for the last 14 years. At the start of my career I taught at Greeley Elementary in Lakeview and then later at Peterson Elementary in North Park. At Greeley and Peterson I taught general music, band, choir, rock band, jazz band, and more. On the weekends I also serve as a director for CPS’ Department of Arts Education’s All-City Performing Arts Program. Through that program, I have served as a director for Symphonic Band, Jazz Band, Modern Band, as well as composing and arranging works for those ensembles. In the last few years, I started a Beginning Band program that provides instruments and instruction for CPS students who do not have access to play in a band at their home schools. I am a studied clarinetist and also have a degree in music composition. Beyond that, I also play electric bass, piano, ukulele, flute, trombone, and a wealth of other instruments. The music classroom provides a fantastic opportunity to elevate student voice while also allowing students to make meaningful connections to other content areas. In the primary classroom, students can expect to learn about the building blocks of music while engaging in music making and playing musical games. Students will learn simple songs, how to read musical notation, and how to make connections between musical concepts and literature. In the intermediate classroom, students can expect to learn how to play instruments like recorder while focusing on composing original works and improvisation. In the middle school classroom, students will explore songwriting and learning about digital music making. There are many ways to grow the music program at Burley, but I believe it starts with building a strong foundation of music fundamentals in the younger grades while maintaining the programs students and families have come to expect. Students will continue to have the opportunity to participate in band and choir with the intention of keeping students engaged through 8th grade. As I begin to learn more about the Burley community and where student interests lie, I would like to offer new learning opportunities. This could take the form of providing new ensembles to participate in such as a modern band or jazz band, by putting on a musical, and by giving space for students to create music as composers who are not only capable of playing music, but writing their own. I am excited to learn about the musical interests of Burley students’ and I hope to use my years of varied musical education experience to provide opportunities for Burley students to engage in meaningful music making together. I would like to say thank you to the Burley community for inviting me to participate in the next phase of its music program. I’m excited to learn more about this community while supporting and educating its student musicians in whatever capacity I am able. Please feel free to reach out to me ([email protected]) with any questions or suggestions you might have, or if you simply wish to say “hello!” I’m looking forward to starting next school year with you all and I can’t wait to see the great things we’ll be able to accomplish together! Erik Juhl 
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