Rachel Maxwell currently serves as the Director of Bands at Traughber Junior High School and has served as the Junior High Band Coordinator for SD #308 in Oswego, IL. She has taught music education courses at VanderCook College of Music in Chicago and North Central College in Naperville, IL and has been invited to be a guest conductor, clinician and adjudicator at a number of music camps and festivals nationally including the Music for All National Summer Symposium, the NC All-State Middle School Band, ISYM at the Univ. of Illinois, Il State Univ. Junior High Camp and several ILMEA District Level Festivals.
Mrs. Maxwell has degrees from Illinois State University, The University of Illinois, Aurora University and completed additional coursework in team-building, leadership and working with diverse students. She is currently a Doctor of Musical Arts candidate at Boston University. Mrs. Maxwell taught band in the West Aurora School District (1993-95) and in the Oswego School District (1995-present).
She is part of the team from Oswego SD #308 who commissioned and premiered Sheltering Sky (2012) by John Mackey, Sol ye Sombra (2014) by Donald Grantham, Atmosphere (2016) by Scott McAllister, Our Cast Aways (2018) Julie Giroux, and Dream of Ember, Dream of Star (2021) David Biedenbender, TBD by Omar Thomas (2024). She independently commissioned a gr 3 setting of L'Inglesina arr by Andrew Hunter (2019), A Darkening Twilight Sky by Kent Baker (2020), and is awaiting a new work by JaRod Hall for late 2022.
Maxwell is also involved in several consortium commissions: Shubuduba (2017) by Dana Wilson, N-BEAM (2017, 2022) https://mobleyj.wixsite.com/nbeam, Frogs & Garden Suite (2018) by Randall Standridge, Float by Roy Magnuson (2019), Love and Light by Brian Balmages (2020), Unspoken (2020) Katahj Copley, and The Salt March (2022). She is a founding member of The Kneel Consortium (2020).
Under her direction the bands at Traughber JHS have received national acclaim and have performed at The Midwest Clinic (two clinic presentations and one rehearsal lab group), the Illinois Music Educators Association All State Conference (three formal concerts and four clinic presentations), the University of Illinois Super-state Festival and at the ASBDA National Convention.
Rachel Maxwell is a member of the The National Association of Music Education, Illinois Music Educators Association, American School Band Directors Association, National Band Association, National Council of Supervisors of Music Education, Pi Kappa Lambda, Phi Beta Mu and a number of honor societies. She is a multiple year nominee for the Music Educator Grammy Award, 5 time recipient of the National Band Association Citation of Excellence, Chicago-land Outstanding Music Educator Award, National Recipient of the Jim Ott (Drum Corps International) Scholarship, ASBDA/UMI Outstanding Young Band Director Award-Junior High Division for the North Central Region of the United States and a Golden Apple nominee.
Mrs. Maxwell has degrees from Illinois State University, The University of Illinois, Aurora University and completed additional coursework in team-building, leadership and working with diverse students. She is currently a Doctor of Musical Arts candidate at Boston University. Mrs. Maxwell taught band in the West Aurora School District (1993-95) and in the Oswego School District (1995-present).
She is part of the team from Oswego SD #308 who commissioned and premiered Sheltering Sky (2012) by John Mackey, Sol ye Sombra (2014) by Donald Grantham, Atmosphere (2016) by Scott McAllister, Our Cast Aways (2018) Julie Giroux, and Dream of Ember, Dream of Star (2021) David Biedenbender, TBD by Omar Thomas (2024). She independently commissioned a gr 3 setting of L'Inglesina arr by Andrew Hunter (2019), A Darkening Twilight Sky by Kent Baker (2020), and is awaiting a new work by JaRod Hall for late 2022.
Maxwell is also involved in several consortium commissions: Shubuduba (2017) by Dana Wilson, N-BEAM (2017, 2022) https://mobleyj.wixsite.com/nbeam, Frogs & Garden Suite (2018) by Randall Standridge, Float by Roy Magnuson (2019), Love and Light by Brian Balmages (2020), Unspoken (2020) Katahj Copley, and The Salt March (2022). She is a founding member of The Kneel Consortium (2020).
Under her direction the bands at Traughber JHS have received national acclaim and have performed at The Midwest Clinic (two clinic presentations and one rehearsal lab group), the Illinois Music Educators Association All State Conference (three formal concerts and four clinic presentations), the University of Illinois Super-state Festival and at the ASBDA National Convention.
Rachel Maxwell is a member of the The National Association of Music Education, Illinois Music Educators Association, American School Band Directors Association, National Band Association, National Council of Supervisors of Music Education, Pi Kappa Lambda, Phi Beta Mu and a number of honor societies. She is a multiple year nominee for the Music Educator Grammy Award, 5 time recipient of the National Band Association Citation of Excellence, Chicago-land Outstanding Music Educator Award, National Recipient of the Jim Ott (Drum Corps International) Scholarship, ASBDA/UMI Outstanding Young Band Director Award-Junior High Division for the North Central Region of the United States and a Golden Apple nominee.
