I've stood where you're standing

I'm Melissa Rain — conductor, educator, and consultant based in northern New Jersey.

My career in music education started in the classroom, teaching K–12 band and choir in Michigan before pursuing my Master of Music in Instrumental Conducting at Butler University. What followed was one of the most challenging and rewarding chapters of my professional life: rebuilding and running Butler University's Athletic Bands program from the ground up — through a pandemic, through national tournaments, and through every logistical curveball that comes with running a $160,000 program with a 24-person student leadership team.

I've designed leadership training programs, coordinated travel to competitions across the country, hired and mentored student staff, and spent countless hours figuring out how to make a complex program run smoothly so that directors and students could focus on what they actually love — the music.

I've also spent years developing drum majors and working with student leaders through Music Effect Design's summer camp programs, and I've had the privilege of guest conducting at honor bands and university ensembles across the Midwest.

What I've learned through all of it is this: great programs don't happen by accident. They're built — by directors who care deeply, students who work hard, and systems that actually support both. That's what Rain on the Podium is here for.

I work with high school band directors, drum majors, and aspiring conductors who are ready to grow — in their leadership, in their craft, and in the way their programs operate behind the scenes.