Bring a Musician’s Mind to Your Program.
Maestro Steven Gooden is available for guest conducting engagements, clinician residencies, competition adjudication, and ensemble coaching — integrating artistic excellence and performance psychology in every room he enters.
The IntegrationThis isn’t a typical guest artist engagement. And it isn’t just a workshop.
Most guest conductors focus on the music. Most clinicians focus on technique or theory. Steven Gooden does something different: every engagement — whether he’s on the podium or leading a workshop — brings together musical artistry, pedagogical depth, and the mental performance framework that shapes his consulting practice.
When your program brings Steven in, you’re getting a working conductor and ensemble director who has spent his career at the intersection of musical excellence and human development. The result is an engagement that your students will still be drawing on long after the residency ends.
Four ways to bring Steven to your program.
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Available to conduct youth orchestras, honor bands, festival orchestras, and community ensembles. Steven is available for full rehearsal/concert cycles as well as single-appearance guest conducting opportunities.
Ideal for: Youth symphonies, honor bands, arts festivals, community orchestras.
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School programs, university ensembles, and conservatories. A residency combines conducting and musical instruction with mental performance education — giving musicians both immediate musical development and lasting psychological tools.
Ideal for: Band and orchestra programs, collegiate music departments, All-State bands and orchestras, summer institutes.
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Steven’s most integrated offering — musical coaching for chamber groups and small ensembles that fuses technical development with group performance psychology. Frequently paired with competition preparation.
Ideal for: Chamber groups preparing for Fischoff, Coleman, or high-profile appearances.
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Steven is available to adjudicate solo and ensemble competitions at the regional and national level. As a clarinetist who has competed at Fischoff and a past MTNA competition judge, he brings evaluative depth and psychological insight that comes from having been on both sides of the table.
Ideal for: MTNA, Fischoff, Coleman, state and district solo and ensemble festivals.
What the engagement process looks like
01 — Initial Inquiry
Reach out through the contact form with your program details, ensemble type, and the dates or season you have in mind. Steven will respond within 3 business days to schedule a brief discovery call.
02 — Discovery Call & Scope
A 20–30 minute call to understand your program’s specific needs, ensemble makeup, and goals for the engagement. This shapes the structure — whether it’s a single appearance, a residency arc, or an ongoing coaching relationship.
03 — Confirmation & Preparation
Once scope and dates are confirmed, Steven prepares specifically for your ensemble and program. For residencies, this includes a pre-visit questionnaire sent to directors and, when appropriate, to students.
Maestro Steven Gooden
Philharmonic Director & Symphonic Band Director, Merit School of Music, Chicago
Founder, PsychMaestro Consulting
Steven Gooden is a conductor, performing clarinetist, competition adjudicator, and performance psychologist based in Chicago, Illinois. He serves as Philharmonic and Symphonic Band Director at the Merit School of Music — one of Chicago’s premier community music institutions — where he has built programs that integrate musical excellence with the psychological development of young performers.
As a clarinetist and chamber musician, Steven has competed at the same levels he now helps others prepare for. As a past MTNA competition judge, he has sat on the other side of the table — evaluating performances, understanding adjudication criteria, and witnessing firsthand what separates competitors who perform to their ceiling from those who don’t. His work as a conductor and clinician spans youth orchestras, honor ensembles, wind bands, and chamber music across the greater Chicago area.
As featured in the Chicago Sun-Times, Steven has long believed that music education is about more than musical skills — it is about building the whole person. PsychMaestro Consulting is the formal expression of that belief: a practice that brings every dimension of his experience to every room he enters.
As Featured In: Chicago Sun-Times, November 2025
Ready to bring this work to your students?
Reach out with your program details and the kind of engagement you have in mind. We’ll find the right fit.