We have some of the most unique musical experiences in Austin.
In the sixth grade, students can join a percussion group. At the Upper School, we offer both Rock and Jazz bands, as well as a Strings Orchestra. Our well-known Select Choir has sung at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C, and the Choir has performed at Carnegie hall in New York.
The extensive Fine Arts program at St. Andrew’s is a direct result of our outstanding faculty. They cultivate an environment where passion for the arts—visual, musical, dramatic, or multimedia—is contagious. Here, the arts are not treated as second-class classes. Art and academic teachers work together deliberately to ensure that curriculum is rich, and is presented to students through a variety of media and methods.
Lower School Fine Arts
- In first grade, students have music and art once a week.Iin grades 2-4 they have music and art twice a week, and creative drama once a week.
- In fifth grade, students have even more fine art options including choir and strings.
- The additional choices of percussion, computer works, eco-adventures, and robotics are available in sixth grade.
- Art projects, plays, and musical performances are all influenced by curriculum happening concurrently in academic classes.
Middle School Fine Arts
- All seventh graders take a semester of art and a semester of drama. Assignments are designed to introduce a wide variety of media and subject matter and to encourage individual interpretation and expression. Classes meet two times per week.
- Seventh graders participate in three music classes a week. They can choose from band, concert choir, music appreciation, musical choir, or strings.
- In eighth grade, students choose a fine arts focus—art, band, drama, musical choir, or strings.
Upper School Fine Arts
- All students must fulfill a two-year Fine Arts requirement, but the majority of studentschoose to study the arts throughout all four years of high school.
- We offer 15 courses through the Fine Arts Department each year in areas of Choir, Acting, Visual Arts, Film, Strings, Rock Band/Jazz Band, and Tech Theater.
- Mentoring is a huge part of the visual Arts program. Students meet and work with real working artists for insight into art in the real world.
- Our Rock Band opened for Los Lonely Boys and has had several gigs at Austin music hotspots like Jovita’s and Stubb’s.
- Student films have won SXSW Student film awards.
- Our theater productions are often compared to off-broadway shows.