Music
Sing out.
St. Andrew's offers four avenues for students to practice and perform choral music: Vocal Studies, the Andrean Ensemble, Private Lessons, and Noxontones.
Vocal Studies and the Andrean Ensemble are our for-credit courses—Vocal Studies is open to any student, no prior experience required, while joining the Andrean Ensemble requires the instructor's permission.
Noxontones, our extracurricular a cappella group, is by audition.
Private voice lessons are also available for any student, scheduling permitting.
Noxontones
There's nothing quite like a Noxontones concert! This popular coed a cappella ensemble of 18 singers rehearses twice weekly in the evenings and performs a number of times throughout the year. The focus of Noxontones is the American collegiate a cappella literature, including arrangements done especially for the group by the director. Noxontones is an extracurricular activity, not a for-credit course, and is open to all students by audition. (Do you like to beatbox? Then you've come to the right place!)
Vocal Studies
Our Vocal Studies course is open to all students regardless of prior vocal experience, and focuses on building individual vocal technique and ensemble singing skills. Students learn the basics of healthy singing through performance of a wide range of musical styles, as well as weekly small group or individual voice lessons, and sight singing and theory practice. Vocalists perform at Arts Weekend, Lessons & Carols, or Parents Weekend, singing with both the Andrean Ensemble and Noxontones. This course also prepares singers who would like to audition to sing in the Andrean Ensemble or Noxontones the following year.
Private Lesson Faculty
Private voice lessons are available for all students (whether or not they participate in our of our choral music ensembles) for an additional fee. Students may take private voice lessons during the school day, evenings, or on weekends. Interested students shouldcontact Quinn Kerrane.
Andrean Ensemble
The Andrean Ensemble seeks to develop a complete choral singer, and to cultivate a lifelong ability and love for making music. Everything we do is designed to ensure that singers grow as individuals, as choral singers, and as interpreters of music. Graduates of the Andrean Ensemble program often go on to sing in some of the finest collegiate ensembles in the country. Repertoire comprises both larger works, as well as sacred and secular choral music from the Medieval to the present day, and from around the world.
As a singer in the Andrean Ensemble, students:
- receive individual vocal instruction
- have the opportunity to perform frequently on campus and throughout the mid-Atlantic region; and, on occassion, to perform in notable venues throughout the country and the world.
Andrean Ensemble is open to students in all grades with audition and permission. Andrean Ensemble is a yearlong, half-credit course that meets for two to three class periods per week. Students with little or no previous singing experience are encouraged to begin their vocal musical education in our Founder’s Choir course. Please contact Director of Choral Music Quinn Kerrane at qkerrane@standrews-de.org with questions.
Touring with the Andrean Ensemble was invaluable: it allowed me to connect to the pieces in our repertoire more profoundly. Whether we were singing an open worship service in St. Stephen’s Cathedral, Vienna, or an intimate recital at a conservatory in Slovakia, performing in diverse venues helped teach us as a choir musical nuances that can only be understood through traveling. My tours with the Andrean Ensemble were some of the most enjoyable times of both my high school and musical careers.
- Andrean Ensemble Alum
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Instrumental Music
St. Andrew's instrumental music program is a robust component of the school's arts curriculum and culture. Students at any level of experience can participate in a variety of instrumental music opportunities, some for-credit and others extracurricular. Students who complete introductory coursework in instrumental music and music theory may choose to further their study by “majoring” in instrumental music in the senior year. Majors take a full-credit Advanced Study course during the senior year in which they will produce original works on a monthly basis. More than a third of our students take private lessons with instrumental music instructors, and also perform with our two instrumental ensembles: Orchestra and Jazz Ensemble. Students exhibit their work and mastery at concerts held for the school community throughout the year.
In addition to the busy schedule of student performances, numerous guest artists performing a variety of genres (from classical to pop; from jazz to world music) visit St. Andrew's each year to perform and work with students. The endowed Haroldson Music Fund, established in 2012 by Katherine and John Haroldson in honor of their daughters, Sarah ’09 and Katherine ’12, provides students with an annual masterclass and guest performance by renowned string ensembles, with a goal of enhancing the skill and understanding of our student musicians and to broaden appreciation for music among all students.
Orchestra
The St. Andrew's Orchestra is comprised of approximately 50 students, and is augmented by faculty members who play instruments. The orchestra gives four performances each year in its beautiful home, Engelhard Hall in the O'Brien Art Center.
All students who want to play in the orchestra also have the opportunity to take instrumental music courses or lessons to support their work in the ensemble.
Jazz Ensemble
Students at any level of mastery who wish to deepen their skills in improvisation on their wind or percussion instrument may play in the school's "big band": our Jazz Ensemble. All students who want to play in the Jazz Ensemble also have the opportunity to take instrumental music courses or lessons to support their work in the ensemble.
The Jazz Improvisation course helps students develop informed stylistic practice of their instrument through rehearsal and performance in small jazz combos. Students develop their jazz literacy by reading arranged compositions from a wide array of jazz styles and through careful study of chord and scale relationships in their improvisations. The full Jazz Ensemble group performs for the school community three times a year.
Private Lesson Faculty
Private lessons on many instruments are available when feasible. Interested students should contact Director of Instrumental Music Fred Geiersbach at fgeiersbach@standrews-de.org.