Arts
Music
Music
Our Middle School music classes normally introduce students to sight singing, rhythms, vocal production, ensemble performance, music theory, and history. Students learn key signatures, time signatures, and an in depth musical vocabulary. Sixth graders learn to sing in two part harmony. By the 8th grade three-part harmonies and change bells are introduced. Emphasis is placed on exposing the student to a variety of music and encouraging an appreciation of all styles of music. In light of concerns regarding COVID-19 and singing in music classrooms, the fall 2020 semester will focus on general music topics including rhythm, melody, form in music, instruments and instrument families, musical eras and musical styles, and world music (ethnomusicology) projects. Sixth graders will also learn beginning guitar. Seventh and eighth graders will play handbells.
Theatre Arts
Middle School theatre introduces students to the exciting world of the stage. By using improvisation, collaboration, theatre games, and other fun activities, students learn to perform and to support others while they are performing.
Visual Arts
Learning self-expression through the visual arts is an important part of the curriculum at SAS. The middle school art courses allow students to experiment with a variety of media including drawing, painting, printing, photography, digital design, architecture, sculpture, and clay. Teachers emphasize the correlation between the creative process and the student’s final art piece. In 6th grade, students explore our campus as studio and place-based art. In 7th grade, students enter into a dialogue about their art, the art of others, and the role of design in our contemporary culture and in history. In 8th grade, students further their understanding of the relationship between form and design through two distinct semester-long courses: 2-D design and Clay. Most middle school art courses incorporate a service component which provides students experiences that connect their art with the wider community.
Theater Arts
Visual Arts
Facilities
Numbers indicate location on the Campus Map.
Our recording studio is located in McCrory Hall for the Performing Arts and is used in conjunction with our Songwriting, Music Production, and Recording courses and Afternoon Program.
Built in 1929 as a gymnasium, the building was transformed in 1981 to provide a spacious classroom and rehearsal studio.
Located in the Simmonds Building, our art facilities include three studios.
Built in 2009, McCrory Hall for the Performing Arts is home to our theater and music programs.
Arts Faculty

Rachel Malde
Titles:
Middle School Coordinator, Arts Department Chair, Photography, IDE8, Service Coordinator, Art Gallery and Visiting Artist Co-Coordinator
Degrees:
B.A., The University of the South
Email:

J.R. Ankney
Titles:
Music & Music Production, Musical Director, Chapel Music Director, Lead House Parent (Warner), Music Lessons Coordinator
Degrees:
B.M.Ed., Berklee College of Music
Email:

Kinion Asmus
Titles:
Humanities 8, English, 8th Grade Class Coordinator, Textile Arts, Art History, Mind*Body* Exercise, Literary Magazine
Degrees:
B.A., Sewanee: The University of the South
M.A., Bowling Green State University
M.A., Bowling Green State University
Email:

Julie Jones
Titles:
Visual Arts
Degrees:
B.A., Indiana University
M.A., University of Iowa
M.F.A., University of Iowa
M.A., University of Iowa
M.F.A., University of Iowa
Email:

Chelsea Padro
Titles:
Theater, Filmmaking, McCrory Hall Coordinator, Creative Expression, Residential Faculty
Degrees:
B.A., Theatre Arts, Nazareth College of Rochester
M.A., Theatre Education, The Catholic University of America
M.A., Theatre Education, The Catholic University of America
Email:

Thomas Simerville
Class of 2016
Titles:
Father Flye Fellow, History, Art, Adventure Education, Humanities
Degrees:
B.A., History, The University of the South
Email:

Margaret Wilson
Class of 2016
Titles:
Farm Educator, Functional Pottery, Art, Residential Faculty
Degrees:
B.A., Psychology, Warren Wilson College
Arts & Public Events
St. Andrew's Chapel
DuBose Conference Center, Monteagle
McCrory Hall for the Performing Arts