“Beauty helps prepare us to be…the kind of people who can live with God forever.  Beautiful things and beautiful music draw us out of ourselves and into an encounter with a truth that’s beyond us, yet accessible to our senses.”    --George Weigel, Letters to a Young Catholic

Music Program:

BJS performance groups provide music for community and school functions, present concerts, and participate in festivals and exhibitions.

Courses offered: Beginning Band, Intermediate/Advanced Band, Chorus, Musical Theatre/Drama, and Guitar.

Performing ensembles:

Symphonic Band

Cardinal Pep Band

Chapel Ensemble

Concert Choir

Guitar Ensemble

Music Director:

Named to the faculty in 2007, Andrew Cummings directs ensembles and teaches music courses at Bishop John Snyder High School.  The music program offers performance opportunities ranging from instrumental music to chorus, chapel choir, and musical theatre.  In December of 2007 the BJS Symphonic Winds and drum line were guest performers at St. Vincent’s Medical Center for the street renaming in honor of Robert T. Shircliff.  Spring 2008 brings a lively concert schedule, the diocesan music festival, and a school-wide production of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “Oklahoma!.”

Mr. Cummings served previously as a graduate assistant and assistant conductor with the orchestras at The Florida State University.  He also taught public school in Florida and was director of the Tallahassee Home School Band.  Active in the music community, Mr. Cummings holds memberships in the Conductors Guild, National Association for Music Education, Florida Music Educators’ Association, and Florida Bandmasters Association. 

As a saxophonist, Mr. Cummings has performed the major orchestral and wind band repertoire under leading conductors such as Philip Spurgeon, James Croft, Bridget-Michaele Reischl, and Jerry Junkin.  He was principal saxophonist of the Florida State University Wind Orchestra under Richard Clary, and he served in the same capacity with the National Wind Ensemble at Carnegie Hall under the direction of H. Robert Reynolds.  Mr. Cummings studied saxophone with Patrick Meighan and Dane Whipkey.

Mr. Cummings holds the Master of Music and Bachelor of Music degrees in performance from FSU.  His principal conducting teacher was Alexander Jiménez.  He also studied conducting with Laszlo Marosi and has participated in master classes with Marin Alsop, Louis Lane, and David Hoose.