Pryor Chosen as School's First Director of Music

St. Michael Catholic High School is pleased to announce that Mr. David Pryor will be its Director of Music when the school opens in August of 2016. Mr. Pryor’s responsibilities will include creating and leading the school’s band and choral programs, as well as continuing to promote the musicianship and development of younger students in the Baldwin Catholic middle schools. He will begin officially this summer.

Pryor comes to St. Michael with 27 years of teaching music or directing bands and choral programs. For the last nineteen years, he has served as Faith Academy’s Director of Instrumental Music, creating a program from scratch that is today regarded as among the best in the state. From 1994-97 he led the band and choral program at St. Dominic Catholic High School in O’Fallon, MO, and from 1989-1994 was the band director at McGill Toolen. Since 2009, he has also served as an instructor and instrumentalist for the Mobile Singing Children.

“I'm thrilled,” says Faustin Weber, principal of St. Michael. “I’ve known Mr. Pryor and his family for years and have no doubt he will be a passionate, dynamic force in the life of our young school. His music with the students at Faith Academy is outstanding. When students create good music, it elevates the sense of what’s possible in those who listen, and I want that contagion of optimism and excellence to infect all of us.”

Pryor was equally enthusiastic about the challenge before him: “This is an exciting time in Catholic education for Baldwin County. I regard it as a tremendous honor and blessing to bring music into the life of every student at St. Michael, and I look forward to beginning this summer."

Pryor is a member of the National Band Association, where he twice received the prestigious “Citation of Honor” (2005, 2015). He is also a member of the National Association of Music Educators, the Alabama Music Association, and the Alabama Bandmasters. This coming January, he will receive the Leadership Service Award from the Alabama Music Educators Association.

Pryor and his wife Caroline, have one child, Virginia, who is currently in 8th grade. He is the son of Laura and the late Rev. Mr. Holcombe Pryor, who directed the McGill-Toolen Band from 1961-1981.

For an example of Mr. Pryor's music while at Faith Academy, listen to this rearrangement of the spiritual "Were you there?" available here.